FRIENDS OF CASSILIS HISTORIC AREA

LINK TO CASSILIS ROAD
LOG TRUCK ISSUE

The Cassilis Historic Area is a Parks Victoria reserve and extends for about 8 kms
along the Cassilis Road from Tongio West to the top of the Cassilis Gap (Mt Delusion Rd)
and includes the areas which were occupied by the Cassilis Gold Mining Co. plant in
Powers Gully (below left) and the Mt Hepburn ( King Cassilis) Company's treatment plant (below right). The bottom (current) colour photo is of the rock bases of the wooden tanks shown in the Mt Hepburn photo.
Sections of the final 10kms of the Jirnkee Water Race are included in the reserve.
This race is the longest in the southern hemisphere at about 76 kms in length.
The Cassilis Gold Mining Co treatment plant and its need for power were responsible for the building of Victoria's first Hydro Electric power station on the Cobungra River which first generated power in 1908.

The area has always been remote and the difficulty, expense, and time constraints in getting equipment for mining has ensured
that everything that could be, probably has been, relocated, scrounged or recycled. This is also true of gold mining just about everywhere. Part of the Cassilis Historic Area is the King Cassilis mine treatment plant site. This mine started life as the
Mt Hepburn and is one of the two main mines, the other being the Cassilis Gold Mining Company mine which was situated on the ridge high above Cassilis but the the ore was transported via a 1 km rail line around the hills and then dropped into the treatment plant which was situated in Powers Gully. The King Cassilis is also accessed from Powers Gully and the very first
gold reef in all of Gippsland was also found there by William Power (Morning Light mine) . So, Powers Gully which is in Tongio West features much of what remains of Cassilis mining. Tongio West and Cassilis adjoin and there was intense rivalry between them over which was the "better" town. When the government school was built it was placed just slightly into Tongio West causing some Cassilis residents to declare they would never send their children there.