http://users.qldnet.com.au/~eachist/ The Eacham Historical Society Inc.
|
RUSH TRACK PROJECT ROUTE  |
ROUTE The track follows the shortest possible route from the Bischoff Mill to Herberton. The Bar-Barrum people claim that this same route was used by them to travel from what is now the Herberton area to a former boora ground located in the Walsh Rver valley, adjacent to the track. The topography of the route is distintive, with the Anniversary Gully on the Herberton side and the Empress Range saddle on the Walsh side acting as funnels. Anyone travelling from the Herberton area to the central part of the Walsh River valley on foot or horsback would have soon discovered this to be the quickest way.
The track started at the Bischoff Mill and headed almost in a straight line east-south-easterly towards Herberton. It crossed Toy Creek where the phone line presently crosses the creek adjacent to the Walsh River Road. From there it crossed the back sections of what are presently four freehold properties.
It then travelled in almost a straight line, crossing the “claypan” and down to Surveyors Creek. It crossed the Right Branch of Surveyors Creek just a few metres up from where this branch joins the Main [Left] Branch.
View map The main climb to get the height necessary to cross the Great Dividing Range was up the spur between the Right and Little Right Branches of Surveyors Creek. The climb was spectacular as it zigzagged its way up the spur with one cutting and several sharp changes in direction. Unfortunately, this section was severely damaged during one afternoon in 1985, when a bulldozer pushed in an access road to service the towers for the high voltage power line. The cutting is no longer recognisable although it is possible to detect the zigzag in places.
The spur leads to the saddle in the Empress Range distinguished by its transmission tower. The track passed through the saddle about 200m east of the tower, then went around the side of the Toy Creek crater, crossed Toy Creek above the crater and then climbed to the plateau section of the Great Dividing Range. This is where the range is crossed - being its lowest point in the district.
Coming off the plateau the track crossed two gullies, being part of the headwaters of Grant Creek, before following a narrow gully down into Grant Creek itself. Grant Creek is crossed four times. The third crossing is quite picturesque, being at the top of the Anniversary Falls and affording an excellent view of the falls and the swimming hole below it. From the falls the track followed the Anniversary Gully past some of the finest examples of stone pitching in the district and down onto the flat country and the outskirts of Herberton.
The last section of the track went down the gully adjacent to the present Herberton Hospital and it is still possible to follow the track along this section almost to the Herberton-Petford Road.
The track is 11k long.
Top of Page
