Black Snake Creek goldfields historic walk
Dargo - Crooked River area
 
     A 25 min. scenic drive from Dargo along the unsealed Wonnangatta Road (sometimes called Crooked River Road) will see you arrive at the junction of the Black Snake Creek and Wonnangatta River. A small river flat on your left is popular with campers and DNRE. have installed a toilet, bush tables and wood-fired barbecues for all to use.  Be aware that the Creek is named appropriately.
 

Part drive and/or walk from the Crooked River Road to the Battery Ruins
     You will need to be reasonably fit, wear proper walking boots and make sure you carry water, especially in summer as the heat in the bush can be deceptive.
     Under the branches of a huge walnut tree is the shell of an old hut and opposite this, on the other side of the road is a 4-W-D track.  Despite initial appearances, this track is not suitable for conventional vehicles.  It follows the creek for approximately 2.8 km. where it stops at a small turning circle.  This is where you will need to leave your vehicles.
     The bridle track to the battery begins here. This track can be extremely slippery when wet and there are several pot -holes along the way.  It is cut just above the creek and is believed to be part of the original trail used back in the 1860s.  After a 10 minute walk the remains of an old hut can be seen, approximately 5-6 metres from the creek, left hand side.  All that remains today is the bottom section of the chimney.
     A further 30 minutes walk will bring you to the battery site, located on the right-hand side of the creek. It stands on a hand dug flat and crushed ore for some of the local mines in the area.
     Please do not disturb anything along the way to the site or battery so that it all can be enjoyed by others for years to come.
 

WARNING:  Mines in this area are unsafe  DO NOT ENTER
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In the Past
     The Black Snake Reef, some eight miles from Dargo, had been prospected along with many others in the first rushes in and around Dargo.  The Kong Meng Company was formed in 1867 to take over the earlier claims; a 4-head battery was erected in September of that year.  The mine was worked for some three years with only modest success.
     Another syndicate tried their luck after the mine had remained unworked for a number of years, but again with no success, despite opening a lower tunnel.  A third syndicate obtained a government grant to extend the Kong Meng tunnel in 1907; no payable dirt was discovered.

     During the 1930s Depression the government encouraged mining along Black Snake Creek, even to the extent of erecting a battery and shed (see left).  A small settlement was established and some 15 miners eked out a living of sorts during those terrible times, but the Black Snake Reef has never lived up to expectations.

   The location's only real claim to fame was its Post Office, pictured here as it was in 1940.  An article in a Melbourne Saturday paper in 1950 described the Black Snake Creek Post Office as the southern hemisphere's smallest telephone exchange.
     "It is seven feet high, four feet wide and six feet long - one storey of galvanised iron, wooden plank door, one manual telephone, and natures lighting topped by bark strips weighted down by stones".
     The Post Master at the time was Joe Wright (the figure on the right), and the telephone operated over a single wire earth return "party line" which ran all the way from Maffra to Happy Valley on the Wonnangatta River upstream from Crooked River.
     "On the wall was written a list of towns and settlements with their corresponding ring signals, Maffra-long-long-long; Briagolong-short-long-short; Crooked River-short-short-long; Iguana-five cranks".
     At the time this article was printed Joe was "somewhere about 80".  Born on the Beechworth goldfields, he had been in the Dargo district for 60 years and had run the Post Office since 1922.  When asked what he thought of the future, Joe replied, "I'm a man who always played off his own bat, so the future doesn't worry me. But I do think that if we could all get back to the days of the horse, and help each other, things would come good again".

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