Which Bridge?

By the end of 1848, the Moorabool River crossing at Bates' Ford - as the area was by then commonly known - had its new bridge. The wool clip could be conveyed to Geelong, travellers could pass in safety and pedestrians could cross the Moorabool without fear of falling through rotten timbers and pitching into the river below; for a while at least.
According to one local source (History of Batesford: 1842-1941, held by the Geelong Historical Records Centre) the new bridge is said to have stood in the same position as the the historic bluestone bridge stands today. That this is likely to be substantially correct is supported by an 1850 reference to the bridge and the public house being "not more than fifty yards apart" (The Argus, 22nd June, 1850). The premises in question would have been the Marrabool Inn which stood where the Batesford Hotel does today and even now the distance between the hotel and the stone bridge is almost exactly 50 yards. Like its predecessor, the 1848 bridge was a timber structure, but other than this, I have managed to find little extra detail.

Batesford Hotel and the 1859 bluestone bridge, looking west. November, 2016

In addition to the new bridge, there were also roadworks. On 26th December, 1848, the Geelong Advertiser reported that  the government had decided to "open and make certain parish roads...viz:--From North Geelong to the bridge over the Moorabool River at Bates's Ford, being part of the Great Western Road."
Prior to this, in 1840 works had been undertaken to realign the eastern approach to the river. Whether this line of road crossed the river at Manifold's Ford or via the original timber bridge is not clear, but the road followed a similar alignment to the modern Midland Hwy across the river flats at Batesford. The route from Geelong at that time was probably more track than road and followed a path which meandered across Bell Post Hill and down into the valley (see map in previous post). The alignment proposed in 1848 followed the modern line across Bell Post Hill, approaching the river via what is now the Old Ballarat Rd at Batesford which is little different to the 1840 or the modern alignment, further confirming perhaps the location of the 1848 bridge on or very near the bluestone bridge.
So for the time being, Bates' Ford had a reliable bridge. Two years prior to the construction of the bridge, the land to the east of the Moorabool had been auctioned by the government. The purchaser of allotment 10, section A, Parish of Moorpanyal, was George Hope. This 468 acre parcel of land stretched from the banks of the river, eastward to today's Geelong-Ballan Rd and included the sites of both Manifold's and Bates' fords, the Marrabool Inn and - from 1848 - the new bridge.
As a local landholder, Hope was no doubt well aware of the importance of the river crossing and, seeing a business opportunity, in 1850 he arranged for the subdivision of this block into town and small farm allotments. After an extensive advertising campaign the "Village of Batesford and Estate of Hopeton" was offered for public auction by T Horsbrugh at 12pm on the 18th July. The auction was well attended and many blocks were purchased. Any unsold land was advertised over the following months as "for sale by private bargain".

The original subdivision of Batesford Township by George
Hope. Image taken from Batesford and its Early Families,
Bettina Blackall, 1991

The following year, on 21st February, a second auction was held, followed by further subdivision and a third auction on 26th August, 1853. By this time of course, the gold rush was in full swing and business was booming. Batesford however, was once again having trouble with its bridge.
In late May, 1852 floods had yet again hit the Moorabool River. This time, the water reached the highest level seen since European settlement. In the newly-established town of Batesford, houses built in the wake of George Hope's auction, were inundated and people forced to take to their roofs to escape the rising floodwaters (The Argus, 25th May, 1852). After the water receded, the bridge which was less than four years old, was found to be in a very bad state. The Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer reported on 25th May, that the bridge was "so shattered and ill conditioned by the late inundation, as to be extremely dangerous."
The response from government was typically slow. It was not until January, 1853 that tenders were called for the erection of a new - timber - bridge. According to the local publication Batesford - an historical background (Jennifer Warner, Geelong Historical Records Centre), the new bridge was a composite through truss structure designed by Charles Rowand. For unexplained reasons however, no tender appears to have been accepted. Instead, construction got underway immediately using day labour.
At this point however, things become a little unclear and there is some doubt as to whether the 1848 bridge was replaced completely or instead, was extensively repaired. If the latter was the case - and I tend to think it was - then the "third" Batesford bridge must have been located on the same site as the 1848 bridge. Regardless, it was not until September (Warner claims) that the works were completed and in the meantime, reports began to appear in the newspapers expressing the concerns and frustrations of the community as they waited for completion of the works:

22nd January (Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer) "The [Batesford] bridge is very rough, and not too safe; its centre happens to present a cavity, the decent(sic) into, or ascent out of which gives the bullocks and their drays an awkward shaking." 

28th March (Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer) "BATES' FORD BRIDGE--This unique specimen of colonial engineering is shaped exactly like a W, or a man drawn up by a cramp in the stomach. At present it is impassable, for months past it has been only dangerous. A small platform is thrown across the river for the benefit of pedestrians, equestrians, and quadrupeds, which platform half a day's rain would wash away. Via Bates' Ford, communication with the Leigh, Buninyong, Ballarat, &c, is carried on by means of a PLANK. Hear that, ye Board of Commissioners of Roads and Bridges." 

9th May (The Tasmanian Colonist) "the Government at last showed a disposition to repair parts of the roads leading to the Western diggings. They have contented themselves with patching up one bridge, that of Bate's Ford, leaving other parts of the route in a most disgraceful condition." 

14th July, 1853 (Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer) "the broken-backed [bridge] at Batesford" 

3rd August, 1853 (Geelong Advertiser and Inelligencer) "There is one comfort for Geelong--it can scarcely be worse treated. We get little from the Melbourne Government, and are likely to get little more...
...We could wander on the banks of the Barwon, like an unquiet spirit on the shores of the Styx, and mark the ruin and the desolation there, and, turning towards Melbourne, ask, in the name of the 25,000 people why "the bridge is broke and can't be mended?" Of     course La Trobe laughs at it himself, and enjoys the fun of turning Geelong into a "galanti show" for fifteen months. He makes split-stuff of us for laughter, and carries on a wholesale business in the joke line at our expense....
...Across the Moorabool there is a bridge, evidently intended for a steeple chase, or kept in its present state out of compliment to the chamois hunters of Switzerland, having precipitous peaks, and two gorges represented by the letter W--this form being the best adapted for the transit of horses and bullock drays in the Western District.
The impetus acquired in the first descent carries the object to the next apex, where, if it could be made to turn over, we should have a correct idea of a centrifugal railway. This bridge is intended to prevent people crossing, and answers its purpose admirably. Undoubtedly, during the present winter, his Excellency has saved many valuable lives by preventing people adventuring on the Buninyong road, which probably they would have done but for this "chevaux de frise".
People blame the government, in the case of the Barwon bridge, for not repairing what is undone. In the case of the Bar [Point Henry sandbar], the government is blamed for not doing that which for years they had promised, and still promise to do, without doing. With the Bates Ford bridge, the blame is for doing badly at first, and worse afterwards. Nor is this all. The wallet is not yet emptied. There is another grievance, growing with years, heedlessly passed by, and jeeringly encountered.
The Melbourne Government is aware that there are such places as Buninyong and Ballarat, and that the traffic thither is carried on along a line of road beautifully diversified by bog, swamp, and morass, existing in primitive punity impassable to anything except birds, will-o'-th-wisps and Jack-o'-lanthorns(sic), and which has proved fatal, probably, to one mailman and two horses. This is the trunk line to the Western gold fields, and affords a prime subject, illustrative of centralisation, and the transcendent humbug employed to maintain a specious prosperity in one place. Assuming to be a fact, that which was stated in the Council, promulgated from the from the Bench, echoed by the Melbourne papers, and recently used as an argument against the reduction of the license fees, viz., that the proceeds of the gold fields are expended in police, and on roads to and from the gold fields, we maintain, upon this ground alone, that we have been robbed of a hundred thousand pounds during the last eleven months...

The comments from March and May suggest that the it was eventually decided to repair the old bridge, as perhaps does the use of day labour. Indeed an illustration produced by Engineer Rowand (see below), showing both the new and old structures together, may perhaps indicate a composite structure. Of course, if the bridge was being repaired, a separate means of crossing would be required and this was perhaps the purpose of the "plank" which was in use during March when the bridge was said to be impassable, although how long it was used is uncertain.

An illustration from 1853 taken from Batesford - an historical background
(Jennifer Warner, Geelong Historical Records Centre) which purports to show
both the old and "new" bridges and indicates normal river height and that of
the 1852 flood

Clearly, progress was slow, with the bridge still in a state of disrepair by July and seemingly still retaining its distinctive "W" shape as late as the beginning of August.  However, with the works presumably drawing to a close towards the end of that month, tenders were called to metal the Batesford Rd (The Argus, 22nd August, 1853); a road which by then was carrying thousands to and from the goldfields as the last article was keen to convey. Amongst those travelling across the bridge at Batesford, were two well known artists. One was the famous landscape painter Eugene von Guerard, who crossed the bridge on his way to the goldfields on 11th January, 1853. He described crossing the Moorabool by a very unsound wooden bridge". He did not however, stop to make a sketch - at least not one which has survived. The second artist - Henry Winkles - however did stop to draw what he saw.
His sketch was made "circa 1853" at "Bates' ford near Geelong". Winkles was an English artist, engraver and printer, who trained in both England and Germany as a draughtsman before coming to Australia. Shipping records show that he arrived in Melbourne in October, 1852 on board the Mobile from where he travelled to the goldfields to visit his son. During his time there he drew what he saw around him, making many sketches of the everyday life of the diggers. His stay in the Colony of Victoria was relatively brief, lasting a little over a year and by December, 1853 he was back in Melbourne, ready to depart for England on the appropriately-named Great Britain.

Sketch of the Bates' Ford Bridge c1853 by Henry Winkles

Whilst it is possible that he stopped at Batesford to make his sketch at any point during this time, the bridge shown in his illustration appears to be straight, definitely nothing like the warped and misshapen structure described prior to its being rebuilt. It is also worth noting the pile of timber lying near one end of the bridge, implying either construction or demolition of some sort. For this reason, I am inclined to think that Winkles sketched the new - or newly refurbished - bridge, perhaps on his way back to Melbourne to take ship for England.

So, after more than a year of frustration, delay and criticism, I assume from the crashing silence in the newspapers that Batesford finally had a bridge which was - if not state of the art - at least functional once again.

Whose ford?

For some time I have avoided approaching the topic of this blog post, partly because of more pressing subjects, but also because I knew it was going to be a complicated subject. Boy was I right!
From the earliest days of European settlement, the Moorabool River crossing at Batesford was vital to the economy of what would become the Colony of Victoria. As squatters spread out across the plains to the west and pushed north to establish vast sheep and cattle stations, the ford enabled the squatters to move their stock and their wool clips between their stations and the port at Geelong.
With the arrival of the gold rush in August, 1851, the river crossing along with the newly-established town of Batesford witnessed the passage of thousands of diggers making the journey to Ballarat and beyond, hoping to strike it rich on the fabled goldfields of Victoria.
In addition to being an important river crossing, the land around Batesford was also one of the areas first settled when the Port Phillip district was established in 1836. Amongst the earliest settlers to arrive in the district were the Manifold brothers Thomas, John and Peter who - they claimed - were the first to land sheep at Point Henry near Geelong during September and October, 1836. From there, they travelled with their stock to the banks of the Moorabool where they took up land either side of the river from its confluence with Sutherland's Creek to a point below where the township of Batesford now stands. Here they built a slab hut and established a ford. One local source informed me that the Manifold's Ford was situated very near where the two road bridges stand today, giving the settlement its earlier name of Manifold's Ford. A moniker which stuck until about 1845.
By April, 1839 however, the Manifolds had become concerned by the encroachment of other squatters and increasing government regulation and decided to leave the district, moving further inland away from the more closely settled areas. At this time they relocated north west to Lake Purrumbete, leaving the land they had occupied, open for settlement by others.

Underneath the modern road bridge, at or near the site of Manifold's ford,
November, 2016

In the absence of the Manifolds, those eager to establish themselves, moved into the area. One of the earliest was George Russell who, acting on behalf of the Clyde Company, occupied land on the west bank of the Moorabool where he set up a base for his operations. His tenure however was also short-lived as in 1839 when the first land in the Parish of Gherineghap was thrown open for sale, he was outmanoeuvred by the Learmonth brothers. The Learmonths were shareholders in the Port Phillip Association (later the Derwent Company) who were also eager to acquire land for grazing purposes. They purchased much of the land between the Moorabool and the Barwon, including that land on which Russell was squatting. In the following years, Dr John Learmonth, son of Thomas Learmonth Senior built his homestead 'Lawrence Park' on the banks of the Moorabool north of the ford. Russell had no choice but to leave, so he packed his belongings - tents, huts, stockyards and all - and removed himself further to the west where he established a base on the Leigh River.
With the Learmonths occupying the west bank, by 1839 another family - brothers by the name of John and Alfred Bates - moved onto the vacant land left by the departure of the Manifolds on the east bank of the river. According to a section of an 1840 survey map reproduced in Ian Wynd's book So Fine a Country: a history of the Shire of Corio (1981), the Bates brothers established their base just under a kilometre above the current river crossings.
Rather than use the ford favoured by the Manifold's however, the Bates established a second crossing at a point around 200m downstream which they considered easier. It was this second ford which ultimately gave its name to the town of Batesford and which became the road for those passing through the district, however this state of affairs did not last long.

The 1840 survey of the road from Geelong to Buninyong proposed a change in the alignment of the road and the point at which the river was crossed. On the map (see below) a dashed line indicates the proposed road whilst "the road now used" is marked by a heavy solid line. When overlaid on Google Earth, the proposed road follows a path quite similar to that of today's Midland Highway, crossing the river at or near Manifold's Ford whereas the existing road in 1840 veered south west off the present line of road at the bottom of the Batesford Hill. From there, it crossed the river a few hundred metres downstream from the current bridges - probably at Bates' Ford - before turning north west, crossing the Midland Highway in the vicinity of today's Blackall Rd and following a parallel path a short distance north of the highway. (Note: Contrary to the 1840 map, Wynd indicates that the Manifolds' crossing was situated "further downstream than the present bridge" and whilst he doesn't specify how far, I suspect this is a case of confusion with the later Bates' Ford.)

Add caption

Like the Manifolds however, the Bates did not remain long in the district. By 1843 after suffering two years of low rainfall, a rise in labour costs and a reduction in commodity prices, they declared their insolvency and retreated to their father's Station Peak Run at the You Yangs, leaving only their name behind.
At the Moorabool River crossing meanwhile, it seems that the new road laid out in 1840 was soon adopted. This is probably best confirmed by the establishment in 1843 of a public house. It was at this time that Charles Ruffle opened the Marrabool Inn (later known as the Derwent Hotel) on the east bank of the river, on the site which is still occupied by the Batesford Hotel to this day. His inn would have been perfectly situated on the new line of road to make the most of traffic passing across the river.
Whilst crossing the river either at Manifold's or at Bates' ford was relatively easy in good weather, when river levels rose, it could be a different prospect entirely, a fact illustrated on 19th September, 1842 when the Geelong Advertiser reported that four bullocks "were drowned at Manifold's Ford on the Marrible". The article also stated that "the only way in which travellers can take their horses across, is by towing them by ropes passed round trees on the brink of the river."

An illustration by Charles Norton dated 1848 and titled "Batesford in time of
Flood". Image held by the State Library of Victoria

Given the importance to the colonists of the crossing on the Moorabool, it is no surprise that a bridge would quickly become a necessity. The first mention of such a structure in the newspapers was in 1847 when an existing timber bridge was seriously damaged by floods. Various modern sources suggest that this bridge was erected either in or prior to 1846, although no-one is sure. Commenting on the bridge prior to the 1847 floods, the Geelong Advertiser and Squatters' Advocate (28th May, 1847) stated that "this erection has been repeatedly patched in former years, but is now in such a precarious state, that the first flood will probably carry it away altogether" implying that the bridge had been standing for quite some time prior to 1846. This would seem to be a reasonable assumption as timber bridges across the district often lasted around ten years before rot became a problem.
This does of course raise the question of why, if a bridge had existed for several years, there was need for a ford as well. Perhaps the bridge was not suitable for heavy drays and it may well have been easier to move stock via a ford which also provided them with water. Strangely, whilst both fords are mentioned regularly, I can find no description prior to 1847 of exactly how the river was crossed and whether a bridge may have been involved.
So, if an earlier bridge existed, how old was it? I could find no mention of such a structure at either Bates' or Manifold's ford prior to the 1847 floods, however as I trawled through TROVE looking for clues, I came across an intriguing snippet. In 1841, the government established a committee to investigate the possibility of using indigenous workers to fill a labour shortage in the colony and as a result, various squatters across the district were called upon to share their experiences. One who gave evidence was William Roadknight, one of the earliest squatters to arrive in the Geelong region who stated "I have been in the habit of employing the black natives upon my establishment, from June, 1836, up to the present time ; they assisted me in 1836, to build a bridge over the Marraboul River ; this was the first bridge erected at Port Phillip" (Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, 30th September, 1841).
Although he doesn't specify where on the Moorabool he built his bridge, a little more digging revealed that it could well have been at or near the future site of Batesford. On 14th May, 1836 - some months before the arrival of the Manifolds - Roadknight and his three sons sailed on the Vansittart from Van Diemen's Land to Port Phillip and landed at Point Gellibrand (Williamstown). From there they, along with their shepherds and stock, travelled overland to Bell Post Hill where they camped for some time before taking up land on the Barwon River near Ceres. Could the first timber bridge at Batesford have been built by William Roadknight in 1836? Whilst I can find no other mention of a bridge in the ten years to 1846, this could certainly explain why in 1847 the existing bridge was in need of urgent repair, however any bridge built by Roadknight (perhaps in his capacity as a representative of the Port Phillip Association) would by necessity, have been rudimentary.
Corduroy bridges such as the one built at Clarendon on the Midland Hwy were a common means of crossing rivers in the early days of settlement, but these were generally low-lying structures. From context, the bridge of 1847 may have been as much as 20 feet above the riverbed (see below). Nor can I find any source which indicates exactly where the bridge was situated, other than to say it was close to "the ford" which from context was probably Manifold's Ford (History of Batesford 1842 - 1941, Geelong Historical Records Centre).
Regardless of either the age or location of the first bridge, the warning as to the condition of the bridge proved prophetic. In July, 1847 the river did flood and whilst the bridge remained standing once the floodwaters receded, it did not last long. On 24th August an attempt was made to cross the bridge with a loaded dray, but due to the rotten state of the timber, the structure gave way and sent both dray and bullocks plummeting to the river below. Fortunately the only serious damage was to the bridge which was rendered unusable. The following month on 17th September, it was reported in The Melbourne Argus that the bridge was undergoing repair and would be open again in a few days time.
Despite the repairs, it was clear that a new bridge was necessary and the local community approached the government to plead their case for a replacement. Rather than wait upon the vagaries politics however, local subscriptions to fund the bridge were taken up across the district from those who would benefit most. A new bridge was needed before the beginning of the wool season or the squatters would be unable to get their produce to market.

Image of a dray-load of wool crossing the Campaspe River in 1864. Image held
by the State Library of Victoria

Ultimately, the government did come to the party and by January, 1848 the Office of the Superintendent of Bridges was calling for tenders for the construction of a replacement timber bridge at Batesford. At the end of February the contract to complete the job was awarded to a Mr Wayman of Melbourne (Sydney Morning Herald, 23rd February, 1848) who was also the contractor for the Barwon Bridge which was being built in Geelong. Progress on the bridge at Batesford however was frustratingly slow and in the meantime, travellers were forced to use the old bridge which remained in a precarious state.
On 8th July the Geelong Advertiser reported a narrow escape for a woman and her children whose dray ran off the edge of the old bridge, plunging some 20 feet to a - fortunately - dry riverbed below. On this occasion, the bullock driver, not the bridge was considered to be at fault, but by September, things had gone from bad to worse. Work was not progressing and the contractor Mr Wayman, despite payments of £184, was insolvent. To make matters worse, the Geelong Advertiser (21st September, 1848) claimed that "this most necessary public work is about to be discontinued immediately, and is not to be resumed until after Christmas. This arrangement, or rather disarrangement, takes place in consequence of the working contractors of the Marrabool bridge having orders from Mr Lennox, to proceed instantly to complete another bridge within 40 miles of Melbourne."
Regardless of who was to blame for the lack of action, Bates' Ford was stuck with an incomplete bridge for which "the piles had been driven down, and some of the timber put in position" (Batesford - an historical Background, Jennifer Warner, Geelong Historical Record Centre) but which remained unusable. A solution was finally found when James Girvin was contracted to complete the work for a further £307, bringing the total cost of construction to £491. (Note: for those interested, correspondence regarding Girvin's contract to complete the bridge can be found online at the Public Records Office of Victoria's website in the VPRS 19/P1 series, Inward Correspondence, Superintendent of Port Phillip, 1839-1851.)
And so work once again got underway, but by October, and with the new bridge still unfinished, flooding again hit the Moorabool and the complaints once again began to mount:

 "no later than yesterday, the bridge over Bates' Ford, is said to have had no less than three feet of water on it. To add to the increasing danger of passing it under such circumstances, it is represented to have a hole in the very centre, which if not as Shakspeare says, "quite so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door" is nevertheless sufficient to engulph(sic) any person of ordinary dimensions, or to encircle in its capacious embrace, a very considerable portion of the body of a horse! In the mean time, we may remark that the new bridge progresses so slowly as to render the period of its final completion a matter of much more speculation than certainty" (Geelong Advertiser, 17th October, 1848).

Only the day prior to the above article, perhaps even as the flood waters were receding, things took a fatal turn when a drayman walking across the bridge after leaving the Marrabool Inn, lost his footing in a hole in one of the timbers, fell into the river and drowned. Sadly, the new bridge was within days of being "passable, if not finished...and may God grant that no more lives be lost even in this short space of time. Indeed, between men being tripped into the water, drays upturned, and bullocks almost strangled in their yokes, or suffocated in the (many of which accidents happened in the course of last week) it is matter of much surprise and thanksgiving that more lives have not been lost" (Geelong Advertiser, 19th October, 1848).
Finally, in November, 1848 the long-awaited new bridge was opened to traffic and the following month, Governor La Trobe at whose command the new bridge had been constructed even took time out from a visit to Geelong, to come and see the structure. For the moment at least, Bates' Ford had its bridge.

Making tracks - leaving Geelong

OK, so what was the route of the original track from Geelong to Buninyong used by so many during the gold rush and does any of it remain today? Well, yes, some of it does remain and is there to be found if you know where to look.
The route out of Geelong to Batesford took the traveller through Bell Post Hill, the land occupied by the earliest European settlers in the district - John Cowie and David Stead. By the time of the gold rush, they had long moved on from the district, however those coming and going to the goldfields would still have seen the same striking vista which attracted those original squatters. Henry Mundy (Les Hughes, 1988, Henry Mundy: a young Australian pioneer) who made the journey many times described his return to Geelong on one occasion thus:

...that glorious scene which I had, before and since so often admired, the full view of Corio Bay, the ocean beyond, the North Shore, the open plains and the You Yangs. The shipping and boats in the Bay, the little town of Geelong sloping down to a bold shore...

A similar view today, to that so enjoyed by Henry Mundy, taken from near the
top of Bell Post Hill

Once atop the Bell Post Hill, it was a hike of about three miles to the little hamlet of Batesford or Bates' Ford as it was originally spelt (earlier names also included Manifold's Ford and Hopeton for other local settlers). This was one of the earliest bridged crossing points on the Moorabool (or Marrabool River as it was often called) and there are still signs of the original route which deviates slightly to the north of today's Midland Highway in the name of the Old Ballarat Road. Newspapers of the era indicate that by 1854 the road through Batesford was the main thoroughfare to Ballarat. It was also in very poor condition, prompting locals to call - unsuccessfully - upon the government to provide the funds to fix it.

Looking west down the Old Ballarat Road from the top of the Batesford Hill.
The present highway can just be seen at the left

In the 1840s and early 1850s, after crossing the Moorabool, there was very little in the way of settlement along the track. Once again Henry Mundy recounts that the only public house on the track between Batesford and "Mother Jamieson's" establishment in Buninyong was Watson's Hotel at what was to become the township of Meredith.
A substantially similar - if somewhat more detailed - account of the track to that of Mundy was given in the  Geelong Advertiser, of 1st October, 1851:

One of the principal advantages of the Ballarat diggings over those of Bathurst, is their easy accessibility. We have, ourselves, rode(sic) from Geelong to Buninyong in less than six hours, and to the pedestrian it is only a day's smart walk. There are four public-houses for refreshments on the road, and there are no gullies to cross. Seven miles from Geelong the Moorabool River is crossed by a bridge at Bates' ford, where Mr Primrose and Mr Varey keep their respective inns. Six miles further on, where the Leigh road diverges, is the inn kept by Mr O'Meara. The road then approaches the bank of the river, and soon after passes through a beautiful valley, now being surveyed for sale. About ten miles from O'Meara's, is the old camping ground, known in bushmen's legends as the Green tent, and four miles further on is the inn kept by Mr Ritchie, on the Moorabool Creek....the road now enters a forest country, and for about twelve miles passes over wooded rises, which terminate at a flat tract of country, about a mile in width, near Williamson's creek. This is in winter, the most trying part of the road - the softness of the ground rendering it with difficulty passable by wheel carriages...About seven miles from Williamson's creek, the traveller enters the town of Buninyong and seven miles to the westward are THE DIGGINGS.

There is perhaps a little license used in the above description. Fifty miles of walking in a day would require a very "smart" pace indeed and whilst there were four hotels on the road between Geelong and Buninyong, two of them were located only a short distance apart either side of the Moorabool River at Batesford only seven miles from Geelong. These establishments were the Derwent Hotel (today's Batesford Hotel) established in 1844 (possibly as early as 1842) as the Marrabool Inn on the east bank of the Moorabool and on the western side of the river, the Travellers Rest Hotel was opened in 1849 by John Primrose and today is a private home.

The ex-Travellers Rest Inn, Batesford, 1971. This image is part of the
J.T. Collins Collection, La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria

Only a few miles further along the road to Buninyong, the third hotel - O'Meara's Separation Inn which opened in 1850 - was located at the point where the Leigh Road branched off . Today this is the corner of Russell's Road and the Midland Highway, Gheringhap and there is no obvious indication of where the old track to the Leigh passed.

Looking south east from the corner of Russell's Road across the site where the
Separation Inn once stood

For some reason Mundy did not recall the Separation Inn in his account of the route, however an 1848 map of Geelong and surrounding districts marks the inn's location. The map also shows the "road to the Leigh" following a close approximation of the current line of the Midland Highway from Batesford past Gheringhap before branching to the left at Russell's Road. The road which heads to the Leigh (Shelford), is shown crossing both Bruce's Creek and Native Hut Creek at sites which would become Bannockburn (1855) and Teesdale (1852) in due course. The other branch continues on, still following much the same line as today's Midland Highway.
Likewise, the original 1856 survey map for the parish of Wabdallah shows the "main line of road from Geelong to Buninyong" following the same route towards Lethbridge - or the Muddy Water Holes as the area was also known - as today. There is no sign of the older track, suggesting I assume that the new road - surveyed by A.J. Skene - followed the same path as the original.

A sketch by German artist Eugene von Guerard, 13-14th January, 1853 titled
"Mouthy Water Houl", presumably sketched at Muddy Water Holes on his way
to the goldfields. Two days later von Guerard was in Buninyong. Image held
by the State Library of Victoria 

Past Lethbridge however, things appear to vary somewhat from the current line of the highway and will the topic of my next post.