2o6 Excursion to Daw Baw. rj'!"^;.^^^ 



LVol. XXX 



At the Thomson Bridge we were down to about 700 feet 

 above sea-level. The scene here was very hne. A beautiful 

 reach of the river, with steep, well-wooded banks, ends at the 

 bridge, while just below is the junction of Stringer's Creek, on 

 the sides of which, three miles away, Walhalla is built. Signs 

 of the mining industry were here apparent, and naturally they 

 increased as we got nearer the town, one of the most famous 

 of Victorian gold-mining towns, now unfortunately languishing 

 while new lodes are being sought for. 



Even if we had seen nothing else, the walk up the valley of 

 Stringer's Creek, named after the original discoverer of the 

 locality in 1855, was worth the taking, and just then was par- 

 ticularly fine, as the slopes were decked with flowering bushes 

 of Bursaria and Helichrysnm ferrugmetim, while fortunately 

 there are some good gums and wattles still left ; either the 

 miners were unable to get at them or there has been a second 

 growth, which is helping to obhterate the signs of man. Scores 

 of feet below us, mostly on the other side of the stream, runs 

 what appears Hke a toy railway, and whether the visitor 

 approaches Walhalla by road or rail the journey from the 

 Thomson is full of interest. Alongside the railway the common 

 foxglove has become naturalized, and in the flowering season 

 should make a good show. Most of us were not sorry when, 

 about five o'clock, we reached the Star Hotel, where we found 

 comfortable quarters, while soon the bath was requisitioned 

 to the fullest extent. Here we bade good-bye to our guide, 

 Mr. Rawson, who had treated us so splendidly and made the 

 trip such a success, and we feel sure that anyone wanting to 

 visit Baw Baw from the southern end cannot do better than 

 place themselves in his hands. After tea those who were not 

 too tired ventured out to get some idea of what has been aptly 

 named the Switzerland of Australia. 



Next morning (Tuesday) we entered on the final stages of 

 our excursion. We all left by the first and only train for Moe 

 at 6.40 a.m. The three miles to the Thomson was considered 

 very fine, only to be echpsed by the scenery as the httle train 

 climbed alongside the river itself with little more than air 

 between us and the water, a couple of hundred feet below ; then, 

 turning a corner, winding up a tributary creek until the plat- 

 form at Platina was reached, after a climb of 300 feet in two 

 miles. This is the station for the Coppermine, a little townshij) 

 situated at the confluence of the Thomson and Cooper's Creek, 

 where the old road from Moe to Walhalla crosses the river, 

 and where a copper and i-)latinum mine has been worked for 

 some forty years with varying success. At present the mine 

 is disused and the townshij) stagnant ; however, nearer the 

 station an outcrop of limestone is being turned into building 



