Mt Victory Rd once known as the Bluff road was opened by Lady Somers Mar 1930. This section of the raod is beyond Stoney Creek Gorgephoto shows sweeping bend on Mt Victory Rdaccess routes, mt victory rd, roads

The Balconies Mt Victory Grampiansstawell

The Balconies Mt Victory The Grampians Valentine Series 1024Black and white photograph of two young people standing between two cliff ledges. Mountain views in the background. Valentine series No. 1024 The Balconies, Mt. Victoria, Grampians Published by the Valentine Publication Co. Pty Ltd. Queens St. Melb.halls gap grampians

“Weekly Times” Opening of Mt Victory Road March 22nd 1930stawell

Official opening of Mt Victory Rd People in photo Lord and Lady Somers, 2 Johsons Millie Bowtell, Bessie McKeon, M PawseyPhoto shows group standing on road opening of Mt Victory Rd. Lord Somers in foregroundaccess routes, mt victory rd, people, roads

Henry Beater Christian (1886-1962) , was a descendant of one of the earliest settler families in Kew. Employed at the Kew Asylum as a 'public servant', he was a skilled amateur photographer, photographing numerous scenes in Kew and on his travels around Victoria. The majority of his photographs date from 1916 to 1929. His finest photographs are housed in two photograph albums. Digital copy of a photograph from page 12 of the 47-page photograph album containing 261 gelatinous silver images, loaned by Diane Washfold with permission given to digitise and hold a copy in our collection. The first and last pages in the album document the Yarra River at Studley Park and at Kew. The remainder of the album includes photographs of walking and car tours in rural Victoria including 'wilderness' areas in the Grampians, Gippsland and the High Country. Six album pages document a camping trip by Henry Christian to the Grampians in September 1924. The photos include pictures of lookouts, and natural features including rock faces and waterfalls, as well as his camp site. This photo is of a self-standing rock on what is probably the Mt Victory trail. "Mt Victory / Grampians / 9.24"henry beater christian (1886-1962), landscape photography, christian-washfold collection, photograph albums, grampians, mt victory, gariwerd

Henry Beater Christian (1886-1962) , was a descendant of one of the earliest settler families in Kew. Employed at the Kew Asylum as a 'public servant', he was a skilled amateur photographer, photographing numerous scenes in Kew and on his travels around Victoria. The majority of his photographs date from 1916 to 1929. His finest photographs are housed in two photograph albums. Digital copy of a photograph from page 12 of the 47-page photograph album containing 261 gelatinous silver images, loaned by Diane Washfold with permission given to digitise and hold a copy in our collection. The first and last pages in the album document the Yarra River at Studley Park and at Kew. The remainder of the album includes photographs of walking and car tours in rural Victoria including 'wilderness' areas in the Grampians, Gippsland and the High Country. Six album pages document a camping trip by Henry Christian to the Grampians in September 1924. The photos include pictures of lookouts, and natural features including rock faces and waterfalls, as well as his camp site. This photo is of a man, perhaps Henry Christian, standing on one of the lookouts on what is probably the Mt Victory trail. "Mt Victory / Grampians / 9.24"henry beater christian (1886-1962), landscape photography, christian-washfold collection, photograph albums, grampians, mt victory, gariwerd

Henry Beater Christian (1886-1962) , was a descendant of one of the earliest settler families in Kew. Employed at the Kew Asylum as a 'public servant', he was a skilled amateur photographer, photographing numerous scenes in Kew and on his travels around Victoria. The majority of his photographs date from 1916 to 1929. His finest photographs are housed in two photograph albums. Digital copy of a photograph from page 12 of the 47-page photograph album containing 261 gelatinous silver images, loaned by Diane Washfold with permission given to digitise and hold a copy in our collection. The first and last pages in the album document the Yarra River at Studley Park and at Kew. The remainder of the album includes photographs of walking and car tours in rural Victoria including 'wilderness' areas in the Grampians, Gippsland and the High Country. Six album pages document a camping trip by Henry Christian to the Grampians in September 1924. The photos include pictures of lookouts, and natural features including rock faces and waterfalls, as well as his camp site. This photo is of a man, perhaps Henry Christian, holding his camera while standing on one of the lookouts on what is probably the Mt Victory trail. The photo was framed in a circle during the development process. "Mt Victory / Grampians / 9.24"henry beater christian (1886-1962), landscape photography, christian-washfold collection, photograph albums, grampians, mt victory, gariwerd

Background on Bridle Path up Stony Creek Gorge Pre 1840 C. B. Hall, squatter on Mokepilly Run 1841-1842, first European to discover the Fyans Creek valley, the entrance of which became known as Hall's Gap. He later recorded that he followed a number of tracks which he assumed had been made by the Aboriginies and described one as "leading up a wild romantic glen and over on to the source of the Glenelg River". This could well have been the route taken up Stony Creek gorge by the first timber-cutters in this part of the Grampians to the saddle between the Wonderland and Mt. Difficult ranges known as Valley Gap 1850s/60s Timber cutters and shingle splitters were reported to be moving into the eastern side of the Grampians and by the mid 1860s there were a number of families connected to the supplying of timber to Pleasant Creek living in the "Hall's Gap ranges". John Wakeham, the first store owner in Pleasant Creek in 1854, established a timer-mill in upper Stony Creek Gorge in the late 1850s. Wakeham is credited for the clearing and levelling of the first bridle-path up the gorge. 1870s By the mid 1870s the track had been extended over Valley Gap to the Victoria Forest (the upper region of the Victoria Valley). McKeon's bullock team was known to have hauled red gum from the Valley to Stawell in the late 1870s and the 1880s. 1880s In 1887 an article in the Pleasant Creek news describes the Stony Creek Gorge track as "being a ledge alongside the mountain range, formed in the early days with the aid of earth and timber, along which the bullock teams used to travel to Horsham and plains of the Wimmera beyond." 1890s Gold was discovered in the catchment area of Stony Creek and by the end of the 1890s a new track was built from "near the junction of Fyan's and Stony Creeks, up the gorge to the diggings settlement. The mining Department had paid L300 for its construction and, when completed, the track was "three miles and 30 chains in length, the side cuttings at the narrowest part being 10 feet between" and "the watercourses which cross the track at various points" having been "filled up with rocks rolled down the sides of the hills, and consequently there can be no damage caused by bushfires which destroyed the former wooden bridges erected on the old track to Wakeham's saw-mill, the remains of which are still to be seen at the side of the diggings" The article goes on to further describe the track as one which "can with ease travel with a two horse conveyance either up or down" and that the workmen engaged in the construction of the track would be attending "a ball that night at McKeon's farm near the mouth of the gap to celebrate the successful completion of the undertaking". 1900s At what time the bridle path was extended beyond Valley Gap to the Wartook basin on the Mt. Difficult Range has not yet been determined. However, it is known that, by the turn of the century, people were travelling between Halls Gap and the caretakers' residence at Wartook Reservoir along what was now known as the "Bluff Road. Wartook's embankment had been constructed in 1887 and at that time there was already a track from Rosebrook Station homestead (near the present day Wartook Pottery) to the reservoir. Philip Rose owned both Rosebrook and Wartook Stations from the mid 1840s to the late 1850s and had regularly leased the Wartook basin to Cobb & Co. to rest horses there. 1920s Following the war of 1914-1918, tourism really took off in the Grampians, and Halls Gap rapidly grew. People would travel as far as they could on the many tracks then hike to the many lookouts being discovered by local tour guides. This led to the need for access across the range so that horse riders and the increasing number of vehicles could travel between Horsham and Halls Gap. To this end, the Bluff Road was improved and extended on 1929 and at its opening in March, 1930, by Lady Somers it was renamed the Mt. Victory Road.Map of Mt Victory Road and othersaccess routes, mt victory rd, bridle path, roads

Henry Beater Christian (1886-1962) , was a descendant of one of the earliest settler families in Kew. Employed at the Kew Asylum as a 'public servant', he was a skilled amateur photographer, photographing numerous scenes in Kew and on his travels around Victoria. The majority of his photographs date from 1916 to 1929. His finest photographs are housed in two photograph albums. Digital copy of a photograph from page 12 of the 47-page photograph album containing 261 gelatinous silver images, loaned by Diane Washfold with permission given to digitise and hold a copy in our collection. The first and last pages in the album document the Yarra River at Studley Park and at Kew. The remainder of the album includes photographs of walking and car tours in rural Victoria including 'wilderness' areas in the Grampians, Gippsland and the High Country. Six album pages document a camping trip by Henry Christian to the Grampians in September 1924. The photos include pictures of lookouts, and natural features including rock faces and waterfalls, as well as his camp site. This photo is of one of his campsites. The tent, beside which a man is standing, is a simple canvas sheet held up by ropes and supported at one end by large slabs of bark. "Mt Victory / Grampians / 9.24"henry beater christian (1886-1962), landscape photography, christian-washfold collection, photograph albums, grampians, mt victory, gariwerd

Henry Beater Christian (1886-1962) , was a descendant of one of the earliest settler families in Kew. Employed at the Kew Asylum as a 'public servant', he was a skilled amateur photographer, photographing numerous scenes in Kew and on his travels around Victoria. The majority of his photographs date from 1916 to 1929. His finest photographs are housed in two photograph albums. Digital copy of a photograph from page 12 of the 47-page photograph album containing 261 gelatinous silver images, loaned by Diane Washfold with permission given to digitise and hold a copy in our collection. The first and last pages in the album document the Yarra River at Studley Park and at Kew. The remainder of the album includes photographs of walking and car tours in rural Victoria including 'wilderness' areas in the Grampians, Gippsland and the High Country. Six album pages document a camping trip by Henry Christian to the Grampians in September 1924. The photos include pictures of lookouts, and natural features including rock faces and waterfalls, as well as his camp site. This photo is of one of his campsites. The tent, beside which a man is standing, is a simple canvas sheet is supported by saplings and ropes. "Mt Victory / Grampians / 9.24"henry beater christian (1886-1962), landscape photography, christian-washfold collection, photograph albums, grampians, mt victory, gariwerd

The road winding up Stoney Creek Gorge with Elephant Hide, the rocky slope in the picture, on the left. Sections of the earlier 19th century bridal track, which was later widened to become a jinker track, can be seen above the new road.Postcard shows Mt Victory Rd unsealed Elephant's hide on leftPostcard Correspondence Address only Kodak Mt Vic Roadaccess routes, mt victory rd, roads

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

In the years of Allan Doney’s photography, landmark buildings succumbed to fire, neglect and redevelopment. He photographed the grey sand hills from Bendigo’s mining past, the streetscapes, poppet heads, miners’ cottages, gracious homes with ornate verandahs, trams and much more. Above all, his photographs show how much of the city has survived from the 19th century – and how much has not. Through two decades of great change, Allan Doney was there to capture ways people interacted with it. Although he travelled to many other places in Northern Victoria and beyond in search of subjects for his art, he seemed to always return to Bendigo for inspiration.

Photo shows 6 people walking up Mt Victory Road Road not sealedaccess routes, mt victory rd, roads