This week, with the Christmas holidays fast approaching, and many of Roys friends thinking about places to visit during their time off from school, Roy decided to show you another of his favourite holiday retreats. The Summer holidays in Australia are often very hot and uncomfortable, but they are also a time when many families decide to go away because they have lots of time. Roy thinks some of the best places to go are cool places, where you can enjoy the great outdoors without melting! This is one of the reasons he loved Copeland Tops, near Barrington Tops World Heritage area.
Copeland Tops combines two of Roys favourite things, nature and history, so of course it is a place which he loves. This week, Roy will focus on the mining history of the area and he will visit again next week to tell you more about the nature side of things! If you would like to visit you will need to follow the Barrington Tops Forest Road until you reach Copeland Road. From the Copeland Road, follow the signs to the Copeland Tops State Conservation Area, Mountain Maid Mine and Hidden Treasure Mine.
Originally, the Copeland Tops area was home to the Ghutarng Aboriginal people, but when Red Cedar was discovered in the forests of the area, it became a lucrative place for white settlement. Soon, the area was home to farmers and cedargetters, who cut down the huge trees for use in building and making furniture. It was two of these cedargetters, men named Saxby and Barrett, who discovered the gold in the Copeland area. They found alluvial gold while cutting timber in the Back Creek area in July, 1876. It wasn't long before people worked out that the alluvial gold must be coming from a reef somewhere nearby.
After gold was discovered, the rush to the Copeland gold diggings was on. By 1879, at the very height of the gold rush there were 51 separate mines being worked, the Copeland village housed 3000 people and there were even 8 pubs! The last commercial mine, The Mountain Maid, was closed in 1978 but it continues to operate as a tourist attraction which you can pay to take a tour of. You can walk to the Hidden Treasure Mine as well (which is free) and Roy thought this was a wonderful walk, through amazing dry rainforest. There are many relics of the gold mining past to be seen, if you know where to look. There are walls, slag heaps, steps, old trails, the original road (which you follow for much of the walk) and most surprisingly, a massive boiler, just sitting abandoned in the rainforest! The rainforest itself was also amazing. It was the first time Roy had ever seen a dry rainforest, and next week he will tell you more about this aspect of Copeland Tops.
