MYSTERIOUS GULLY MINING LANDSCAPE

The site is an alluvial mining landscape. Gold was first discovered in the Ararat Region in 1854, with the first workings consisting of alluvial gold sites (including Mysterious Gully). After the initial Ararat Rush, shallow alluvial mining in the area slowed and the majority of gold resources were coming from reworked gullies and creek beds by sluicing or puddling parties, or alternatively by shallow shafts.  

 

The site contains evidence from the first phase of mining (water race and ground sluicing). The ground sluicing was done with water supplied by the race that runs from a dam which is now called Tub and Cradle. The majority of features are shafts (open and filled) to work cement beds that formed a layer in the associated elevated terraces. It is possible that a couple of the shafts were sunk to search for gold in an underlying quartz reef. The remains of two puddling machines were found: one on the eastern end of the embankment of Tub and Cradle Dam; the other near the evidence of ground sluicing. Based on this, the site has moderate archaeological potential to provide an understanding of the Ararat Goldfields during the Victorian Gold Rush era. 

The site is historically significant as a shallow alluvial mining landscape in the Ararat Goldfields, presenting good examples of three phases of gold mining including, ground sluicing, puddling, and shaft mining.