Reedy Creek

While looking through old newspapers, as is my wont, I came across one publication called The Broadford Courier and Reedy Creek Times; Reedy Creek is in the Shire of Mitchell in Victoria, Australia, just over sixty miles north of Melbourne… isn’t Reedy Creek a wonderful name? I believe there is another in the USA, but it is so descriptive, and sounds so pleasant and rural. At present there is a population of 166 people. There used to be a pretty little primary school there, the lovely old building still stands but now it is  the Reedy Creek Hall,

Photo from Wikipedia contributor, Mattinbgn – thank you!

The creek is overlooked by the Tallarook State Forest to the north and the Mount Disappointment State Forest to the south.

The reason  Reedy Creek exists is that gold was discovered in the 1850’s, in 1857. It didn’t take long before the place became an industrial site, by 1859, reef mining had commenced, at which time it is possible that the population was as many as three and a half thousand people, most of whom were miners. The working continued for the next twenty or so years, and a Catholic school was opened in 1867 which seem st indicate that most of the people of the little settlement were Irish.  Four years later a government school opened in 1871. It wasn’t just mining, however;  valley  in which the creek wove its merry way was perfect for farming, By 1881 the population was 578.

There were other gold mining areas nearby,  Strath Creek and Tyaak. Strath Creek is the settlement which managed to survive the longest; it had a mechanics’ institute, a Uniting Church and a hotel too. It is surrounded by valuable farm land, sustained by the King Parrot and the Strath Creeks. Was the King Parrot named because of the number of parrots in the area, or did it hark back to the River Parrett in Somerset – did some of the early settlers come from the west of England?

In 1903 the Australian Handbook described Reedy Creek; it had a post office which included a savings bank, a telephone and money order office and hotels called Reefers. and the Reedy Creek Hotel. There were both Church of England and Catholic churches, and there was a coach taking passengers to Melbourne for were they could catch a train.  The population was estimated to be about three hundred souls.

The area went into a decline in the last half of the nineteenth century, and the last of the deep reef mines was closed some time around 1910. The settlement seems to have struggled on and twenty or so years later the only public buildings remaining were the post office which closed in 1965, and the little school which closed in two years later.

My featured image is of a reedy creek in Somerset.