Dry Diggings - Mt Franklin

Photo - Andrew Parker

The History of Mt Franklin

The mountain was created by a volcanic eruption about 470,000 years ago. It is fine example of a breached scoria cone. The breach in the south eastern rim (through which the road now enters) is thought to have been caused by lava flow breaking through the rim. The caldera is one of the deepest in the central highlands area. Earlier flows extend to the north and west. The coarse ejecta exposed around the summit includes red and green olivine and megacrysts of high-temperature (some of the largest known Victorian examples) and orthoclase (to 7 cm long) and augite (over 9 cm long). Lumps of Ordovician sedimentary and granitic bedrock also occur in the ejecta and small basalt blocks contain cores of crazed quartz. On the western slope is the parasitic scoria mound known as "Lady Franklin". 

The volcanic eruptions may have been witnessed by members of the Dja Dja Wurrung native Aboriginal tribe who called this country the ‘smoking grounds’. The clan that occupied the country around Mount Franklin were the Gunangara Gundidj who called it Lalgambook. Mount Franklin and the surrounding area appears to have been a place of considerable religious significance to Aboriginal people. Both ethnographical and archaeological evidence indicates that frequent large ceremonial gatherings took place in the area.  Lava from Mount Franklin and other volcanoes in the area filled valleys and buried the gold bearing streams that became the renowned ‘deep leads’ of the gold mining era. 

The country around Mount Franklin was described in 1855 as "thickly timbered with box and stringbark". Reports of fertile land waiting to be claimed prompted a minor rush by squatters who called the mount "Jim Crow Hill".  Charles Joseph La Trobe, superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales named the mountain after Sir John Franklin after they climbed the hill together in December 1843. 

In 1840, in response to concerns about the treatment of Aboriginal people by the settlers, the government took over Mount Franklin and the surrounding area for the Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate Station. The Protectorate Station was rife with mistreatment of local Aboriginal people. 

In 1852, as part of the Victorian gold rush, gold was discovered in the immediate area. This placed additional pressures on the protectorate station, and it was reduced and finally relocated. 

Around 1865 the presence of a deep lead in Mount Franklin was established. Deep lead mining was initially unsuccessful, and it was not until the late 1870s that the Franklinford Gold Mining Company mined at Mount Franklin on a significant scale. A few years later the Mount Franklin Estate Gold Mining Company also struck gold, followed by the Shakespeare and Great Western companies in the mid-1880s. By the late 1880s, however, deep lead mining had ceased in the area. 

As the alluvial gold was worked out, miners turned their attention to the gold-bearing leads deep beneath the earth’s surface. This gold was created by lava flows during the Newer Volcanic period, were mined intensively during the nineteenth century. One such company operated a mining lease at the eastern foot of Mount Franklin. 

In 1866, the crater of Mount Franklin was set aside as a recreation reserve, and the remainder reserved as State forest. Owing to the high demand for land in the district, two areas of the reserve were excised and sold for agricultural settlement. This galvanised popular support for the permanent reservation of Mount Franklin. 

During the 1870s and 80s, scenic qualities of natural bushland gained popularity as recreational venues as compared to formal parks and gardens. In 1875, a meeting asked the Victorian government to reserve all the land at Mount Franklin for public purposes and a reservation of 157 acres was gazetted the following year under shared management of the surrounding local government areas. In 1891 the Shire of Mount Franklin was given sole control of the reserve. 

From the 1880s, parts of the reserve were being leased for grazing, providing much-needed revenue for the committee of management. By the 1920s, rabbit infestation was a major problem. Nevertheless, during this period the crater was still a popular destination for picnickers and pleasure-seekers. Mount Franklin was promoted as a local beauty spot within easy reach of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs mineral springs resort. A shelter shed and rainwater tank were erected. 

In 1880, the railway network was extended to Daylesford making destinations like Mount Franklin a comfortable daytrip from Melbourne. 

In 1944, a devastating bushfire destroyed most of the native vegetation on the mount. As a result, the inner and outer slopes of the crater were planted with exotic species, mainly conifers, to prevent erosion and to provide revenue through commercial harvesting. The caldera was planted with ornamentals such as silver birch, white poplar, Sycamore and Sequoia sempervirens (Californian Redwoods). 

Not everyone approved of the scheme. Edgar Morrison remarked on Mount Franklin’s "pine-clad heights": "One feels that when the Forest Commission, a generation ago, draped this foreign garb around its shoulders, the old mount .... resented the indignity." 

In 1955, 145 acres was re-reserved as permanent forest under the control of the Shire of Daylesford and Glenlyon. Within the reserve, an area of eight acres was set aside for recreation, specifically for an entrance gate and road which the new road made the mount more accessible at the same time as the dramatic increase in car ownership in the 1950s, and the lifting of war-time petrol rationing. 

In 1972, the Department of Crown Lands and Survey took over the committee of management. In 1977, Mount Franklin was included in the new Hepburn Regional Park and managed by the Forest Commission of Victoria. 

Source: Wikipedia. Full article Mount Franklin (Victoria) - Wikipedia 

Dry Diggings

Dry Diggings Publican Charged with Attempted Murder

In January 1891, Thomas Henry Avision was charged with attempted murder: 

Avision was a storekeeper and publican at Dry Diggings, Victoria, around 1890-1900. Dry Diggings was a small settlement about 2 km east of Hepburn Springs, Victoria.  

THE DAYLESFORD TRAGEDY OPENING OF THE CASE IN COURT. At the Daylesford police court on Wednesday Thomas Henry Avision surrendered to his bail, charged with wounding, with intent to murder, George Hoare, at Dry Diggings, on the 2nd December. Superintendent Palmer, of Ballarat, prosecuted. Mr. Geake defended. Superintendent Palmer stated that Hoare, had miraculously recovered, and on Boxing Day left the hospital without the doctor's permission. He went by train next day to Melbourne, but his whereabouts could not be ascertained. A warrant had been sent to Melbourne. but had not yet been executed. He applied for another remand for a month. Mr. Geake opposed, stating that Hoare was on the high seas, and did not want to appear in court, knowing that divorce proceedings were being taken, claiming from him heavy damages. Dr. Stevenson gave evidence that at the time Hoare left the institution he was not in a fit state to do so, and he was not discharged. He had two serious injuries on the head- one in a vital part of the brain. Senior-constable Shortill deposed to arresting Avison, who admitted that he committed the crime, and on the way to the watch-house made the following statement, which was subsequently reduced to writing, and signed by the prisoner: -" Daylesford, 2nd December, 1890. I left for Melbourne by train presumably, but doubled back. Shortly before midnight I left Daylesford for my home, accompanied by Ted Ellis. I arrived at my house about 1 a.m. I told Ted Ellis to stand at the front gate, and if any man came out to knock him down. I entered by the back door. I picked up a tomahawk which was beside the kitchen, and then, with the tomahawk in one hand and a lamp in the other, I went into my wife's bedroom. I there found Hoare and my wife in bed together. Hoare had his arm around my wife. Hoare, when he saw me, pulled the blankets over his head. I struck him two or three times with the tomahawk, and the blood spurted on to the ceiling. I would have chopped him up but for Ted Ellis, who caught hold of my arm. I have suspected Hoare and my wife for some time." The Bench decided to remand Avison till the 11th February. Bail was allowed, accused in £500, and two sureties of £250 each. -Telegraph. 

Later in 1891, Avision asked for a divorce: 

Launceston Examiner (Tas.: 1842 - 1899), Wednesday 10 June 1891, page 3 

THE DRY DIGGINGS SCANDAL. DECREE NISI FOR DIVORCE. MELBOURNE, JUNE 9. Avision, the storekeeper, who murderously assaulted with a tomahawk a jeweller named Hoare, whom he caught conducting himself improperly with Mrs Avision, applied in the Divorce court to-day for a decree nisi for the dissolution of his marriage. Hoare, who has been missing since he recovered from his injuries, did not appear. The court granted a decree nisi, with costs against the co-respondent.  

In 1895-1900, Avision is listed in Wise's Post Office Directory as the publican of the Dry Diggings Hotel  

In 1906, a large bushfire swept through the Daylesford area, and continued north east towards Dry Diggings, where Avision's hotel, the store, and the school, were destroyed  

Avision was the presiding officer at Dry Diggings for the conscription referendum in 1917.  In 1918, Avision and H. L. Dalman donated an Honor Board for the Dry Diggings State School (Source: Fed Uni) 

 

In the 1850s, the district was generally known as the Mount Franklin goldfield but, in 1875, the township of Dry Diggings was surveyed and proclaimed. It is located along the Daylesford-Castlemaine Road (now the Midland Highway) near the intersection by the Sawpit Gully Road, about eight kilometres from Daylesford. 

‘Dry Diggings’ was also a term used to describe the alluvial gold diggings, in the Mount Franklin area, affected by the lack of surface water required to wash paydirt.  (courtesy: Anna Davine) 

 

Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic.: 1869 - 1954), Saturday 19 June 1920, page 60 

DRY DIGGINGS DISTRICT 

Willie Thomas, who lives at Dry Diggings, writes: — Dear Uncle Ben. — I live in Dry Dig gings, which is a very hilly place. Agriculture is the chief industry here now. Mining was once an important industry, but the mines have stopped working. There was a battery which was driven by water. I live quite close to Mt Franklin, from which you can get a splendid view of surrounding places. There are a lot of rabbits on the mount. My father and uncle poisoned 1000 rabbits on It. Daylesford Is the closest town. It is six miles away add it is noted for Its mineral water. Daylesford Is 75 miles from Melbourne. It Is the highest town in Victoria. It Is a mining town, and it attracts many visitors. Oats are the chief crops grown around the mount. There are eight kangaroos in the bush, and we often see them in our paddock. There are also some wallabies and hares and foxes about, but they are not very plentiful. The Loddon, which is the nearest river to here is about nine miles away. We have one store and one hotel, and one State school in Dry Diggings. 

 

Dry Diggings Track 

Australia’s first National Heritage Park, the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park was created in 2002 in recognition of the region’s intimate association with the Victorian gold rush era. From the wet temperate forests on top of the Divide to the dry northern plains, it’s a roller coaster journey for most of the way and not recommended for the inexperienced walker or novice rider. At its outset, the walking track contours on steep slopes above Sailors Creek, hidden away in forest from the mineral spa towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs. The bike route goes through town before re-joining the shared use track at Golden Springs. Soon after, your arrival at the spectacular erosion columns of Beehive Gully acts as a fitting introduction to the typical narrow, high-walled gullies pockmarked with mine shafts and riddled with stone ruins, encountered throughout this track. What you are traversing in places like Browns, Sebastopol and Sailors gullies is an open-air museum consisting of a century and a half of old mining artefacts – a ghostly, abandoned landscape fading back into bush.

Researched and compiled by Andrew Parker 2021