Curious about mines in Vic

Hi all,
Have been searching the net to find out info about the 0ne tree hill mine in smiths gully Victoria. My research brought me here. Yesterday I took my kids for a wander down to that mine to show them as I grew up in the area I know where quite a few mines are and think they are fascinating part of our history. When we got down there I noticed a lot of changes, firstly parks have put up a gate so you can no longer drive down there a sand and someone has put in some plastic water tanks that aren't open on top to collect water? Nothing nearby them so not sure of purpose other than maybe a supply for fire fighting? Get down to the mine and there's been a bridge erected and now there is little rails for a mining trolley coming out of the mine and across the bridge to the high road. There's a large pile of rubble dumped into the little valley under the bridge which I assume has come out of mine. The mine itself used to be open and as teenagers we would go in there to look and not too far in you'd hit a wall where it had collapsed. I saw 2 guys there once and one of them informed me his dad used to work in that mine and it was one of the youngest mines at only 80 years old. That would have been more than 25 years ago now.
The biggest change and I'll say shock was something is happening down there because now it's locked up with a big metal door. There is a box in the end of the bridge with a solar panel hooked up and a camera! I continued to walk past the warning signs to keep out and triggered an alarm with a voice recording telling us we were being filmed and live images were being viewed and a patrol had been dispatched to the area etc. all sounded legit but had sirens in background and then an evil laugh lol.... So scare tactics to keep people out. Without internet I don't know how there would Be live webcam but do believe there could be a memory source in the box recording images. Perhaps whenever the person who set it up checks footage it would mostly be from animals triggering it off lol. Even if it was viewed in lifetime, the person who set it up would have to live pretty close by to get there in time to catch anyone who was just walking through having a look. If you had an idea to break into mine that would give someone time to get out there but still what's stopping someone just stealing the box and the equipment if it isn't live and it's just taking images for safety purposes ? It was and is intriguing me. My biggest question is who has set this up? It's government land. Do they lease mines to people? There was no signs I could see with any identifying names etc. I didn't hang long as two of the kids bolted when they heard the recording lol and I had to coach my son to keep walking so I could show him the opening of the mine. After all it's public land so I didn't do anything wrong by wanting to show kids the entrance to a slice of our local history. So I did feel a bit annoyed too lol . If anyone is going to check it out, it's a hell of a walk back up if your not fit. My calves are killing me today lol

My memory of that place many years ago stays with me. I used to ride down there with friends on our horses and one day some mates showed up on their mini bikes and some guy who lived up on the hill started shooting at us lol. It wasn't the horses it was the kids on bikes that he was targeting.

So my reason for this post was questions that I wanted answers for out of curiosity. Does anyone know anything about its use now days? I wonder if parks even know it's being used as it's quite remote. I forgot to mention the box had like police tape wrapped around it as a sign of 'law' I guess.
Anyone?

And I know of quite a few mines in that area if anyone is interested. i guess they are all on private land though. Two are easy access without fences etc and close to road. Pm if you want info I'll try to draw up map

talking about this area?
http://www.russellknoblockphotography.com/one-tree-hill-reserve.html

You have a few links which tells you about history of the place and area.
Look like is managed by Park Victoria.

One Tree Hill[edit]
One Tree Hill (37°37′59″S 145°18′36″E), (not to be confused with the TV show) a former mining area in northwestern Christmas Hills, is now a 143 hectare reserve managed by Parks Victoria. Its main features are Happy Valley Creek, which runs through the reserve, and the 372 m One Tree Hill in the northeast. According to the Land Conservation Council of Victoria,[7] it has been assessed as "being of State botanical significance for its ecological integrity and viability, rarity and representation of community types", and is home to 22 species assessed as regionally threatened, rare or restricted in the greater Melbourne area, including roosting colonies of large bent-wing bat and eastern horseshoe bat, and the powerful owl, brush-tailed phascogale and barking owl.[8] The LCC reports that 79 bird, 24 mammal, 7 reptile and 7 frog species have been recorded in the reserve.

http://www.onmydoorstep.com.au/heritage-listing/12144/one-tree-hill-quartz-workings


Maybe is under heritage listing too, read little bit more or call Park Victoria for all information.

http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/connect-with-us Give them a call is the best way to go about this.



If you like to read old articles you can find some interesting read here:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=one+tree+hill+mine

Good luck,
GoldEN

one tree hill,
Hi mate , late reply but I just read your post. I used to live in Christmas hills on one tree hill rd and also spent many days exploring the mines in the area. not long after I moved away Parks Vic took control of the reserve and put up the gates. I believe a consortium from Yarra glen had the mining lease which quite supprised me as I b=never thought they would re work the mine. I believe Stan Bone was involved as his family where already mining in the area when we where there.

Hey I just read your post. I live in Smiths Gully and know the mine quite well. For years it was run by an old local who I think's name is Stan however he sold the mining lease about 6 or 7 years ago to a Western Australian Miner Named Steve who has been working on getting the mine back up to code, making it safe and getting it ready to operate again. I know the current owner and he's a lovely guy. As far as the cameras and security systems up there (and yes there is cameras up in the trees on his lease as well to photograph and deter illegal prospecting) as far as I'm aware the cameras are live and I believe that one of them is hooked up to either the police, parks Victoria or a private security company. The reason for this is being an active mining lease he's had a lot of people illegally prospecting and taking "his gold" (and any of you guys who've been to WA know how serious they take this), as well as at least one break in to his shed and mine occurred a couple of years ago (I don't know of any in the last two years since the security system has gone up) where equipment and explosives were stolen. So as you can imagine with having live explosives he's taken his security quite seriously.
The mining lease doesn't take up all of the park there and you can find a map of it online but it is essentially from his sheds up the valley and across to the top gate. It is also marked on trees where the lease begins and finishes. If you have any need to go on there, queries or want to get in contact with the owner feel free to ask and I'll be more than happy to help where I can or put you in touch with Steve. You can also find the owners details online by looking up the mining lease.
Thanks, Travis.

Sim go to this web site. It will tell you of every lease and who owns it in Victoria.
wombat

http://earthresources.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/maps-reports-and-data/mining-licences-near-me/mining-licences-near-me

Hi Dkr86, I live in Hurstbridge and am also very interested in mining and was wondering if you could possibly put me in touch with the lease owner. First time using a forum so i hope you get this.