The Whispering Wall, known as the Barossa Reservoir, is about an hour's drive from Adelaide, near the town of Williamstown. The reservoir was built between 1899 and 1903 and has incredible acoustic properties which allows sound to travel from one side to the other. If you stand at one end and whisper into the wall, the person at the other end can hear the words clearly, so you can imagine that children, and even adults, enjoy whispering sweet nothings to each other!
We have visited here quite a few times as it is a favourite place to take the grandchildren and it's not far from home. There are picnic tables and nice grassed areas for children to play and if you're lucky you might see some kangaroos and emus.
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| The dam wall is 450 feet from one end to the other |
The dam is more than 10 metres thick at the base and tapers to a narrow walkway at the top and is constructed mainly from concrete and quartz boulders that were blasted from the sides of the gorge. Old tram tracks were added for extra strength near the top.
THE BAROSSA GOLDFIELDS
Our next stop was at the Barossa Goldfields where in the late 1800's around 5,000 men arrived to seek their fortune on the goldfields.
The Goldfields are about 8 km west of Williamstown and not far from the Whispering Wall.
As it was a lovely sunny, but cold, winter's day we decided to do the walk around the mines.
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| The Goldfields Historical Society |
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| Another warning at the entrance to the walking trail |
We had a good walk around the goldfields which had the mines barricaded for safety. and signs to remind us. We were surprised at how many mines there were as we weren't up to date with the history here, but there were information boards to give us the history.
In 1868 the Barossa mine opened between Cockatoo Valley and Williamstown in the Mount Lofty Ranges that stretches south to the Fleurieu Peninsula and north to the Barossa Ranges. On the second day there were 40 gold seekers, 1,000 within a week and 4,000 within a month. It finally reached 10,000. Gold output from the mine was 3110 kg. The towns of Barossa and Victoria Hill were established following the rush at Victoria Hill in 1869In 1868 the Barossa mine opened between Cockatoo Valley and Williamstown in the Mount Lofty Ranges that stretches south to the Fleurieu Peninsula and north to the Barossa Ranges. On the second day there were 40 gold seekers, 1,000 within a week and 4,000 within a month. It finally reached 10,000. Gold output from the mine was 3110 kg. The towns of Barossa and Victoria Hill were established following the rush at Victoria Hill in 1869 (from Gold Rush South Australia)
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| These were the only wildflowers I could find on my walk |
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| Very deep mine shafts |
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| Fungus growing |
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| Interesting tree |
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| The grounds of the Historical Society |
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| Historical Society We ended our drive with a good meal at the local pub, social distancing of course. |
Entertaining post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm never sure if readers will enjoy my day trips as much as I do.
DeleteDams fascinate me and that one is no different, it's a beauty plus the surrounds, nice to see a roo or two.
ReplyDeleteThe mine, long way down those holes..lovely photo and thanks for the information too.
It is an interesting place and children can't always understand the whispering part and usually end up yelling! Last week when we were there a little girl was shouting to her dad and brother at the other end, very funny.
DeleteWhat a totally delightful outing.
ReplyDeleteThe acoustics at that dam blow me away and we would assuredly have to test them out.
My father was an amateur gemnologist. As a child we OFTEN camped beside disused mine shafts. I was not a happy chappy. At the time I didn't appreciate the beauty around me (which you have captured superbly) but resented the absence of facilities, running water and other children.
Great post - and thank you.
Your camping trips would have been a bit frightening, hope you didn't sleepwalk! The goldfields area is very pretty and when we were young we were able to walk around as it wasn't in a National Park so no safety rails then. I remember our children had a school camp there and no accidents that I was aware of, but that was when children were able to do more without so many rules, definitely wouldn't happen now.
DeleteThanks for taking us along on your walk! There seemed to be a lot to see (and photograph!). I can't imagine going into any of those shafts, even for a pot of gold!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are a part of 'My Corner of the World' this week! Thanks for linking up.
I agree, it would have been a very dangerous occupation, but then times were hard and men and women were keen to earn some money.
DeleteThe dam was a lot prettier than the mine shafts--LOL! Interesting trips. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, there were so many mines it would be hard to imagine living there.
DeleteSo many lovely photos of somewhere I would like to visit one day
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo-Anne, there is so much to see here in Australia.
DeleteThanks for this delightful post, what a terrific day out! I've never heard of the Whispering Wall, seems to me it should be famous.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I think it is a different style of dam wall and probably not many built that way, but is quite a tourist attraction here in our small part of the world.
DeleteI absolutely enjoyed this walk with you!
ReplyDeleteLove the stunning photos, Rosie!
A great post. I always enjoy your pictures!
ReplyDeleteIt is always lovely to get by water. This one has an interesting twist with the whispering wall.
ReplyDeleteOld gold fields are so romantic but I doubt is would have been so nice to be there at the time.
I find places like these old goldfields fascinating, Rosie. Those mine shafts looks pretty deep. The area where my Mum grew up, and around the little township closest to where she still lives today, was a tin mining area and they have an amazing historical village there which is such an interesting place to visit. Meg:)
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