Baaaaaaaaaa humbug!

In previous years I have occasionally come up with a "Christmas" themed blog post towards the end of the year. This year as I considered my options, an idea came to mind. Sheep!
Sheep are not usually associated with Christmas - except if you live at Meredith - and Meredith is not generally associated with the Barwon River. As I have discussed in previous posts however, Meredith lies on the banks of Coolebarghurk Creek which is a tributary of the Moorabool River and at Christmas sheep are all the rage.
So, with this in mind, we headed off to Meredith to snap some photos, oh, and had a short walk along the creek while we were there. So, here are a few of Meredith's "Christmas sheep" to end the year:

I think perhaps the red sheep has partaken in a little too much Christmas cheer!

These were just some of the sheep  to be found in Meredith this year. There were sheep at the hall, sheep at the shop, sheep at the churches and even sheep at the pub! Not to mention the members of the flock gracing the fences of any number of houses in town.

A very "Merrydith" Christmas everyone!

Songlines of the Barwon Catchment

During the recent Mountain to Mouth 2016 extreme arts walk held across the City of Greater Geelong and the Borough of Queenscliffe, one of the catchphrases used was "walk this land". Participants were encouraged to consider those who have walked the land before us. Part of our route took us along the Barwon River, with the event ultimately concluding on the banks of the river at Barwon Heads.
With this in mind, I thought I would have a look at the lands of the wider Barwon catchment and the people who have walked them. The way we cross the land today is perhaps best represented by maps. For thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans however, the indigenous tribes of Australia walked the land, following ancient tracks and pathways known to their ancestors, without the benefit of modern cartographic techniques.
For 25,000 years prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Barwon catchment was home to three indigenous tribes. The lands surrounding the lower Barwon - downriver from Winchelsea - as well as the catchments of the Moorabool and Leigh/Yarrowee Rivers were occupied by the Wathaurong (Wadawurrung) people. The lands of the Gulidjan Tribe lay along the upper reaches of the Barwon, also incorporating the area around Lake Colac. The Barwon itself formed the boundary between the Gulidjan people and their southern neighbours - the Gadubanud Tribe - who lived on the land between the river and the coast, stretching westwards past Cape Otway.

Adaption of the map "Catchments of the Barwon River and inland Basins", created
by the Victorian State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, 1950 (original
image held by the State Library of Victoria). Clan territories estimated from
Clark, 1995, "Scars in the Landscape"

Rather than physical maps such as the one above, indigenous maps were shared through dance, song, painting and story. They talked about the features of the land itself; the rivers and creeks which showed them the way from one place to another, the hills, the trees, the rocks, the waterholes passed along the way. Even the sky played a role. Following these "songlines", it was possible to walk for hundreds of kilometres. In this way, people could move between tribes, establish trade routes, make marriages, manage natural resources; walking - it was believed - in the footsteps of the creator spirit.

And it isn't too much of a stretch to see how songlines could work. The name of the Barwon itself is a directional description. Barre Warre N Yallock - the big river which flows from the mountains to the sea. Follow this river and you will reach the sea. Kooly bar ghurk (Coolebarghurk): man's track by the creek. Another descriptive name. Which track? The one by the creek. The one made by people, not the many animal tracks which no doubt criss-crossed the land.

"Man's track by the creek". For thousands of years, the Wathaurong walked the
banks of Coolebarghurk Creek

Wormbete: which lake? The "lake with the black fellow's mound". Where? Bukar Bulac; the place between two rivers. This was the Wathaurong name for the confluence of the Moorabool and Barwon Rivers.
Creation stories told how the eagle Bundjil looked down upon the world from the sky where his fire (the planet Jupiter) could be seen from Earth. Bundjil it was said, made his earthly home at Woringganninyoke - Lal Lal Falls. Whilst the meaning of the first name is unknown, "Lal Lal" is said to mean "dashing water in a crevice". Another literal description which could contribute to a songline.

Lal Lal Falls, April, 2012

Many other sites were named for prominent features which could also be used as part of a songline. Someone wanting to journey north west from Jillong (Geelong), the "place of native companions" or the place "where the seabirds fly over white cliffs", could perhaps travel to Durdidwarrah where either a "shelter of bark" or "dead water" could be found after which they would reach Bungeeltap (meaning either "spirit water" or "eagle's nest"). From there, they could see [Mount] Warrengeep (Warrenheip) where the ferns of the side of the mount resembled "emu feathers" before passing Bonan Yowing (Buninyong), the mountain shaped like a "man lying on his back with his knee raised." Once there, it wasn't too far to Balla arat (Ballarat), the "reclining on the elbow" "place" or resting place.

Bonan Yowing: Mt Buninyong, visible across the surrounding countryside
for many kilometres

Like today's Google Maps, the songlines of the indigenous peoples not only described which route to follow, but gave tips about where to stay and what food could be found along the journey: Yarram Mordong (the Wathaurong name for Buckley Falls), waterfall [of] eels; Porrong Goop (Borrongoop), the place of quails; Koo N Warre (Lake Connewarre), mud oyster water.

Koo N Warre: Lake Connewarre

In this way, the Wathaurong, Gulidjan and Gadubanud Tribes of the Barwon catchment "mapped" out the land, preserving their knowledge over thousands of years for future generations. Until European settlers arrived...

Making tracks: STAND AND DELIVER!

When gold fever hit the newly formed colony of Victoria in August, 1851, a phenomenal amount of wealth suddenly began to flow between the goldfields and the major towns. According to the Victorian Department of Mines, between the years of 1856 and 1896, miners extracted a staggering 1,898,391 kg of gold from mines and diggings across the colony. With this influx of capital however, came the need to transfer vast sums of gold, cash and other commodities around the colony. It was a problem both for the diggers who struck it lucky and for the colonial government which purchased the gold. Unsurprisingly, this led to an upsurge in numbers taking up that archetypal Australian occupation of bushranging.
Of course, with much of the gold discovered at Ballarat being taken to Geelong along with the movement of diggers potentially carrying large amounts of cash, the roads between the two places were as susceptible to  criminal activity as any in the colony. A quick look at the newspapers of the day will confirm this.
In August, 1852, a group of five bushrangers - known as the Eureka Gang - rode into Buninyong where they proceeded to dine; three at Sellick's Crown Hotel and the remaining two at Neil Jamieson's Buninyong Hotel. Whilst in the course of eating their meal, the chief constable from Buninyong, aided by his counterpart from Chepstow apprehended the three who were at Sellick's Hotel before also taking the pair at Jamieson's into custody. The latter arrests however were not made without a struggle as the constables had to disarm one of the offenders who fired at them as they attempted to make the arrest. A sixth member of the gang had been captured earlier in the day.
Perhaps the most sensational arrest however, was that of the self-styled "Captain" Melville - a career criminal who was transported from Scotland to Van Diemen's Land as a child. Francis Melville (alias Frank McCallum) was one of a number of ex-convicts to make their way from the island to Victoria with the outbreak of the gold rush. After terrorising the roads between Melbourne and Woodend, he headed west, hiding out near the Dundas Ranges before moving south to commit further offences at Fiery Creek, Woady Yallock, Buninyong, Rokewood, Bruce's Creek and finally at Fyansford outside Geelong in December, 1852.

A possible likeness of Captain Melville. Image taken from
The Geelong Advertiser, 21st November, 2015

The newspapers of the day suggest that he and a partner in crime, William Robert Roberts, had been in the area for some time, referring to "two daring bushrangers who have lately levied contributions from travellers on the Leigh and Buninyong Roads" - exactly those routes used by the diggers returning to Geelong. As early as February, 1852 under the name of Edward Melville (alias Edward Jefferies), he staged a successful robbery within three miles of Buninyong, having it was said, been recently in the employ of squatter Henry Winter. In April a reward was posted for his capture.
On the 19th December, Melville and Roberts staged a holdup at Bruce's Creek before heading to Fyansford where they staged another holdup. This time, two bushmen were the victims. Following that attack, the pair made their way into town where they dined at a hotel in Corio Street before retiring late in the afternoon to a nearby brothel where they continued drinking. During the course of conversation two of the women who worked there became suspicious, and hoping to claim the reward money, one distracted Melville whilst the other went for the police.
Suddenly realising that all was not well, Melville made a dash for freedom through a back window, over the fence, knocking over a police officer on his way and headed down Malop St towards what is now Johnstone Park. There he met a gentleman who had been out riding. Melville by now desperate to escape the pursuing police, immediately attempted to unseat the rider and steal his horse, however he was unable to mount the horse which by that time was rearing and bucking in fright and was detained by the good citizen until the police arrived to arrest him. Melville was held in the South Geelong Gaol whilst awaiting his trial and eventually received a lengthy sentence. With the exception of a daring escape attempt, he was never at liberty again. His exploits are described in some detail in George E.Boxall's History of the Australian bushrangers (1908) which is available online.
Melville's precipitous arrest and subsequent death in custody may in some part explain a long-standing local legend which claims that Melville had a hideout near Meredith along Coolebarghurk Creek. It was there, near a tree which pointed in the opposite direction to the prevailing wind that he allegedly hid a substantial stash. The site - which has never been found - was said to be near the creek in the vicinity of where the Meredith Creamery was later built. His arrest and subsequent death would explain why he never returned to claim his booty.

Coolebarghurk Creek at the end of Creamery Rd today. Click to enlarge

The crime along the roads between Geelong and Ballarat however, did not decline with Melville's demise and as Henry Mundy attested in A Young Australian Pioneer (Les. Hughes, 1988), the threat of robbery, not only on the roads, but also in camp where the only protection was a calico tent and a firearm under the bed, was a constant strain on the nerves.
In January, 1853 a gang of four was operating along the Geelong-Buninyong Rd and by late December it was reported that holdups were a daily occurrence between Buninyong and Meredith. In April, 1855 a group of three men armed with pistols was holding up travellers on the road between Steiglitz and Geelong near Colonel Kelsall's property on the Moorabool River. A party of men said to be returning from the diggings were robbed of £40 or around $5,000 in today's terms.

A bush holdup, William Strutt c1855, Image held by the National Library of Australia

Diggers however, did not have to take all the risk upon themselves. They could instead, either sell their gold to dealers at the diggings or they could consign their hard-won earnings to the authorities who in return for a deposit of 1 shilling per ounce of gold would issue the digger with a certificate. The gold thus deposited was taken to Melbourne or Geelong under police escort and could be claimed by the digger on presentation of the receipt along with proof of identification and description of the gold in question.
Neither option was without its problems however. Gold sold on the diggings paid a lower return than could be obtained in Geelong or Melbourne and still left the digger with the problem of protecting their cash until it could be banked, whilst if the gold escort were to be robbed, the government could not be held liable for the diggers' losses. On the goldfields, the diggers often paid for goods in gold rather than with cash. Likewise, payment of the gold license was also made in gold which resulted in large quantities of the precious metal being transferred directly to the government. All this gold also needed to be transported to town - a fact well-known to the bushranging fraternity.
The first gold escort to run between Ballarat and Geelong left the goldfields in September, 1851, only weeks after the initial gold discoveries. Not long after, a reliable mail contractor by the name of Greene was awarded the contract for carrying the gold for both Geelong and Melbourne in locked iron boxes. The escort was to be accompanied by police officers, mounted troopers and members of the Aboriginal Police Force and would travel via the Geelong-Buninyong Track to Geelong where the box for Melbourne would then be forwarded via steamer the following day.

The gold escort leaving Ballarat c1852-4. Image held by the State Library
of Victoria

Of course, if a regular gold escort was to be established, it needed to be serviced. Changes of horse and personnel would be required along the route and it wasn't long therefore before a police paddock was gazetted at the newly surveyed township of Meredith. From this convenient location at the halfway point between Geelong and the Ballarat diggings officers could serve the surrounding district, but were also well placed to escort gold from Steiglitz once mining boomed there too.
Along with the escorts and men came their horses and it wasn't long before contracts were regularly being sought for the supply of oats, hay and other consumables to be delivered to various staging points along the route taken by the gold escort such as Batesford, Lethbridge, Meredith and Burnt Bridge.

View across the Meredith Police Paddock which is now a nature reserve

To oversee proceedings on the government's behalf, Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe was quick to appoint Gold Commissioners who were supported by a raft of Assistant Commissioners and other officials. The role of the Commissioner and his staff was primarily to collect payment and issue gold licences. He was also responsible for collecting the gold to be taken by escort and for resolving disputes over claims which frequently occurred between miners. His most controversial role however, was probably that of law enforcer. It was the Gold Commissioner who ordered the hated "license hunts", during which diggers were required to show a current license or face arrest. In this role, he was backed up by police officers and - at Ballarat - by troopers from the 12th and 40th regiments.

This etching shows diggers lining up to pay for their hated gold licenses at
the gold commissioner's tent in 1852. Image held by the State Library
of South Australia

The first Gold Commissioner in Victoria was appointed and arrived at Ballarat on 19th September, 1851. His name was Francis Crossman Doveton. Upon arrival, he set up his tent on what became known as Old Post Office Hill overlooking Golden Point between the Yarrowee River and Canadian Creek. It was from this point that licenses were issued, gold was collected, ready for transportation to Melbourne and Geelong.
Whilst I found mention of various attacks on individuals and parties travelling between Geelong and the Ballarat diggings, there is no specific mention of an attempt on the gold escort along the route, suggesting perhaps that the diggers' faith in the authorities - in this instance at least - was well placed.

Making tracks - forging ahead

And so the journey continues...
After departing the somewhat dubious delights of the Golden Fleece, local knowledge suggests that those earliest, hopeful diggers made their way back across the Coolebarghurk Creek, following the track along the bank for a short distance before taking a westerly line through the site of today's Meredith Primary School.

Heading north along the track beside Coolebarghurk Creek 

From this point, the exact route of the track becomes a little less certain. After passing through the school, the 1943 description of the track by a local resident indicates that the track "continued up the old Lal Lal road through Mt Doran to Buninyong and Ballarat". But is there any remaining evidence to support this?
As usual I had a bit of a dig around and talked to a few locals with an interest in the history of Meredith and came up with some snippets which may give a few pointers. About the section from the school to Lal Lal Road, I could find nothing. The one available surveyed line running up Wallace St and into the Ballan-Meredith Rd did not show a track crossing it at any point, however this line was taken in July, 1858 by which time the new road had been established for several years. Perhaps the original track had already faded in what was fast becoming quite a populous area.
My next approach was to spend many hours pawing over the surveyors' field books covering the northern portion of the parish of Meredith. Whilst the areas covered seem to be a little hit-and-miss, I was very fortunate that the book for this section was both available and clearly written by surveyor Maurice Weston who criss-crossed the area in 1857.
After finally managing to establish the baseline position he worked from, I was then able to follow the lines he surveyed, marking them - and any notable features - on Google Earth. Fortunately, the surveyors were diligent about marking tracks when they crossed them, occasionally even providing some indication as to where the track lead. The end result was a series of points which when plotted, yielded a number of lines radiating northwards from town.

The above image shows the approximate line of the tracks leaving Meredith
marked on Google Earth. Click to enlarge

The most easterly followed the line of Slate Quarry Road with the already-surveyed Ballan-Meredith Rd also marked. Slightly to the west of the road but heading in much the same direction was an old track - presumably the precursor to the surveyed road just mentioned. Next was a line which for the most part followed the current path of Lal Lal Rd; a possible candidate, if the 1943 source is to be taken at face value, for the continuation of the track to the goldfields.
There was however, one further track which emerged. This was more westerly than all the others and may either have branched off from the track to Lal Lal just north of the town boundary or may even have left town at today's Creamery Rd, near the site of what was the Free Presbyterian Church as a track was also marked at this point. This path to the west looks to have followed a similar line to the Midland Highway but at a distance of a few hundred metres to the east of that road and roughly following the eastern bank of Coolebarghurk Creek. Tantalisingly, one of the points along the track was marked "Old Main Road".
 Before jumping straight to conclusions however, it is perhaps worth noting that the - admittedly vague - map produced by surveyor A.J. Skene in 1845, shows the line of track passing through the future site of Meredith and exiting via a path remarkably similar to the first 2 km of the track following the Lal Lal Rd. On the face of it, this would seem to support the above statement that the track continued up the "old Lal Lal Road to Mt Doran". I always thought however, that this seemed a somewhat odd path to follow for travellers intent on reaching Mt Buninyong as it would extend the journey by several kilometres. I did find a possible explanation for this, but that belongs in a future post.

Finally, there is a locally held belief that there was a blacksmith's shop on the old track out of town. Sources would have it that the smithy was on the south west corner of Gargan's and Griffith's Road. As the map above shows, the track to the west, likely passed right by this corner. But who was this smith and is there any evidence to support the theory?
A search of the newspapers of the day gave surprisingly little information. The earliest reference I could find - by implication - to a blacksmith in Meredith was an 1856 advertisement for a forge at the Victoria Hotel, Lethbridge which claimed to be the only forge between Batesford and Meredith.
The first blacksmith in Meredith it was said by an early resident, was Michael Ward and it wasn't hard to find reference to him. Ward was amongst the first to own land in the district and in 1853 when the earliest land sales occurred in the parish of Meredith, he purchased a half acre block in town which ran between Lawler and Russell Streets. In addition to this and other purchases in town, Michael and his son Joseph, went on to amass a significant estate immediately to the north of Griffith's Rd - directly opposite the purported site of the forge.

Looking east across the banks of Coolebarghurk Creek at "Chestervale" to the
left of Griffith's Rd. The site believed to be the blacksmith's is on the opposite
side of the road, to the right

They most likely purchased the first of this land as early as 1853. The block on the south west corner (allotment 125) on the other hand, was purchased by Mr T. Connor and does not appear to have belonged to the Wards. It is interesting to note however, that a triangular section of about half an acre along the northern boundary of this block, facing Griffith's Road was excluded from Connor's allotment, instead forming part of the road reserve. This is shown on the survey maps and even today, the line of the excluded section is still clearly visible from above via Google Earth. Is it possible therefore that Ward's forge was located on government land adjoining his property?
Maybe. I do know that, by the late 1880s the Wards had purchased about 2,500 acres of land which stretched from the newly made Geelong-Ballarat Rd all the way to the Moorabool River. They named their property "Chestervale".

A Google Earth view overlaid with the 1982 survey map of the Parish of Meredith
showing the tracks (green) marked in the above map in relation to the four blocks
of Chestervale land (red), sold in 1892. Click to enlarge

I can find no direct reference to Michael operating a forge at Chestervale nor to one located nearby, but in 1853 his occupation was stated as blacksmith. By 1879, as the Wards continued to purchase land, Michael was still plying his trade as a blacksmith. When a neighbour applied to have a section of road closed, he was quick to inform the Meredith Shire Council via a petition of several ratepayers and his own statement that any alteration to the road would "ruin him as it would take the traffic away from his shop."
In today's terms, the section of road in question is Griffith's Rd between the Lal Lal and the Ballan-Meredith Roads. Chestervale was of course less than a mile to the west on Griffith's Rd. It is here then one imagines, that Michael Ward operated his blacksmith's shop, although whether on his own purchased land north of the road or perhaps on the triangle of crown land on the south west corner of Griffith's and Gargan's Roads remains a mystery.
In addition to these activities, the Wards also ran various other businesses over the years, including a hotel (known simply as Ward's Hotel) during the 1860s, a store (originally Gosling's Hotel) which burnt down in 1875 and sale yards in the township. In 1890, father and son went into business as stock, station and general commission agents, operating initially they said from their offices in Meredith where they had been since 1853.
The venture was short-lived however, as they were forced into voluntary insolvency only two years later, at which time Chestervale was broken up and auctioned off. Undeterred by this setback, by the mid 1890s Joseph was running a coach service for Cobb & Co. between Meredith and Steiglitz and also dabbled in speculative mining ventures. His father Michael, if indeed he ever ceased, returned to his work as a blacksmith. Upon his sudden death in 1905 at the age of 90, it was reported that he collapsed at his home in Staughton St, where he had just finished shoeing a horse.

Establishment believed to be Ward's. Image courtesy of the Meredith History
Interest Group's collection

So, whilst I cannot at this stage, definitely prove that Michael Ward or anyone else kept a blacksmith's shop at the south west corner of Gargan's and Griffith's Roads, I do know that Michael was a blacksmith as early as 1853 and owned the original three blocks of Chestervale land probably from 1853. Both dates are a little late for the beginning of the gold rush, however the new road was not completed until around 1856, so perhaps Ward did purchase his land for its location on the old track, in order to capture passing trade. The re-routing of the road can not have been too detrimental to business however, as he was still at Chestervale and running his business from or very near his home during the 1870s.
On a final note, by the time of his death in 1905, Michael was operating his shop from Staughton St in town. It would, I think, be safe to assume that whatever blacksmith's shop he did operate from or near Chestervale, was sold in 1892 along with the rest of the estate. By that time, the new road through Meredith had been established for more than 35 years and the land through which the old bullock track passed, had long ago been snapped up by settlers eager to own a piece of what during the 1850s, was shaping up to become one of Victoria's most important towns.

Making tracks - Marrabool or Moorabool?

The next stop on the bullock track from Geelong to the goldfields of Buninyong and Ballarat was the Golden Fleece Inn which I have mentioned in a number of previous posts. Prior to the gold rush, it was reputed to be the only licensed public house, between the Separation Inn at the Leigh Road turn off from Geelong and Mother Jamieson's Hotel in Buninyong. Positioned at the halfway point between the two towns, it occupied a unique position.
The original inn was located on the bullock track  which ran along the eastern bank of Coolebarghurk Creek, near today's Dickman's Bridge. It first opened I believe, in 1842, when a publican's license was granted to Andrew Stewart for the Golden Fleece Inn on the Marrabool Creek, Buninyong road.
Stewart's earliest customers would have been the the the squatters and the stockmen who worked for them.

The site of the original Golden Fleece Inn

By August, 1844 however, the inn, described as being "on the road from Geelong to Buninyong and Portland Bay" was on the market. The next listed licensee was Robert Steel, followed in April, 1846 by Henry Lawler who until that time had been the captain of the steamer Aphrasia which plied the waters between Geelong and Melbourne. Upon taking up the license, Lawler undertook substantial renovations before once again, putting the property on the market later that year. It was during 1846 that the inn also became the staging post for the first private mail service between Geelong and Buninyong.
Over the following years, licenses for the property were granted to John Haimes (1847), William Ritchie (1848), Joseph Rice (1852) and then finally, from late 1852 to William Watson. On each occasion, the address of the Golden Fleece Inn was given as Buninyong Road and/or Marrabool/Moorabool Creek.
At this point, a little clarification may be warranted. Firstly, prior to about 1852, the name Marrabool seems to have been commonly used instead of Moorabool. This is reflected in various sources including the maps and newspapers of the era. Secondly, whilst Coolebarghurk was in use as a parish name as early as the 1840s, it does not appear as the name of the creek as far as I can see, before 1861. Prior to this, every reference is to either Marrabool or Moorabool Creek. As a result, when I first turned to Google to look for the Golden Fleece Inn, I was initially confused by references to the Golden Fleece Inn on the Marrabool Creek; the Marrabool Inn at Marrabool Creek; the Marrabool Inn, Buninyong Road; the Golden Fleece Inn on the Moorabool Creek; the Moorabool Hotel, at Moorabool Creek (Melbourne-Ballarat Road); the Marrabool (or Moorabool) Inn at Bates Ford and on one occasion even the Golden Fleece Inn on the Moorabool River.
What?!
Eventually, after sifting through dozens of newspaper references I had it sorted. The Marrabool or Moorabool Inn, was located on the Moorabool River at Batesford. The earliest date I can find for the Marrabool Inn from contemporary sources is 1844. From 1850 it was known as the Derwent Hotel and today, it is the Batesford Hotel.

The former Marrabool Inn, Batesford

By contrast, the Golden Fleece Inn on the Marrabool or Moorabool Creek (now called Coolebarghurk Creek), was - as stated above - established in 1842 by Andrew Stewart at the future site of the township of Meredith. Occasionally, it seems to have been referred to (erroneously) as the Marrabool Inn. To confuse the issue further however, Stewart put property on the market in August, 1844, then by June, 1845 an A Stewart (possibly the same proprietor) was selling the Marrabool Inn at Batesford (which - to be clear - was never known as the Golden Fleece).
Finally, the occasional mention of a Moorabool Hotel on the Moorabool Creek, is referring to a third hotel, located on the Melbourne-Ballarat Road near the east branch of the Moorabool River which seems also to have been called Moorabool Creek. It is perhaps for this reason that by 1861, the creek at Meredith had become known as the Coolebarghurk Creek.
Now, whilst the Golden Fleece may originally have been a respectable establishment, by the days of the gold rush and William Watson's tenure, it was anything but. Reports abound about its notorious reputation. In the book Life in Victoria (William Kelly, 1859), it is described in 1853 as "excellently situated close by a nice creek, but the house was a most wretched, tumble-down domicile, with a shattered roof, which let the rain down the mouldy walls, and a tottering verandah, tiled with stringy bark."

A section of the bullock track past the Golden Fleece Inn, now part of the
Middleton Walk

This description fits well with that of a correspondent to the Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer of 22nd January, 1853 who wrote:

The supper was first rate, and the charge in these days, but moderate. The accommodation, however does not seem to be adequate to a diggers' road. There were but two small bed-rooms. The one we occupied was amply provided with ventilation by means of the cracks in the door and a vacant pane in the window. It was evident that the object for which this house, like most others, was established was simply to sell the greatest possible amount of grog, and not afford accommodation to travellers. We admit the difficulties of the times, and we believe our host does the best for his guests according to the means of the place. Throughout the night, we were kept awake by the ravings of a poor wretch in the drinking room, who was just entering into a fit of delirium tremens, the result of a two days' debauch.

Likewise, in his autobiography Henry Mundy described the scene at the Golden Fleece in 1852:

...supper which was bread, salt-junk and tea in pannikins. This feed was charged 2/6 for. Beds were full many times over, if they had had them. Each traveller had to use his own swag if he had one, and doss on the dining table or under it or on whatever part of the dirt floor he chose to select for his night's rest under the roof; for this sleeping accommodation was charged 2/6.

The next morning, one of Mundy's travelling companions had a "fearful tale to tell" of his night at Watson's hotel:

He sat up till one o'clock, among, as he termed it, the drunk blasphemous crowd. When it appeared to be somewhat quiet, he turned in to try to get a little sleep. Next to him on the table, a man had been sleeping and snoring, like a pig, in his drunken sleep for sometime. "Just as I had dropped into a doze," Burrows said, "the fellow put his harm round me and hugged and pulled me about, called me his dear Jenny and protested how he loved me and tried to kiss me. As soon as I could get free of the brute, disgusted, I sprang off the table..."

Burrows then inquired of Mundy: "They call it the Devil's Hotel don't they?" Mundy could only agree, then went on to observe that the days of this establishment were numbered as the new road from Geelong to Ballarat was in the process of being surveyed, leaving Watson's hotel about half a mile to the east of the new road and on the wrong side of the creek.
No doubt well aware of the commercial opportunities of the continuing gold rush, Watson was amongst the first purchasers of land in Meredith upon which he built much larger, more commodious lodgings for his patrons, conveniently located on the new line of road. His second hotel, built in 1853, was designed by architects Snell and Kawerau and remarkably, was the second largest timber building in the colony at that time. Watson however may have overstretched his capital as by September, 1854 his new hotel was on the market - but not for want of custom.

Watson's Hotel (later the Royal Hotel), Meredith. Image taken from
www.meredith.net.au/history.html

Indeed, so great was the traffic through Meredith to the goldfields, that by the height of the gold rush, the town was able to support five or six hotels in addition to the inevitable sly-grog shop or two. It is no wonder then that The Age of the 20th November, 1855 describes diggers being "stacked in like shingles at The Golden Fleece on the Buninyong Road".
As well appointed as the new Watson's Hotel may have been, the journey must needs continue and once the aspiring diggers had managed to drag themselves away from the delights of the Golden Fleece, it was back onto the track. With the arrival of the new road, this meant following the current route out of town, but in the early days the route was somewhat different. Whilst none of the maps I have found show the exact routes, one local resident recalled that the bullock track crossed Coolebarghurk Creek about 50m downstream from Dickman's Bridge, following the course of the creek to the site where the Meredith Primary School now stands and turning to the west.
Of course, just when I thought I had things sorted, I was shown an article from the Geelong Advertiser of 1856 which proved that things weren't as simple as I hoped.
The trouble stemmed from an informal agreement between Meredith's fledgling traders and the Central Road Board. At the time of the initial land sales in 1853, there was an understanding that when the new main road was built, it would pass down Wallace Street as it was claimed that "the main tracks to Ballarat, of that day, were shown to be straight through what is now known as Wallace Street". Accordingly, land prices reflected this expectation.
The alternate route was via Read Street to the west where land had been purchased for significantly less than on Wallace Street. I have not yet discovered when a resolution was reached and I am told that the route of the Midland Highway through Meredith remained a point of discussion even until recent decades. Regardless, the Midland Highway to this day, passes along Wallace Street.

Coming and going. An old mile post still marks the distance between Geelong
and Ballarat on the Midland Highway at Meredith

The problem for my research however, is that accepted local lore says that the main track ran past Watson's original hotel on the opposite side of Coolebarghurk Creek. There is no mention of the "main" or indeed any track to Ballarat to the west of the creek. As I mentioned in my previous post however, I was unable to discover exactly when the road to the west of the creek was first surveyed or if a second bullock track followed the high ground between Native Hut and Coolebarghurk Creeks and it may well be that both tracks were in use prior to the outbreak of the gold rush.

Making tracks - up the creek

Upon reaching the Green Tent, travellers had a choice; a number of tracks met nearby, leading to different parts of the district - the topic of my previous post. With the discovery of gold however, the traffic was overwhelmingly headed for goldfields of Buninyong and Ballarat.
In the pre-gold rush era when movement around the district was determined by the need to move stock, staying close to water was vital. As a result, the original bullock track departed from the course of the current Midland Highway at the Green Tent, instead, following (as previously mentioned) a similar line to that of today's Taylor's Road (originally known as Pound Road), across Coolebarghurk Creek then taking the higher ground along the course of the creek to the Golden Fleece Inn.
I can see no mention of a bridge at the creek crossing on Taylor's Road prior to the 1870s and I imagine that any crossing prior to this would have been rudimentary at best, meaning that the early settlers, the first coaches and diggers heading to the goldfields may have had to ford the creek at this point.

Coolebarghurk Creek at Ross' Bridge

During a recent visit to the site of this little crossing (known as Ross' Bridge for the selector whose land surrounded it), I did notice what I believe are the remains of an early bridge - perhaps even the one which washed away during the 1880 flood which also took the nearly completed nearby Sharp's Bridge.

The earthen abutment of an earlier version of Ross' Bridge? As well as the
mound, there is scattered bluestone and a few timbers also protrude from the water

Looking at the earthworks from across Coolebarghurk Creek

Nor is this the only indication of an earlier route. Even today, traces of the old bullock track can still be seen in some places. A section of cobblestones, believed to be part of the track, has been found in a field not far from the present road, an can a tree with markings carved into it is believed to be a survey marker and milepost - M56.   A quick check of Google Earth, following the track to Melbourne as indicated on surveyor A.J. Skene's 1845 map suggests that this may well have been 56 miles from Melbourne via the Melbourne-Buninyong Road which I mentioned in my previous post.

The 1857 survey map (held by the State Library of Victoria) overlaid on Google Earth.
The green lines indicate the pre-survey tracks leading to the Golden Fleece.
Click to enlarge

However, whilst the bullock track beside the creek served well enough during the 1840s, the huge influx of foot traffic engendered by the gold rush changed things. Without the need to water stock and with the Green Tent nearby, it was easier perhaps to stay on the high ground between Native Hut and Coolebarghurk Creeks. This certainly seems to have been the view of the early surveyors. Whilst there was extensive surveying work along the Geelong-Ballarat Road between 1854 and 1858, parts were definitely surveyed earlier - in particular, the areas around intended town sites. An early map of "the town and district of Geelong as surveyed in 1848" indicates the extent of surveyed land in the district (see below). Published by Macdonald and Garrard in 1854, it clearly shows the surveyed line of the Midland Highway and blocks around the Meredith township which was one of the earliest towns established along the route to the goldfields. The first land sales took place in 1853 with the land surveyed some time before that, including the present alignment of the Midland Highway through town.

Section of 1854 map (surveyed 1848) showing the route of the road between
Geelong and Meredith and the extent of surveyed lands in the district.
Image held by the State Library of Victoria.
Click to enlarge

Not surprisingly, this huge increase in traffic lead to a rising tide of complaints about the condition of the road to the diggings. Action was finally taken in 1856 when contracts were issued for surfacing the various sections with road metal. This was followed in 1857 by the erection of several toll-gates, including one located just outside of Meredith (marked on the overlaid maps above), presumably in an attempt to defray the cost of road maintenance.
The imposition of tolls may however, have lead to somewhat of a resurgence in traffic via the old stock route over Coolebarghurk Creek. At as late a date as 1869 a shepherd moving sheep along the Geelong-Ballarat Road was accused of having deliberately avoided paying the toll by taking his sheep off the main road about a mile and a half above the toll-gate and returning them about a mile past the gate. A quick look at the parish maps suggests that he and his stock followed the old track out of Meredith before crossing back to the west side of Coolebarghurk Creek along a track which left the old bullock route and lead back to the main road - conveniently enough - below the toll-gate. His case however was dismissed as the need to feed and water stock was seen as a valid reason for the diversion.
For the diggers however, the shortest route no doubt became the most popular and the course of the new road was set. The Golden Fleece - the halfway point on their trek to the goldfields - was now about half a mile closer than it had been.

Making tracks - all roads lead to the Green Tent

As I set about trying to determine the exact location of Green Tent for my last post - either the actual tent or the settlement which developed - I began to form an idea as to why it was there at all. In the earliest days of the Port Phillip District, settlement focused on the homesteads of the squatters. Routes of travel developed as stock and supplies were moved between squatting runs and to the ports of Melbourne and Geelong. The need for effective communication soon followed. As coaching routes were established, so were staging points which allowed for a change of horses and a break for weary travellers. A supply of water was also crucial, not only to travellers, but to anyone moving stock.
Prior to the gold rush, there were no villages between Geelong and Buninyong, just the occasional inn which was often built at the intersection of two tracks or near a reliable source of water. The former was the case for the Separation Inn (est 1850), situated where the tracks to Buninyong and the Leigh (Shelford) diverged. The next licensed premises along the route however was the Golden Fleece Inn on the Coolebarghurk Creek (later Meredith), a distance of over 17 miles - a very long, dry stretch indeed.
With the arrival of the gold rush, walking distance became important too.
Batesford - located about 7 miles from Geelong - as well as being a key crossing point of the Moorabool River, was also the site of two of the earliest inns in the region - the Marrabool Inn (est 1842) and the Traveller's Rest (est 1849) and eventually developed into a town. For those not heading to Bannockburn or The Leigh, the Separation Inn was a further 4 miles along the Buninyong road and Lethbridge a further 8 miles beyond that, close to Bruce's Creek. Each was a reasonable walking distance between breaks. The distance to Meredith with its Golden Fleece Inn however was somewhat further, being about 9 miles from Lethbridge, so it is perhaps not surprising that that someone saw an opportunity.
In addition to a sly grog shop (or coffee tent as they were euphemistically known), the Green Tent had a water supply in the form of Green Tent Creek. This was officially recognised in the form of a government reserve, including a (then) permanent water supply from the creek  which was set aside for public use.
I think there was also one other important factor which determined where the Green Tent was situated. It was a point of convergence and not just a local one. Several significant roads from different parts of the colony all met at or near this point, making it an obvious location to water stock and take a break. Today, it is hard to imagine this ordinary stretch of the Midland Highway as a major intersection, however the traces are there to be found for those who look.
Prior to the beginning of the gold rush, roads distant from metropolitan areas were just bush tracks. The track from Geelong came from the south as described above, however at this point, local sources indicate that the track diverged from the current route of the highway, instead roughly following the line of today's Taylor's Road.

Taylor's Road (aka Pound Road), route of the old bullock track to Buninyong

Perhaps the larger Coolebarghurk Creek provided easier access to water for stock than Green Tent Creek, but it would seem that the track turned away from the high ground between Native and Coolebarghurk Creeks, instead running down to cross the latter creek at a small ford which became known as Ross' Bridge, from there following the eastern bank of the creek towards the Golden Fleece Inn - the only other public house on the route to Buninyong during the 1840s.

Ross' Bridge over Coolebarghurk Creek on Taylor's Road (aka Pound Road)

It is for this reason that the the Golden Fleece was situated on the east bank of Coolebarghurk Creek, the opposite side of the creek to where centre of the town of Meredith would eventually develop.
Whilst this may have been the preferred route for those moving stock, those travelling without encumbrance may have chosen a shorter route. The current course of the highway is over half a mile shorter than Taylor's Road. The earliest maps I have found, dating back to the 1840s appear to show a direct route which does not cross Coolebarghurk Creek before reaching the Golden Fleece Inn, however these are not detailed survey maps.
I can find no conclusive evidence which confirms when  exactly the current route into Meredith originally came into use, however I do know that the current alignment of the highway through Meredith was first officially surveyed prior to the initial land sales in 1853.
This event was noted in his autobiography by Henry Mundy when he observed in 1852 that the days of the Golden Fleece (or the Devil's Inn as it was also known) were numbered as the new road from Geelong was being surveyed at that time, leaving the hotel some quarter of a mile away on the opposite side of Coolebarghurk Creek.
Returning to our point of origin at the Green Tent, in addition to the track from Geelong across Coolebarghurk Creek and (from at least 1852), the direct route to Meredith, there was also the road from Steiglitz - today's Sharp's Road. Whilst the gold rush to Steiglitz did not occur until the 1860s, Sharp's Crossing as the then ford was known provided access to the eastern portion of Moranghurk, Durdidwarrah, Darriwill and other stations across the Moorabool River. The alignment of the track to the ford however, was not the same as today's Sharp's Road which was only adopted in 1955. Prior to this there were two approaches, one from the Geelong direction and a second from the Ballarat side.

The intersection of Taylor's Road with the Midland Highway. This short
section originally formed the northern approach to Sharp's Crossing
(Elizabeth Lowe's tent was only a few hundred metres off to the right)

A third important intersection was to the west of the Buninyong Road, where first the Learmonth brothers and then from 1848 Robert Sutherland had held the Native Creek Run. Whilst I have found no mention of where exactly the track to the west diverged from the Geelong-Buninyong track, I did find the following description from 1906 when a correspondent to the Geelong Advertiser described his journey through the district back in 1853:

There were no fences and no roads in these days - nothing but broad bush tracks, winding in all directions, according to the nature of the ground, which was very rotten and soft in places. I thought I would be all right for Buninyong if I kept to the broad, beaten track, being unaware at the time that the bullock teams and sometimes the horse teams went off the track near the "Green Tent," a grog shanty on the Ballarat road, across the Leigh Plains by way of Shelford bridge, in order to feed their horses and bullocks on the rich grass on the plains between there and Buninyong. Hence I got off the main Ballarat road, turning to the left, and found myself at Shelford...

Wherever it was, the track to the Green Tent was clearly a well-used one. The track to Shelford also mentioned above, followed a course to the west of Native Hut Creek, heading south to that town and north to the future site of Meredith however, there was also a track to Teesdale which branched off the Shelford track, crossed Native Hut Creek where Green Tent Road crosses today and then headed away to the south east, following the line of Stony Creek (another small tributary which joins Native Hut Creek above the Hamilton Highway, north east of Inverleigh).

The little ford on Green Tent Road as it crosses Native Hut Creek where
the track from Teesdale also crossed the creek

When the government surveyor Maurice Weston surveyed the area in 1858, he noted these tracks in his field books and laid out a network of roads. As with the eastern side of the Buninyong Road however, the roads to the west are somewhat different now to what was originally envisaged. Today, there are no roads running directly south towards Teesdale as per the survey maps, however the Green Tent Road  remains as surveyed in 1858. In the following decades as the gold rush progressed, this little road would also have provided access to nearby diggings on the creeks to the west and then to the farms of the selectors who followed.
There was one other route which also joined the Geelong-Buninyong track at the Green Tent and it took me a little digging to find it.
Whilst reading the media reports of the murder of Elizabeth Lowe for my previous post, I came across the following statement given in evidence at the trial of her murderer Owen McQueeny:

...I saw the prisoner...coming from the direction of the Green Tent....my house is about five miles from the Green Tent. He was coming along the Melbourne road when I saw him, and asked for the Steiglitz road to Geelong.

The Steiglitz Road to Geelong would of course be Sharp's Road, but where was the Melbourne Road? There is certainly no road of that name in the area today. A little more poking around revealed that in 1841, part of the boundary of the County of Grant was described thus: "...the remainder of the western boundary is formed by tracing up the Native Hut Creek, to the point where it is crossed by the road from Buninyong to Melbourne; then along that road on the northwestern side of Station Peak [the You Yangs] to the crossing place on the Werriby..." So the Melbourne-Buninyong Road travelled east-west between Werribee and Native Hut Creek. A quick glance at some of the early maps revealed that a track did run as described. Skene's 1845 map of Victoria clearly shows the track and although short on detail, it appears to cross the Moorabool River at what surely must be Spiller's Bridge on Perdrisat Road.

Spiller's Bridge today. Some timbers from the old bridge (extant until the 1980s)
are still visible protruding from the riverbed

According to Skene, rather than following the modern line of Perdrisat Road, the track continued in a north westerly direction and appeared to intersect with the Geelong-Buninyong track very close to the Green Tent, possibly near the 30 mile post from Ballarat.

Looking across the Moorabool Valley to the steep curve of Perdrisat Road. The
old track however continued in a north westerly direction away from the current
course of the road

So, even before the gold rush made the Green Tent one of the busiest thoroughfares in the colony, this long-gone settlement was a jumping off point for roads to Geelong, Buninyong, Shelford, Teesdale, Bamganie, Steiglitz and even Melbourne. It is probably unsurprising then, that the Green Tent became such a well-known stopping point on the track to Buninyong.
Below I have included a composite image which gives some idea of where the various tracks intersected each other and the Geelong-Buninyong track in relation to today's roads. To do this, I have overlaid the relevant part of Google Earth with a section of the 1867 geological survey map.

1867 geological survey map overlaying Google Earth, showing the old and the new.
Modern roads on Google Earth are in white and yellow.
I have highlighted part of the Shelford track (green), Teesdale and Lethbridge track (red),
the old Sharp's road exits and  Taylor's/Pound Road (red) and have added a rough estimate of
where the track from Melbourne (blue) may have intersected.
Click to enlarge