The Boomer Bus: 2016-03-13 Walhalla & Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine Australia

Nestled 35 kilometers into the Dandenong Mountains from Moe and near the Baw Baw National Park is the Township of Walhalla. It is a small township where the gold rush began in 1865 and ended in 1914. It grew to a population of 3500-4000 and had all the facilities, i.e. schools, churches, sports teams, Masonic Lodge, etc as other medium size townships. The drive to the township is through a narrow mountain road some 46 kilometers from Moe and it has the normal mountainous terrain with lots of "S" curves through tall Gum (eucalyptus) Trees, The signs indicate that there are Wombats in the area. Note: we saw one along the road that had been run over so there must be a lot of them here. The town burnt down in the 1920's and had to be rebuilt

With the loss of trees to fuel the furnaces and boilers along with WWI, the mine slowly closed.Most everything and everybody moved away to Moe, Trafalger or Melbourne and Walhalla became a ghost town.Today, the township has a permanent population of only 20 people and survives on tourists in the summer months. Tours are available for the Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine, a ride on the small track train, hiking/camping and the beginning of the hiking trail that winds North through the Mountains.

There is one church ( all faiths)with a service once a month and the Masonic Lodge has a meeting once a month-all members come in from the surrounding areas, several B & B'S, and a couple small hotels (rooms in a building) for accommodations..

The mine is 805 kilometers of underground workings extended to a depth of 923 metres below the machinery chamber which in turn is some 150 metres below natural surface. The main adit extends 300 metres from the entrance to the machinery room--which is said to be haunted by a miner who died there.. The mine produced 13.7 tonnes of gold during it's lifetime. Some can still be found by prospectors and tourist but only miniscue quantities (souvenirs).