Blackwood

Blackwood, with its timber cottages, is situated amidst the eucalyptus-covered hills which attracted the earliest settlers with their promise of instant riches. Today it is now little more than a memory of the thriving settlement which existed, albeit briefly, in the late 1850s.

History

In 1855, four years after gold was first discovered in Ballarat, Edward Hill struck it lucky at nearby Golden Point. By the end of that year, the goldmining village of Blackwood had 13,000 prospectors panning the creeks and sluicing the river banks and hillsides. While there is little or no remaining gold, some of the rich quartz-reefs, initially discovered by James Simmons to the west of the town, are still being mined.

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