Balaclava Mine and Whroo Cemetery Trails

Balaclava Mine and Whroo Cemetery Trails

Whroo Historic Area is 490h within 24,300h of ironbark forest . The forest canopy is of red and mugga ironbark, grey box, yellow box, white box and red stringy bark. There are grass trees, blackwood, golden wattle, spreading wattle, casuarina, melaleuca and dogwood, with occasional mallee. The Nguraililam-wurrung people used ironbark for canoes, hunting implements, to construct shelters. Ironbark blossom made a sweet beverage. The name “Whroo” is said to mean "lips". This was apparently a reference to aboriginal watering holes in the area. Balaclava Hill is the highest point in the Whroo district and was a rich mine. During the Silurian period, an intensely heated earth’s crust beneath the gold fields pushed volcanic rocks into extremely-hot salty water. As water moved closer to the surface and cooled, gold crystallised out with quartz. 600 million years later, quartz bearing gold veins up to 15cm across saw a 19th century fortune - more than £1,000,000 . Whroo is estimated to have produced 40,000 ounces of gold.