The Yarra Track is the former name of the gold fields road from Healesville to the Woods Point and Jordan Goldfields, in Victoria, Australia. The Yarra Track originally began at New Chum, but subsequent route deviations and land surveys led to the establishment of new townships, including Healesville. The earlier settlements and original routes were eventually abandoned.
Gold at New Chum in the 1850s Traces of gold were found in New Chum Creek in the 1850s.Victorian Places New Chum Creek https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/chum-creek accessed 15 Aug 2025 Prospectors camped briefly on the grassy flats near the creeks junction with the Watts River, before they hacked their way through dense undergrowth into the mountains.Symonds S, Healesville History in the Hills p.16
New Chum grew to serve these prospectors and gold miners. In 1859 William Hall had set up as a blacksmith at New Chum.Healesville and District Historical Society 2013 A Pictorial History of Healesville – From Village to a Town Volume 1 1864–1920 p 16) By 1860 stores were brought from Melbourne by bullock cart to New Chum, where the carts were unloaded and transferred to pack horses.Symonds S, Healesville History in the Hills p.17)
Often called a hamlet,The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Thu 25 Feb 1864 Page 5 THE ROADS ABOUT WOOD'S POINT. New Chum consisted of "two stores, blacksmith’s shop and three packers huts"The Argus Wed 10 Feb 1864 Page 7 WOODSPOINT. "built of the most part of slabs, and roofed with shingles and bark."Stacpoole H.J. (Ed.) 1973 Tracks to The Jordan, A Visit to the Australian Alps (Condensed from an article in Dickers Mining Record, April 1864) Number Four Historical Reprints Series, p.46, Lowden Publishing Co At that time it was noted that "some little bustle is created by the pack horses that are gathered around the place, with their drivers, either on the point of starting or having just returned.'"Stacpoole H.J. (Ed.) 1973 Tracks to The Jordan, A Visit to the Australian Alps (Condensed from an article in Dickers Mining Record, April 1864) Number Four Historical Reprints Series, p.46, Lowden Publishing Co.
In April 1864, New Chum was described as "a miserable collection of slab and bark huts situated at the foot of a steep hill, on the banks of the creek bearing the same name."The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Fri 1 Apr 1864 Page 6 MELBOURNE AND WOOD'S POINT.
The beginnings of the Yarra Track In March 1862 J. Sullivan, deputised by the miners at the Jordon Diggings, approached the Victorian Government about the need for a road or track to the Jordan gold fields.The Age Mon 17 Mar 1862 Page 5 THE NEW JORDAN DIGGINGS The Victorian Government sent James Murphy, civil engineer and Government mining surveyor, with a party of men, to survey and mark a track.The Age Thu 20 Mar 1862 Page 5 THE NEWS OF THE DAY. Murphy and Sullivan at first travelled together; however, after a difference of opinion on the best route to explore, they separated and marked different tracks.The Age Tue 17 June 1862 Page 5 NEW ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.The Age Fri 30 May 1862 Page 5 UPPER YARRA AND JORDAN GOLD FIELDS.
Murphy explored a track from New Chum to near what would become the Marysville Woods Point Road. He surveyed a route along the Watts River to its upper reaches;Murphy J., Jul 1862, SURVEY OF A PORTION OF THE DRAY ROAD TO CONNECT MELBOURNE AND THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD, VPRS 8168/P0004, Plan: 306: Melbourne - Jordan Gold Field Sheet 2 from there he ascended the spurs and ridges of Mt Dismal and explored a route running eastwards, south of Mt Observation, to beyond Donavan's Creek.The Age Tue 17 June 1862 Page 5 NEW ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS He did not complete the survey of that explored section before being called back to Melbourne.The Age Fri 29 Aug 1862 Page 4 THE NEWS OF THE DAY. His plan of that route is dated 23 July 1862.Murphy J. Jul 1862 PLAN compiled from various Surveys, Sketches & ACCOMPANYING REPORT UPON THE ROAD FROM MELBOURNE TO THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD VPRS 8168/P0004, Plan: 302: Jordan Gold Fields - Melbourne Sheet 1
Mr. Reick and Mr. Stockman, who were in Murphy’s surveying party, "believing that the direct road had been struck", resolved to follow it up.The Age, 29 August 1862, Page 4, "THE NEWS OF THE DAY". They followed Murphy’s route from New Chum to the end of his line of exploration.The Age Thu 9 Oct 1862 Page 6 GUERIN AND THE JORDAN ROAD. Reick describes their efforts:
"... far from having "left Murphy's track," we were actually members of that surveyor's party, engaged in Melbourne, to which place we returned when that officer, for reasons unknown to us, was recalled, and the party broken up, but not until the general lie of the country had been reconnoitered, and some fifteen miles actually surveyed, opened, and blazed. My companion and I then volunteered to explore and mark the remainder of this line into Jericho, upon the Jordan; and upon this difficult service we started on the 5th July from the settled country at the Melbourne end, and arrived on the diggings, two miles above Jericho township, upon the claim of Lapraig and party, on the 30th July."The Argus Fri 22 Aug 1862 Page 6 THE NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN.
They both suffered great hardships, narrowly escaping death by starvation and exposure. With a swag on their backs and using tomahawks they had cut through to the Jordan diggings, where they remained for ten days to recover their strength.The Argus Fri 22 Aug 1862 Page 6 THE NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN.The Age Fri 29 Aug 1862 Page 4 THE NEWS OF THE DAY.The Argus Tue 19 Aug 1862 Page 6 NEAR TRACK TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.
Upon Reick and Stockman returning from the gold fields, a meeting was held at Eltham and a sum of money subscribed by residents of the district to cut a bridle path along the route.The Age Fri 29 Aug 1862 pp. 4- 5 THE NEWS OF THE DAY.
Blazing their marks over some of the previously made government survey marks, they cut a track along the surveyed section of Murphy's route.The Age Mon 10 Nov 1862 Page 5 NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN. After ascending the spur to Mt Dismal, they deviated from Murphy's explored route that they had followed earlier, and cut a track through the Dividing Ranges. First heading northwards and then easterly across Paradise Plains until they joined Guerin's Track,Dickers Mining Record, April 1864, p.59, A Visit to the Australian Alps north of Mount Observation, which in turn joined the upper reaches of Sullivan's Track to the Jordan.The Herald, 21 February 1863, Page 6, "THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS".Edwards Rev. E. George, 2013 "Making Tracks" - In the Beginning, p.8 Marysville & District Historical Society
In late September 1862, Reick and Stockman had cut the track about 20 miles from New Chum into the Dividing Ranges and were camped at head of the Acheron River. They expected to cut a further 25-30 miles and have the track open in three weeks.The Argus Tue 30 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS. Given the different blazed and cut tracks they placed notices along their route; Reick's to Melbourne via Eltham and "Notice: Any persons wishing to follow Reick's track to the Jordan, must keep the longest and freshest looking tracks where the tracks differ or branch off along the route".The Age, Mon 10 Nov 1862, Page 5, "NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN".
By 25 October 1862, Reick and Stockman had cut the bridle track through to Jordan and called it the New Jordan Road; others called it Reick's Track.The Argus Tue 30 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.The Argus Fri 31 Oct 1862 Page 5 NEW TRACK TO THE JORDAN.The Herald Sat 21 Feb 1863 Page 6 THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS. This early track from New Chum to the Jordan, and subsequent deviations and surveyed routes, ultimately became known as the Yarra Track.
Blazing and construction of the Yarra Track begins The Yarra Track had several different routes over its life. The tracks and roads from New Chum to the gold fields were some of the earliest.
New Chum was at the furthest point coaches could travel along the route from Melbourne. From there, Murphy’s Track, a packhorse track, climbed through the mountains to the diggings. Murphy’s Track was surveyed in mid 1862 over the spurs of Mount Monda on the northern side of the Watts River.Murphy J., Jul 1862, SURVEY OF A PORTION OF THE DRAY ROAD TO CONNECT MELBOURNE AND THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD, VPRS 8168/P0004, Plan: 306: Melbourne - Jordan Gold Field Sheet 2The Argus Tue 30 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGSThe Herald Sat 21 Feb 1863 Page 6 THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS The track was still in use in late 1863.The Age, Mon 26 Oct 1863, Page 6OPENING UP OF THE GIPPSLAND GOLDFIELDS.The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Sat 6 Feb 1864 Page 5 WOOD'S POINT, AND THE WAY TO IT. However by October 1863 an alternative route on the southern side of the Watts River had also been blazed by Mr. Farrell, Assistant Road Engineer and was in use by foot traffic.The Age, Mon 26 Oct 1863, p.6, OPENING UP OF THE GIPPSLAND GOLDFIELDS.
In December 1863 several government contracts were awarded and road construction commenced along this alternative route that had been blazed by Farrell.Report, John F. Waghorn, Yarra Track Victorian Collections https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/63bb4abb4f6c082a8cca82b4 Accessed 7 June 2025 By early 1864 this route of the Yarra Track from New Chum to what would become Fernshaw had been cleared for about four miles. At 5 miles the track again returned to the Murphy’s Track.The Age Fri 1 Apr 1864 Page 7 MELBOURNE AND WOOD'S POINT. By February 1864, R. W. Larritt, Inspector General of Roads reported 8 miles had been marked and about 6 miles cleared.The Argus, Thu 25 Feb 1864, p.5, THE ROADS ABOUT WOOD'S POINT.
This alternative route of Mr. Farrell, Assistant Road Engineer, was the earliest route of the Yarra Track constructed by the Victorian Government.
Early tracks bypass New Chum and shape the future location of Healesville
In late 1862 the shortest route to Woods Point and the Jordan Goldfield from Melbourne was via a good dray road to New Chum, beyond which the Yarra Track became a bridle track.The Age Fri 3 Oct 1862 Page 6 THE MOST DIRECT ROAD TO THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD. Over time more prospectors and miners travelled along this route to Woods Point and the Jordan Gold Fields. Not all these miners travelled by horse or coach and large numbers travelled by foot.The Age Mon 26 Oct 1863 Page 6 OPENING UP OF THE GIPPS LAND GOLD-FIELDS.The Age Wed 1 June 1864 Page 7 THE JORDAN ROAD, VIA BRUSHY CREEK. Tracks soon developed that bypassed New Chum and took a more direct route to join the Yarra Track further along the Watts River Valley.
George McDonald's July 1864 Survey Plan of Evelyn documents these early tracks. About four miles before New Chum, near the Hit and Miss Restaurant, the tracks headed either north via New Chum to Woods Point, or bypassed New Chum by crossing the Watts River and then continuing east along Cameron’s Track to the Glenwatts Store before rejoining the Yarra Track.Allotments at the HIT OR MISS RESTAURANT ON THE ROAD FROM MELBOURNE TO WOODS POINT, McDonald G.T., 25th June 1864. Illustrated in Edwards Rev. G. 2013 Making Tracks – In the Beginning Marysville & District Historical Society p.38
Further downstream, crossing the Yarra River at Castella’s Bridge (December 1863), The Argus Sat 4 June 1864 Page 6 NEW CHUM TOWNSHIP, WOOD'S POINT-ROAD, VIA BRUSHY CREEK. and Rourke’s Bridge (March 1864)The Age Wed 1 June 1864 Page 7 THE JORDAN ROAD, VIA BRUSHY CREEK. other tracks headed initially northwards to join Cameron’s Track and then on to the Yarra Track.McDonald G. July 1864, Survey Plan Evelyn, VPRS 8168/P0002, GF44; EVELYN; MCDONALD; at https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/90DD5E1C-F841-11E9-AE98-A57A070C551C?image=1 Accessed 6 Sep 2025