Address & Contact Edit
4684-4446 Omeo Hwy
Glen Valley VIC 3898
Phone: N/A
Email: N/A
Web: https://earthresources.vic.gov.au/geology-exploration/geological-survey-victoria/150-years/off-the-beaten-track
Old Battery site with working oil engine.
During the last decades of the 19th century, government-funded track cutting opened up eastern Victoria to both the mining and timber industries. As a further inducement to development, GSV geologists surveyed and mapped coal and gold deposits in the region.
James Stirling produced a hand-drawn and painted map of gold workings in the Big River area, north of
Omeo. The purpose of Stirling’s survey was to pinpoint the source of the Big River gold, in the hope of stimulating mining on a larger scale.
Stirling also investigated the discovery of tin in Wombat Creek, at the foot of Mt Wills. By 1890, it looked as if Mt Wills would spark a new mineral boom for Victoria; but the tin grades proved so poor that miners soon reverted to gold mining.