| Born again! |
|
News FAQs History V-tour Traders More info WH&DL |
Walhalla in decline: dying by degrees
The value of the Council's rate book had begun to decline from 1880 onwards. But as it became progressively easier to get into the town, it also became simpler to leave. Not without hardship, and to considerable public interest, the first motor car arrived in Walhalla in 1908 from Sale, having taken just over five hours to cover the eighty kilometer distance. The long-awaited narrow-gauge railway finally reached Walhalla from Moe on Tuesday, March 15th, 1910, via a track from Erica that had been carved out of the Thomson River valley, and which was considered at the time to be one of the most picturesque train routes in Australia.
Walhalla Goldfield Railway bridge into Stringer's Creek Gorge The mines had begun to fail in 1911 and 1912. The Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine closed in 1911, and the original Long Tunnel Gold Mine, founded in 1863, closed in 1914. The new rail service allowed land developers to remove heavy industrial plant and 300 of the town's best buildings to other parts of the state, and from 1910 to 1913, insurance-motivated arson became such a growth industry that insurers would only honour claims if buildings were rebuilt on their original sites. Like most towns in rural Australia, more than half of Walhalla's able-bodied men enlisted in the war effort during World War I, and many did not return. Of those who did, many were not predisposed to stay. And for those who did stay, opportunities were limited because mine yields were in even further decline, and the familiar institutions of the town had begun to disappear. The Walhalla Chronicle newspaper closed down in 1915 when its publisher enlisted in the armed forces, and never resumed publication. By 1915, there were only 17 shops and stores in the town, compared to the 30 or more that had been there in 1911. As the resident population fell, the Walhalla Shire was annexed by Narracan Shire in 1918. More families moved away, although those who stayed reported that the small-scale gold mining that still continued allowed the community to avoid the worst hardships of the Great Depression that was to come in the 1930s. The police station was closed in 1931, and the last train left Walhalla in 1944. In 1945, fire destroyed the Mechanics' Institute, the old Bank of Australasia and the Catholic Church. |
|
The Star Hotel, last of Walhalla's original hotels, was also destroyed by a fire in 1951, and a replica has only recently (1999) been rebuilt. There were further major floods in 1952 which damaged or destroyed many of the remaining old buildings. The school closed in 1965. A dwindling population watched again in 1978 as floods washed away bridges and large parts of the roadway through the town. Walhalla was dying by degrees. |
Born again!
|
|
© 2005 Walhalla Heritage & Development League Inc. |
