Mining to mud: a multidisciplinary approach to understanding Victoria’s riverine landscape as a product of historical gold mining

Abstract

The Victorian gold rush began in 1851, resulting in massive demographic, land use, and social changes (Serle 1968). Rivers, during much of the gold mining history of Victoria, were used as a “free” resource, both to extract and process sediment. The effect on river systems around the state was catastrophic. A quarter of the length of the main streams was damaged. Even though the devastating environmental impact of Victorian gold mining was recognised at the time, it appears to have been forgotten today (Figure 1). This is despite extensive documentation of the number of mining operations, methods used, resultant environmental impacts and consequent legislation. The ARC discovery project “Rivers of gold” set up a multi-disciplinary team to try and reconstruct the historical development of mining across the state of Victoria, and to determine the legacy of this mining.