HAVILAH GOLD MINING LANDSCAPE

The Happy Valley mine and associated quartz reefs that were discovered in 1866 and worked up into the early 1880s, sustaining the township of Running Creek (Havilah) that grew to service the demands of the employees of the mine and their families. The Havilah cemetery was associated with the mining community that lived in this isolated valley.

The Happy Valley mine, township site and cemetery are of historical, social and archaeological significance to the Ovens valley, alpine shire and its communities.

The Happy Valley mine is of historical importance to the community for its high gold yields that made it one of the top six gold-producing quartz reefs in the Shire. It was notable for its profitability and the depth to which it was worked. The township and cemetery sites are of social and historical importance to the Shire in demonstrating the rise and demise of townships and communities based solely on the gold industry, a dependence that saw the Happy Valley township dissolve upon closure of the mine. The mine and township sites are of archaeological importance to reveal features and artefacts that would illuminate the daily lives and work of a once-important community within the landscape.