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Charcoal Gully Bushland Reserve

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Helm St, Kangaroo Flat VIC 3555

Between Peace Street and Wesley Street. Also accessible from the other side on Thomas Street

Explore other locations around this area using our interactive map

Features

  • Walking track
  • Bushland
  • Birdwatching
The Charcoal Gully Bushland Reserve is a small patch of bushland within a residential area of Kangaroo Flat, not far from the Kangaroo Flat Cemetery.



This is a good little spot to enjoy a short bushwalk. A well formed, pram/wheelchair accessible track meanders from one end of the reserve to the other. 

Several tiny, narrow dirt tracks trail off among the trees. The track roughly follows the course of the small gully, which curves through the bush on the other side.

More to explore nearby

Crusoe Reservoir, Bendigo VIC


DID YOU KNOW...

  • Bushwalking is an excellent way to get outdoors and exploring nature.
 

Comments

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Trevor Wright
23/11/2019
Great little spot for fossicking with several small nuggets found here by locals in the 1970's and 80's. Many old relics dug up over the years here from where the former police camp was located in the 1850s at the southern end. Chinese diggings are also plentiful here. Several shallow unmarked graves were also discovered here by locals in the late 1950's. Following a fire in 1966, a small number of red cross spider orchids re generated in the area along with wax flower and black wattle. Sadly the vegetation here has thinned by 50% in the past 50 years. Quite a history for a small bush reserve.
Sonja de Munter
06/06/2022
Trevor, I remember your neighbours, They had passionfruit tree in front of there house. I lived at 12 morrisonstreet and passed every day going to school. It was a sport to get one before they came angry to the gate. I was 9 in 1963. We also played in the gully. Also in Wesleystreet down in the gully. Live in The Netherlands and can't just go there, would love to.
Mark Bruechert
05/07/2022
Hi Sonya, terrific to read your comments, and yes, it was a lovely environment to grow up in. I recall many houses in Morrison Street had passionfruit vines, they were as common as those prolific plum trees. It must seem a world away, in the Netherlands, but you'll be pleased to know the Charcoal Gully reserve is still there, though many old Chinese gold mines have been destroyed over the years. I guess many don't know about the huge part this small area played in establishing Bendigo's gold heritage.
Byron Kenworthy
15/11/2020
Hello Mark. My aunt lived between the cemetery and Waugh's Creek from around the 20's until 1956. I remember the Chinese holes (used as rubbish pits) and the stones over the 3 graves. Are they still there between the creeks? The bush was also thick with Black Wattle but now there are none. I recall many of the trees being cut down by locals in the 1960's. So sad to see such desecration. My sisters used to take me picking wildflowers in the summer and I still remember the names. Waxie's, Everlastings, Black eyed Susan's, Red Heath and Milkmaids. I imagine these are all gone now too. I'm not sure what the real name of the creek was. Some called it Eames Creek. I remember the police camp ruins that Trevor White mentions. They were beside the creek at the south end. We always collected the horse shoes there. My sister once found a nice bronze badge there with a crown on it. I think there are houses there now. I don't think there are any photos of this old reserve. Glad I have the memories. BK
Mark Bruechert
24/04/2021
Hi Byron, terrific memories from you about your early years near Charcoal Gully. Your aunt was well known in the area. We simply referred to her red brick house as "Mrs. Waugh's house". I recall her house was moved from it's original location, on the Sth West corner of the block, down to near the intersection of Morrison and Helm Sts on the South East corner, in the late 80s or so, after her big allotment was split up and sold for housing. Max Floriani, a former Marong Shire councillor, had bought her property when she passed away. There were many questions at the time, about how Mr. Floriani had managed, we presume as a shire councillor, to have her property rezoned. The street closest to the cemetery was already called Waugh St., in your aunt's honour. A second street, running parallel to Waugh St., but further South, was comically named Peace St., presumably by a civic representative aware of the land's controversial change of status. I remember looking out my bedroom window as a boy, watching folk riding horses, tending sheep and otherwise enjoying the lovely rural environment Mrs Waugh had created. It was so very sad to see blocks of housing move in where the paddocks had been. How interesting to hear that you too, found relics from the old Police camp in the same places we used to fossick. It was a wonderful place in which to grow up.
Sumya Fairlie
01/07/2022
Greetings Mark from Sumya in Bowen QLD. Wonderful reflections of the area we knew as Eames Creek. We lived in Helm St (now called Helms St, not sure why that was changed). I'm told there is a police station where our house once stood. We arrived from Latvia in 1934 and I was born at 25 Helm St in 1943. There was only one house visible back then as the bush was quite thick. I remember seeing an old man regularly using a gold cradle where Eames Creek joined the Bendigo Creek. There was clearly plenty of gold there as he was often camped there overnight. Great memories of simpler times.
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