Historian Alan McLean, Community Bank director Christine Borger, and Historical Society past president Nic Buzza, who unveiled the board in the Rushworth forest.
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At the edge of Rushworth is an eerie site that silently explains the mortal story of the gold rush from over 170 years ago.
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And, thanks to the help of the local community, that story has been amplified.
On Sunday, August 31, the community gathered to unveil a new information board detailing the gold diggers’ graveyard’s significance, situated a mere 300 metres from Rushworth on the road to Whroo.
The Rushworth and District Historical Society, with financial support from the local community bank, built a shelter to house the information board that explains the burial ground was always unofficial, used until Rushworth’s much larger and official cemetery was created in 1861.
While it’s estimated that over 40 souls rest at this site, society historian and author Alan McLean noted that their names would forever remain a mystery.
He said many historians had attempted research on the graveyard, seeking information from the health department decades ago, with all being told that no records exist.
“All that was needed after a death were some fellow gold-seekers willing to interrupt their search, to dig a hole and bury the departed,” Mr McLean said.
Volunteers Des Mason (left) and Peter Reade add the roof to the shelter over the new board.
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The information board makes no declaration of who is buried in the graveyard but quotes from newspaper reports, and entries in the official Victorian Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Thirty deaths between 1853 and 1861 at and near Rushworth are summarised on the board.
The shelter was made from local forest timber thanks to carpenter Daniel West and signwriter Karl Devlin, who both hail from Stanhope.
Campaspe Shire councillor Adrian Weston said the new board was a valuable addition to the town, especially considering the current tentative bid for the central goldfields to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The tentative listing was announced in February and would highlight the history of the Victorian Goldfields, including Whroo and Rushworth, as well as Bendigo, Ballarat, Heathcote, Ararat and more.
A 2024 assessment projects that the listing could draw 2.5 million more visitors to Victoria’s goldfields in the coming decade, potentially injecting over half a billion dollars into local and regional economies.
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