Jamieson Scenic Walks and Drives

Several scenic walks are outlined in a brochure available from the town's motels, the caravan park and other outlets. It can also be obtained from the visitors' centre in Mansfield, Tel: 1800 039 049.

The walks investigate both sides of the river, the Cemetery, 'The Island' and the scenic views available from School Hill and Laidlaws Rd.

Historic Walk

Another brochure (available from the same outlets) outlines a walk describing the town's old buildings and their historic associations.

Start at the corner of Bank St and Chenery St.  Just north of this intersection, along Bank St is
1. Ridge's Cottage on the right-hand side of the road. The cottage was built c.1864 by Michael Ridge, one of the area's early settlers. It was a Blacksmiths and Wheelwrights for over 50 years.

Head south along Bank St.  On the left-hand side are:
2. Diggers Exchange Hotel - built in the late 1870s, closed by 1911- one of only three hotels still operating at the end of the 19th century.
3. Matthew's Cottage - c.1900 - was the home of John Cole Matthews, a councillor and businessman who ran the coach service between Mansfield and Woods Point from 1899 to 1914.
By the Perkins St intersection, 4. The Duck Inn, which was built in 1867 as the Colonial Bank and manger's residence for the first bank manager, Edwin Fitzroy Lusignan.

Cross Perkins St.  To the right is 5. Townsend's Cottage - c.1860s - one of the town's original buildings, once a butcher's residence, having the butchery next door.
To the left, at the Cobham St intersection, is Hoskin's Cottage - late 1860s.
Stay on the same path, crossing Cobham Street.
On the right, on the northern side of the Jamieson River, just before the bridge, is
6. The Old Hibernian Brewery site - built in 1862 by Daniel Flinn.
7. Finns Bridge - opened in 1990 - the new bridge is the most recent bridge to have been erected in the vicinity where over the years several bridges have been destroyed by floods.
8. The Island - where the Jamieson and Goulburn rivers meet - quite a picturesque place. The apple trees are remnants of an orchard established by the town's first doctor who owned the land at one time. This is a good area for picnicking, fishing and walking.


Turn left into Cobham St.  At the end of the road, to the right, is
9. Juddy's Hut - built in the 1850s - a good example of an early miner's cottage, built for "Juddy" Hampton.

Return along Cobham St, taking the first right into Brown St. 
To the left are 10. The police stables - built in 1862 as part of the original police camp. The Canadian Redwoods were planted in the 1860s.

Cross over Perkins St. 
To the right is 11. McQuilten's Cottage, built in the early 1890s at Ten Mile on Sailor Bill's Creek, on the road to Woods Point. It was transported after it survived the 1939 bushfires, which destroyed the rest of the town.
12. Brewery Bridge - built in 1864 by William Grene Power - has retained the name of the original Chenery Street bridge.
13. The Cemetery - approx 1 kilometre from the centre of the township, with headstones marking the final resting place of the area's early settlers and pioneers.

Turn left into Chenery St.  On the other side of Nash St is 14. Jamieson Primary School, Common School 814, built in 1878. The original school was built in 1867.
To the rear, adjacent Laidlaws Rd, is 15. the teacher's residence - built in 1891, 16 years after the first request for a residence was made.
16. The Arboretum - a picturesque addition planted by members of the Jamieson community in 1989 on the old plantation site.

Laidlaws Rd will take you up the Jamieson Valley. A track, which branches off behind the school residence, will take you up School Hill. It is very steep but the views are outstanding.

Alternatively, walk south along Nash St. 
To the left are 17. Mountford's Cottage - built c.1890 - once the residence of Charles William Mountford, owner of the Mountain Brewery and cordial factory at Raspberry Creek.
18. 'Siberia' - built as extra accommodation for the Courthouse Hotel.
19. St John's Catholic Church - opened 1900 - replaced a small timber chapel built in 1863 to the left of the current site.

Cross Perkins St.  To the left is 20. Jamieson Courthouse, built of local hand-made bricks in 1864. The building served as a County Court, Court of Mines and Court of Petty Sessions. It now houses local archives and material pertaining to local history and is open on weekends and public holidays between November and Easter from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., or by appointment, tel: (03) 5777 0592.
21. Courthouse Hotel - the original building was built in 1872, was double-storey, timber and had a shingle roof.

Head west along Perkins St to the Grey St corner.  To the left is the 22. Jamieson Post Office - built in 1872 of handmade bricks. To the right is the 23. Memorial Hall - built in 1883 - used as the town hall and Howqua Shire Offices until amalgamation in 1919.

Turn right into Grey St.  On the right-hand side of the road is 24. 'Wywurri' - c.1860s- With its pole-type construction, canvas walls and dirt floor, it is considered a typical early building. It was once the grain store for a local hotel. The mud-brick extension is of later vintage.
Just past it is 25. St Peter's Anglican Church. Built of local bricks in 1865, it is surrounded by oak trees planted over 100 years ago. The porch and vestry were added later. The church was inaugurated on 28 September, 1865.

Swimming Holes

The Big Pool is a popular swimming hole and picnic area with coin-operated barbecues and a children's playground on the riverbank at the southern end of Grey St.
The Little Pool is a shallow swimming hole for young children located near Brewery Bridge, at the eastern end of town (named after the brewery which operated nearby from 1864-1901).
If you follow the riverbank southwards there is another swimming spot known as The Brewery Hole.

Cemetery and Licola Road

Cross over Brewery Bridge and take the first road to the left. To the immediate left is Dr Pomeroy's Cottage built in the earliest days of settlement. Tobacco was grown on the river flats here for many years. Continue along the road and take the first right into the Licola Rd. There is an historic cemetery on the right after 1 km.

The road to Licola (91 km south-east) is unsealed, steep, of varying quality, winding and subject to closure in the winter. However, it is also highly scenic. 8 or 10 km out there is a picnicking and bush camping area (with toilets) by the Jamieson River at Grannys Flat Reserve.  Mt Skene, 48 km from Jamieson, has colourful wildflowers in summer.

Jamieson-Eildon Rd

The road which winds around the southern boundary of Eildon Lake National Park from Jamieson to Eildon is serpentine, steep, unsealed in sections, but highly scenic, passing through substantial forests and up hills which offer spectacular views of Big River State Forest to the south and Lake Eildon to the north. 4WD tracks head off this road, into the park, past various camping areas and through to the lake (see entry on Eildon) for further information on the national park.

Six different drives to Walhalla

• Scenic Drive to Walhalla - 1 (Jamieson to Kevington)

The road south to Walhalla (132 km) is mostly unsealed, hilly, rough in places, winding and subject to winter closure but it is an interesting and highly scenic drive which initially follows the Goulburn River, passing through forests, old gold mining villages and some excellent camping and picnicking spots. In the 19th century, people travelled along this route via narrow, twisting tracks with women in panniers and children in gin cases strapped to pack saddles.

The main road is manageable in a conventional vehicle unless it is very wet but, if you have a 4WD, you can investigate the side roads which lead through some of the state's finest countryside.

About 4 km from Jamieson is Doctors Creek Reserve and at 7 km Skipworth Reserve (both bush camping areas). 11 km from Jamieson is the small rural settlement of Kevington, known in the 1860s as Mac's Creek. The Kevington Hotel (1862) is the only hotel in the district which dates from the gold days, tel: (03) 5777 0543. There is a camping area adjacent.

• Scenic Drive to Walhalla - 2 (Kevington to Knockwood)

It is about 8 km from Kevington to Tunnel Bend Reserve where there is a campground with picnic facilities and a swimming hole. The tunnel was created to alter the course of the river so the old riverbed could be gleaned for gold. The gold mining settlement of Ten Mile was located nearby. It started in 1864 as a log-and-canvas store on the road to the Woods Point goldfields and, by the 1880s, was a small but well-established settlement but was destroyed in the 1939 bushfires.

Just past Tunnel Bend are, in order, Twelve Mile Reserve (bush camping), Blue Hole Picnic Area, Snakes Reserve (bush camping) and Knockwood Reserve (bush camping). Knockwood and Ten Mile are also extinct gold mining settlements with a few historic relics. At this point the road bends to the south-west following Gaffneys Creek, a branch of the Goulburn River.

• Scenic Drive to Walhalla - 3 (Gaffneys Creek and the A1 Mining Settlement)

37 km from Jamieson is the ghost town of Gaffneys Creek where the first gold strike on the Jamieson-Walhalla goldfields was made by a man named Gaffney in 1860. It retains some tiny old miners' cottages, a tavern and old mining ruins such as the remnants of an old stamper battery, dry-stone walling, stone chimneys, terraced sites and other abandoned equipment.

4 km further on is the historic A1 Mining Settlement which clings perilously to the road in the narrow Raspberry Creek Valley. The A1 Mine (worked to a depth of 700 m) started operations in 1881 and was worked almost continuously until 1992.

It is about 9 km to Scotts Reserve (bush camping).

• Scenic Drive to Walhalla - 4 (Woods Point)

55 km from Jamieson, where the Goulburn River swings back in from the east, the road passes through a valley where you will find Woods Point which was, for many years, the main settlement of the Upper Goulburn River Valley.

Gold was first discovered here in 1861. The town began to develop shortly thereafter around a store set up by a man named Wood. By 1865, when Wood's Point was declared a borough, there were 2000 people living in three suburbs and working in 50 large mines and hundreds of small claims. There were 30 hotels, dozens of grog shanties, a brewery, police station, lock-up, hospital, six banks, a post office, churches, private schools, a newspaper, two factories, numerous stores and business premises and even a town crier. Inevitably the gold began to run out and the town declined. The last remaining mine had virtually ceased operations by 1927.

Much of the village was burned down in the 1939 bushfires (as recorded on a memorial beside Morning Star Creek). Today there are about 30 residents, a fine country pub (rebuilt after the fires), an antique petrol station, a general store, picnicking-camping areas and the Woods Point Museum which contains items pertaining to the town's history as a gold mining settlement (open in holiday periods pending staff). Bush walking tracks, taking in local gold mining relics, are currently being constructed and guiding pamphlets printed, and the Little Comet Mine is also being reopened for tourist inspection (enquire about both at the general store). The 200-km McMillans Track can also be started (or completed) here. 2 km from town, beside the Goulburn River, is Comet Flat Reserve where there is bush camping (4WD access).

• Scenic Drive to Walhalla - 5 (Matlock and Branches)

8 km further south, on a barren ridge top, 1370 m above sea-level, is Matlock, another old gold mining village which had numerous stores and hotels in its gold mining heyday (the 1860s). It later prospered as a timbergetting community but was also destroyed in the bushfires. It is now little more than a locality. There are some outstanding views from the roadside, toilets, a picnic area and a snow shelter for winter.

A road heads west from here. It follows the border of Yarra Ranges National Park to Cumberland Junction (55 km) where other roads extend west to Marysville and south to Warburton. Just before this intersection, Dry Creek Rd (4WD only) heads off to the right. It eventually joins up with the Eildon-Jamieson Rd.

• Scenic Drive to Walhalla - 6 (Matlock to Erica and Walhalla)

Alternatively, you can head south-east from Matlock to Aberfeldy (30 km). 2 km further south is the grave of Kitty Feldy who operated a shanty here after retiring from a career as a dancer. Upon her death she weighed 158 kg. Plans to bury her at Aberfeldy were abandoned as the pall-bearers could not manage.

18 km south of Aberfeldy the choice is to head south-west to Erica (21 km on a sealed road) or south-east through Beadmore to Walhalla (21 km).


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For further information on the area between Jamieson and Woods Point ring (03) 5733 0120.
From Woods Point to Walhalla ring (03) 5172 2111.