History buffs can wander through the abandoned sites of the gold days and enjoy the view from the rim of the famous Balaclava open-cut mine. The Whroo cemetery is another must-see feature.
Former Kirwans Bridge resident Alan McLean has just published a new book, Rushing to Whroo.
It is a 230-page review of the once-thriving township of about 4000 people, which had all but disappeared 70 years after its glory days.
“The book is about Whroo’s people, the men who worked on the surface and those who went deep underground, looking for veins of quartz to bring up for crushing in the search for what was once the world’s most valuable metal,” Mr McLean said.
“Some descendants of those diggers remain in the district, but other descendants now further away may also find interest in the book’s reference to their ancestors.”
In 1854, sailors John Thomas Lewis and James Meek Nickinson discovered a gold nugget in the grass at Whroo.
A gold mine was opened soon after the discovery, and the gold rush lasted much of the decade, attracting thousands to try their luck.
But, by 1860, only 450 of the population remained.
The Balaclava Hill Mine continued operating until the 1870s, when it was closed due to water management problems.
However, shafts have been mined since, with the last active shaft filled by the Mines Department in the 1960s.
Goldfields in places such as Ballarat, Beechworth and Bendigo prospered and later thrived, and many books have been written about their success, but fields that have faded into memories have had very little recorded about them.
Rushing to Whroo gathers eyewitness accounts of the hectic early years when diggers rushed to Whroo seeking their fortune in gold, which the first reports suggested was there for the taking.
“The book has gathered up newspaper reports of the day, revealing the dangers in the mines, the loss of life and the injuries, and the hazards of horse travel on the rough tracks,” Mr McLean said.
“I have also included information about the school, the churches, the concerts and the dancing as people made their own entertainment, often to raise funds for a worthy cause, like a bereft family.
“The picnics and the sports, the role of the Chinese, and the impact of illness sweeping the township regularly taking the lives of small children. The crimes and the punishment are key features of the early years, and strange to say, there was serious talk of a railway line being constructed to Whroo!”
Copies of Rushing to Whroo can be purchased at the Nagambie Visitor Information Centre.
Inquiries may be made directly to Alan on 0412 143 660.
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