Gaffneys Creek is a former mining settlement situated between Jamieson and

Woods Point Woods Point is a town in east-central Victoria, Australia and is located on the banks of the Goulburn River. At the , Woods Point and the surrounding area had a population of 33, down from 37 in . History The town began as a general store buil ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is located at the junction of Gaffney and Raspberry Creeks in a steep valley in mountainous terrain. It is situated in the

Shire of Mansfield The Shire of Mansfield is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and in Augus ...

on the unsealed Mansfield - Woods Point Rd.

History

Gold

A prospector from the Big River area to the east, Terence "Red" Gaffney, was the first to actively search the area for

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, followed by John and William (Bill the Welshman) Jones who discovered rich alluvial gold at Raspberry Creek in 1859. A string of small villages later appeared in the valley, and these were subsequently amalgamated and collectively named Lauraville by the Government Surveyor in honour of his wife, Laura. The Post Office (called Gaffneys Creek) opened on 1 January 1862 and closed in 1981. A Lauraville Office was open from 1902 until 1910. The name "Lauraville" was changed to Gaffneys Creek in 1900. Alluvial mining was later replaced by reef mining, but none of these mines were to achieve the success of the nearby A1 Mine Settlement and by the turn of the century the population had dwindled.

20th century

In 1980 the area of the original valley settlements was placed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

as a Conservation Area including early miners' cottages, a hall, stone retaining walls and a hotel which succumbed to a fire in 1993. In 1993, two escaped prisoners, Archie Butterley and

Peter Gibb Peter Robert Gibb (30 June 1954 – 23 January 2011) was an Australian criminal, known for his escape from the Melbourne Remand Centre in 1993. Escape from Melbourne Remand Centre Gibb had several prior convictions for manslaughter, armed robbe ...

from the Melbourne Remand Centre, and a prison guard who assisted them to escape, drove to Gaffney's Creek to hide out. They stayed at the Gaffney's Creek Hotel and on the morning of 12 March a fire started in their room which resulted in the hotel being completely destroyed.

21st century

In 2006 Gaffneys Creek was threatened by

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

. About half of the residents of Gaffneys Creek stayed to defend their homes. However, not much of the town remains anymore except for a couple of houses which survived including two historic gold-era cottages. The town's community hall was destroyed and the whole area was burnt including A1 Mine Settlement and Ten Mile.

Demographics

The population within the settlement has steadily declined over the years: *1865: 1000 *1871: 502 *1911: 274 *1954: 91

Notable residents

* William Adcock (1846–1831), journalist and politician *Alfred Ainsworth (1827–1920), civil engineer and public servant *Laurence Cohen (1874–1916), stonemason and trade unionist *Sigismund Wekey (1825–1889), solicitor and postmaster

References

External links

Geoscience Australia place names: Gaffneys CreekPicman database: Photograph of Gaffneys Creek in 1900
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Mansfield Mining towns in Victoria (state)