Like many towns in Victoria, Heathcote got its start during the gold rush of the 1850s. Before discovering gold, the area was an open box forest, but that all changed with the discovery of gold. The creation of the geological phenomenon of pink cliffs was caused by hydraulic sluicing, a type of mining used in the late 1870s to 1880s that washed away the top layer of soil and revealed the dramatic and colourful cliffs below.

Hydraulic Sluicing

Hydraulic sluicing is a mining method that employs high-pressure jets of water to blast away large areas of earth and wash it down and through a sluice box. Gold gets caught in the sluice, with the remaining slurry washed away. This mining method is extremely effective but causes significant environmental damage and impacts waterways and agricultural operations. Hydraulic sluicing at the Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve was halted in 1890 due to such damage being wrought on the local landscape.

Miners

The goldfields of Heathcote rang to the sounds of 1270 working miners in 1865. Of these, 1200 were European and 70 Chinese. Miners came to the goldfields from across the globe – from Great Britain, Europe, South Africa, China and Chile. Sailors left ships; farmers walked off farms. Wives accompanied many of the men and set themselves up as bar owners, washerwomen or cooks. As the surface gold became scarce, miners moved onto other goldfields, returned to the farms or obtained jobs with the growing deep mining operators.

The ‘cliffs’ themselves are small hills of the remaining granite, riddled with reddish-brown cracks filled with quartz. The quartz became stained with iron-rich solutions, and erosion has led to the moonscape type appearance.

The Colours

The colours of the cliffs change during the day depending on the type of light. There are two lookouts; according to Parks Victoria, the scenic circuit walk takes 30 mins and takes you past both the upper and lower lookouts. Allow a good hour or more if you have a camera in hand 😉 We visited in the middle of the day, but I would love to go back and see them around sunset.

Location

Park in the carpark opposite 68 Pink Cliffs Road, Heathcote and walk in.