Historical information

Gold made Victoria rich, but that came with disastrous results for the land - engulfing it in flood of sand, gravel and silt that gushed out of mines. This environmental devastation still affects the rivers and flood plains. Victorians had a name for this mining waste - 'Sludge'. Sludge submerged Victoria's grapevines near Bendigo, filled Laanecoorie Reservoir on the Loddon River and flowed down from Beechworth over thousands of hectares of rich agricultural land. Children and animals drowned in sludge lakes. The mining effluent contaminated three-quarters of Victoria's creeks and rivers.

Physical description

"Sludge. Disaster on Victoria's Goldfields" by Susan Lawrence and Peter Davies. Published by La Trobe University Press in conjunction with Black Inc. in 2019. Soft cover. Front cover is gold in color with title and author's names in black and white with small image of two gold prospectors. Back cover and spine also gold in color. 307 pp. Printed by McPherson's Printing Group. Contains both text and black and white images. ISBN 9781760641108.