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Into the Gold Mines

Into the Gold Mines

March 2018 · 3 min read · Victoria

Visiting Walhalla, Victoria, Australia and the Long Tunnel Gold Mine

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Walhalla is a beautiful little town nestled in a quiet valley of Australia’s Great Dividing Range.

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Photo by: dfinney 2005

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Rotunda. Photo by: dfinney 2005

Entering Walhalla takes you back in time. The entire township is protected as a historic park with restored and reconstructed buildings throughout. It was founded in 1866 at the height of Australia’s gold rush. During the town’s heyday, approximately 4,000 people lived here prospecting and mining. Today Walhalla’s permanent population hovers around 20, with tourism being the main employer.

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Cemetery. Photo by: dfinney 2005


Want to see better pictures of Walhalla? Visit: https://www.travelvictoria.com.au/walhalla/photos/

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Railroad ride. Photo by: dfinney 2005

Three main attractions currently bring visitors to Walhalla.


  1. Bushwalking: The township is on the outskirts of Baw Baw National Park. Walhalla is also the starting point of the Australian Alps Walking Track. This trail winds over 400 miles from Walhalla to Canberra, Australia’s capital city.

  2. Heritage tourism: As mentioned above, the entire town (though tiny) is a preserved historic site. In addition to soaking up the quaint Victorian architecture, visitors may ride the restored Walhalla Goldfields Railway. This narrow gage rail, initially opened in 1910, fell into disrepair before closing in 1954. Reconstruction began in the mid 1990’s and the railway reopened in 2002.

  3. The Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine: More to come.


Alluvial gold was first discovered in the area in the early 1850’s. However, the huge influx of prospectors depleted surface finds. To capitalize on the region’s mineral wealth, mines were quickly developed to access underground gold veins. One of these mines, located in Wahalla, is the Long Tunnel Extended Mine.

For the first several years of operation the Long Tunnel Extended Mine mainly produced quartz. After being sold to a new ownership group in the 1870’s, a deeper shaft was excavated and the amount of gold retrieved increased dramatically. “By the time the mine closed, a total of 859,540 tons of Quartz had been mined from which 13.7 tons of gold had been extracted.” Source

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Mine entrance. Photo by: dfinney 2005

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Today tours take guests nearly 1000 feet into the mine. Here visitors can see the underground machinery chamber and one of the exposed reefs. These tours operate daily excluding Christmas.

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Inside the mine. Photo by: dfinney 2005


Reference List:

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