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Fascinating Historical Facts - Mornington Peninsula
Tubbarubba Gold Rush

Tubbarubba Reserve on Tubbarubba Road near Balnarring Rd where the miners set up camp

The Mornington Peninsula had 3 small gold rushes in the nineteenth century. They were centered around the Tubbarubba and Bulldog Creek areas.

The first gold rush took place in 1851 after a small gold reef was found in Bulldog Creek. This rush was apparently short lived, but another occurred in 1870 and yet another in the 1890's.

With the discovering of gold in the 1870's, Chinese immigrant miners were encouraged to the area. It is believed they disembarked from their boats at Flinders to avoid paying the £10.00 immigration tax levied at official ports. However after one of them was murdered at Tubbarubba they quickly left the area.

1894 saw perhaps the richest gold rush in the area. William Barnes started mining there on Alfred Downwards land near the junction of the Bulldog and Tubbarubba Creeks, building a small dam. It is believed he found a nugget said to weigh 17oz. When news got out about his find there were soon hundreds of diggers in the area.

Tubbarubba Reserve is totally overgrown. A padlocked gate keeps the public out

In 1937 geologist R. A. Keble examined the sites around the Bulldog and Tubbarubba Creeks area about 6 miles north east of Dromana and found evidence of the old workings. Keble found one gold bearing reef had been worked near the head of Bulldog Creek. He also found evidence of mine shafts and tunnels, alluvial workings along the creek, an old battery site and prospecting holes around Tubbarubba Creek. On his map of the area Keble marked several prospecting holes and a water race down stream from Barnes workings on Bulldog Creek. Keble found similarities between the geological strata around these creeks and the richly paying reefs of the Victorian Central Highlands and suggested that the reef on Bulldog Creek which had suffered from a landslide was probably quite rich.

Sign on Gate to Reserve

After reading the 838 pages of the Shire of Flinders Heritage Study of " Inventory of Significant Places", they noted that the Tubbarubba Reserve was the area where the early gold rushes were located. From further investigation, it appears this is where the miners set up their campsite. After consulting maps, we went looking for the reserve. The first day we drove along Tubbarubba Road, we couldn't see anywhere that resembled a reserve. However, a week later , on our way home from a day out at Mount Martha we took a detour to have another look for the reserve. Finally, we found it! The gate is only a few metres from the road but it is overgrown and at first glance it just looks like part of a farm. After stopping we saw the sign on the gate with a contact number for the "Committee of Management". It is an absolute disgrace that a reserve with such heritage should be left to deteriorate to this extent. Well, that's my say on the subject! It's not worth driving out looking for this significant historical site.