Description
Water was vital to every aspect of gold mining in colonial Victoria but in many places it was often in short supply. Miners responded by building lengthy races and storage dams to capture and divert water from where it was available to where it was needed. Gold miners became water merchants, buying and trading large volumes of water to exploit their mining claims. Alluvial miners at Creswick actively manipulated local water supplies. Beginning in the 1850s, they built several hundred kilometres of races and dozens of dams. Much of the infrastructure they created remains well preserved in the forests around Creswick today.
The activities of Charles and Benjamin Eaton, George and William Russell, John Roycraft, the Humbug Hill Sluicing Company and numerous other parties are described in this volume, along with many other aspects of water harvesting and alluvial gold mining. This book provides a timely and important contribution to the story of water and gold in colonial Australia.
ISBN: 9780992433246
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