Gold glinted in the shallows of Anderson Creek. It was 1851, and the State Battery Monument commemorates this very spot where Louis Michel and William Haberlain made a discovery that sparked a gold rush. The State Battery Monument in Warrandyte stands as a testament to this exciting period. It marks not just the discovery of gold, but the subsequent establishment of the State Gold Battery in 1897. Imagine hundreds of miners, just like those first two, scrambling along the creek bed, their pans flashing in the sun. The initial discovery earned Michel and Haberlain a reward, offered by the Victorian government, for a significant gold find. Within weeks, their quiet prospecting transformed into a bustling camp of 300 hopefuls. The State Battery itself, built years later, aimed to process the ore extracted from the Warrandyte Goldfields. Powered by a water wheel, the battery represents a shift from individual panning to a more industrialized approach to gold extraction. While the battery is gone, the monument and the remnants of the timber foundations on the Yarra River banks offer a glimpse into this era. The State Battery Monument serves as a reminder of the dreams and hard work that shaped Warrandyte’s history.
Kororoit Creek
Is this where the river meets the sea? This is Kororoit Creek. It flows right here through Melbourne’s western suburbs