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BACK CREEK CHINESE GARDEN AND ORCHARD

Location ST GEORGES LAKE CRESWICK, HEPBURN SHIRE Level Heritage Inventory Site

Statement of Significance

The social and economic significance of this site lies in the way it demonstrates the insecurity of Chinese settlers in procuring and using land for gardening. The Chinese camp to the west is marked on Land maps as designated for that purpose, but is reported to have never been officially established in the land records (Turnbull 2012). Many different people are known to have been associated with the garden over the years. The transition of the garden to an orchard (Damson Plums) is also significant in representing the marked trend towards Chinese people leaving the area and the Goldfields in the 1890s and early 1900s.

Because of the complex and rather vague history of this site, as a garden and later a ‘European’ orchard, and nearby mining shafts and sluicing, it clearly needs sound archaeological study. The major Eaton’s Water Race, passes above and fed into the south east corner of the garden, and is also the alignment of the Goldfields Trail (part of the iconic Great Dividing Trail to Daylesford and Bendigo.

Group

Mining and Mineral Processing

Category

Other - Mining & Mineral Processing