This delightful trip starts in Drouin, 100km south-east of Melbourne at the centre of a dairying, grazing and timber region in West Gippsland. Initially you'll follow a bitumen road to Warragul, Nerrim and Noojee before dirt road to Loch Valley, winding through the Goulburn State Forest and continuing further north on gravel roads through the tiny settlements of Matlock, and finally into historic Woods Point. Woods Point is full of wonderful buildings to explore, walks to old mine sites, memorabilia etc. A good place to stop overnight.
The trip is relatively easy and could be handled by small 4WDs and soft-roaders. The section through the Goulburn State Forest is used by logging trucks so particular care must be taken to keep alert for oncoming vehicles.
How to Use this Trek Note
- To download this information and the route file for offline use on a phone, tablet, headunit or laptop, go to the app store and purchase ExplorOz Traveller. This app enables offline navigation and mapping and will show where you are as you travel along the route. For more info see the ExplorOz Traveller webpage and the EOTopo webpage.
Environment
Birds are prolific through this trek, particularly Eastern Rosellas in the state forest. Wombats and wallabies are the main marsupials seen during the day and Mountain & Alpine Ash are the most notable of the large trees. The trek follows the edge of Radiata Pine Plantation and with ferns in the understory, makes a delightful driving environment.
History
This trek is full of historical significance so we do suggest you take the time to read up a little, especially about
Woods Point.
At the beginning of your trip however, you'll pass the turnoff to the Victorian
Heritage-listed
Noojee Trestle Bridge. It's definately speccy to see, but it is also significant for being one of the only remaining historic timber trestle bridges in Victoria. Being so easily accessible just off the Noojee Road, its definatley worth a look-in. The Noojee to Nayook section of the broad gauge line to Warragul opened in 1919. There was a terminus at Noojee, to which large amounts of timber were transported from mills scattered through the forest by means of a network of timber tramlines, heading to the West and to the North. The
bridge originally carried the weight of N class steam locomotives and was eventually taken out of service in 1954 when the line was closed. When the line was being dismantled, the Buln Buln Shire Council purchased the
bridge from the Victorian Railways for one pound ($2) so it would be preserved for the future.
Further along this trek you skirt the Yarra Ranges and enter the
Goulburn SF. The dense forests of the area were not particularly favoured by Aboriginal people, and were a barrier to
European settlement. Europeans first settled in the 1860s to access
Woods Point goldfields and soon the area was recognised as a valuable source of timber.
At the end of the trek you'll reach historic
Woods Point, which today only exists for passing tourism, but in former years was a gold-mining township. Gold was official discovered here in mid 1861 by William Gooley. Not long later, the Morning Star reef was found and a storekeeper by the name of Wood set up business on the largest point of the spur. The town was built around it, and so the site became known as
Woods Point. Within a few years it had a
post office, a police court, a hospital, a school, three churches, three banks, two newspapers, three breweries and numerous shops and hotels.
Woods Point went eventually went into decline however the Morning Star continued to operate until December 1927. Much of
Woods Point as you see it today is the new town built in 1940, after much of it was destroyed in Black Friday fires of 1939. Today the permanent
population is about 30.
TrekID: 117