Our second activation for Tuesday 21st November 2023 was the Percydale Bushland Reserve VKFF-4274. The reserve is located about 9km northwest of Avoca and about 190 km northwest of Melbourne.

This was the first time the park was activated for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.

Above:- Map showing the location of the Percydale Bushland Reserve. Map c/o Google Maps.

The Percydale area was originally called Fiddlers Creek. Alluvial gold was mined in the area from around 1854. In 1869 there was a second find of gold in the area and this resulted in an increase in the population to about 2,000 people. In 1870 a school was opened. The goldfield had a substantial number of Chinese miners. During the 1870s a pork butchery and a Chinese hotel were operating at Percydale. During the 1870s several mines opened in the area. The Raggedy Gully lead produced the last big gold rush in the area in 1871, drawing about 1,000 miners to the district. (Victorian Places 2024)

Above:- Chinese on the goldfields. Image c/o https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/chinese-goldfields/

In a June 1869 article that appears in The Avoca Mail, the correspondent wrote:

“Would any of your readers see the city of Canton in miniature? Let them visit Fiddler’s Creek, Grantsvale, or Percy vale, for by all these names the new diggings are known. The “Ho Lam” or poor quarter of the great Mongol city is there fairly represented, for although baked dogs, cats, rats, and other savory morsels are not to be found at Fiddler’s Creek, the front elevations of the butcher’s shops and eating houses are decorated with huge porkers, cooked whole, while fowls of questionable ownership and other delicacies are hung up to tempt the expatriated disciples of Confucius.”

Above:- part of an article from The Avoca Mail, Sat 26 Jun 1869. Image c/o Trove.

The Percydale area has produced over 700,000 ounces of gold, mostly from the alluvial deposits. (Core Prospecting 2024)

In 1873 the area was known as Percydale. It is believed that it was named after Percy Warburton Carr (b. 1866. d. 1832), the son of Police Magistrate Charles Warburton Carr. (Blake 1978)

Charles Warburton Carr was born in 1824 in Dublin, Ireland. He emigrated to Australia. In 1854 he was appointed Secretary to the Goldfields Commission of Enquiry following the Eureka Stockade. Between 1856 to 1858 he was the Clerk of Papers in the Victorian Legislative Council. In 1869 he was appointed Police Magistrate for the colony and was based in Avoca. He also performed the role of Goldlfield’s Warden and Coroner. He was also the Commissioner of the Yarra Valley goldfields and protector to the aborigines, and ‘Chinese Protector.’ He died in 1864 and is buried in the Avoca cemetery. Sadly he has no headstone as the family were described as “not in very good circumstances” due to Warburton cancelling his insurance a few years prior to his death. (Find a Grave 2024)

Above:- Charles Warburton Carr. Image c/o Find a Grave.

Before activating the park Marija and I drove the Percydale Goldfields Heritage Tour route.

Our first stop on the route was Daly’s Cottage.

James Daly was born in 1826 in Limerick, Ireland. He emigrated to Australia and married Eliza Martin in 1863. They had six children. James built Daly’s Cottage in 1865. The walls of the cottage are built from fiddle-back red gum located in the district and cut by the men. The red gum was then smoothed out by the women with adzes. An adze is an ancient cutting tool similar to an axe however the cutting edge is perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Handmade bricks were used on the pantry floor and the walls were lined with newspaper, hessian, and wallpaper. The cottage was lived in until the 1930s. (ancestry.com 2024) (Melbourne Playgrounds 2024) (Wikipedia 2024)

We also stopped to have a look at the old Slate dairy. There were several slate mines in the Percydale area. Thomas Lane Hellings (b. 1854. d. 1927) used locally quarried slate to build the dairy. (Melbourne Playgrounds 2024)

There are several other points of interest along the route. A Touring guide can be downloaded from the internet.

We also stopped to have a look at the old Union Jack Mine site which was mined during the 1870s. (Goldfields Guide 2024)

We then backtracked to Percydale Road and activated the Percydale Bushland Reserve. We accessed the reserve via a narrow strip on the southern side of the road.

We ran the Yaesu FT857, 40 watts, and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation. I used the special event callsign of VI10VKFF to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the VKFF program.

Above:- An aerial view of the reserve showing our operating spot. Image c/o Google Earth.

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB before the UTC rollover:-

1. VK2IO/p (Namadgi National Park VKFF-0377 & SOTA VK1/ AC-008)
2. VK3UAO/p (Wood Point Flora Reserve VKFF-2489)
3. VK3PF
4. VK3KAI
5. VK4NH
6. VK4DXA
7. VK2MOE
8. VK7AAE
9. VK3SQ
10. VK2BD
11. VK7ZA

Marija worked the following station on 40m SSB after the UTC rollover:-

1. VK2IO/m (Namadgi National ParkVKFF-0377)

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB before the UTC rollover:-

1. VK2IO/p (Namadgi National Park VKFF-0377 & SOTA VK1/ AC-008)
2. VK3UAO/p (Wood Point Flora Reserve VKFF-2489)
3. VK3PF
4. VK3KAI
5. VK4NH
6. VK4DXA
7. VK2MOE
8. VK7AAE
9. VK3SQ
10. VK2BD
11. VK7ZA
12. VK2EXA
13. VK3IMS
14. VK8MS/3
15. VK3DAC
16. VK4FE/3
17. VK3BPH
18. VK2DG
19. VK3HBG

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB after the UTC rollover:-

1. VK3PF
2. VK3KAI
3. VK3VIN
4. VK3APJ
5. VK2MRF
6. VK2EXA
7. VK3CJN
8. VK3SMW
9. VK7AAE
10. VK2IO/m (Namadgi National Park VKFF-0377)
11. VK5FB
12. VK3CEO
13. VK2VAR
14. VK2GOM
15. VK3YV
16. VK3TNL

I worked the following stations on 40m AM after the UTC rollover:-

1. VK3PF
2. VK3KAI

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB before the UTC rollover:-

1. VK1AO
2. VK2MET
3. VK7AAE
4. VK4NH
5. VK4DXA
6. VK7XX

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB after the UTC rollover:-

1. VK1AO
2. VK2MET
3. VK7XX
4. VK7AAE
5. VK4NH
6. VK4DXA
7. ZL1TM
8. KG5CIK

After the activation Marija and I drove to Governor Rock and the lookout tower. Along the way, we enjoyed some magnificent views of the local vineyards with the mountains in the background.

There is a small parking area on No. 2 Creek Track and a 200m track leading to the lookout tower offering magnificent views of the surrounding countryside.

We then stopped at Governor Rock. Unfortunately, it is not signposted, so you have to keep a close lookout for this small but impressive platform rock extending out over the cliff beside the road.

The Governor of Victoria, Sit Rohan Delacombe (b. 1906. d. 1991), stood on this rock on the 4th day of December 1964 on his visit to commemorate the centenary of Avoca Shire. (Aust Dict of Biography 2024) (Visit Pyrenees 2024)

Above:- Sir Rohan Delacombe. Image c/o State Library Victoria

It was time to get some lunch and Marija and I decided to call into the Blue Pyrenees Winery. We enjoyed a few glasses of sparkling red and a magnificent platter of cold meat, cheeses, dips, etc.

We then headed to our next activation of the day, Blue Mountain.

References.

1. Ancestry.com.au. (2021). Available at: https://www.ancestry.com.au. [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
2. Anon, (n.d.). Core Prospecting – The Small Scale Mining Specialists | The small scale mining specialists. [online] Available at: https://coreprospecting.com.au/ [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
3. ‌Browne, G. (n.d.). Delacombe, Sir Rohan (1906–1991). [online] Australian Dictionary of Biography. Available at: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/delacombe-sir-rohan-17373. [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
4. ‌‌https. (n.d.). Union Jack Mine. [online] Available at: https://www.goldfieldsguide.com.au/explore-location/123/union-jack-mine/ [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
5. ‌Leslie James Blake, 1978, Place Names of Victoria.
6. Visit Pyrenees. (n.d.). Governors Rock Lookout. [online] Available at: https://visitpyrenees.com.au/seeanddo/governors-rock-lookout/ [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
7. ‌Wikipedia. (2024). Adze. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adze#:~:text=An%20adze%20(%2F%C3%A6dz [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
8. ‌www.findagrave.com. (n.d.). Charles Warburton Carr (1824-1888) – Find a Grave… [online] Available at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111955171/charles-warburton-carr [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
9. ‌www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au. (n.d.). Percydale Goldfields Heritage Tour – South West – Outside Melbourne –. [online] Available at: https://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/percydale-goldfields-heritage-tour [Accessed 2 Mar. 2024].
10. ‌www.victorianplaces.com.au. (n.d.). Percydale | Victorian Places. [online] Available at: https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/percydale [Accessed 1 Mar. 2024].‌