Howqua Hills Historic Area

Howqua Hills Historic Area is a site of natural beauty where you can rediscover the days of gold mining and settlement in the area as you walk past historic relics from times gone by.

Things to Do

• Howqua Greenston. Outcrops of the oldest rocks in the alpine area can be seen along the river. Aborigines prized it for its hardness and used it for stone axes, spearheads and cutting tools.
• Sheepyard Flat. Locals say that after the valley was settled, shepherds yarded sheep on the flat at night keeping the dingoes at bay.
  Tunnel through Tunnel Spur. Built in 1884 to link the Howqua River and a water race, it is about 100 metres long.
• Water race. Cut by hand in 1884 to carry water to the "Hanney" waterwheel, it is four kilometres long and can be seen above the road from Tunnel Spur to the chimney.
• Brick chimney. Completed in 1884 and used as a smelting furnace. The waterwheel "Hanney" was erected nearby and powered by water from the race. "Hanney" was 63 feet (18 metres) in diameter and drove the crushers that broke the ore into a suitable size for gold extraction by roasting the chimney.
• Fry's Hut. Fred Fry built his home in the late 1930s. Fred's life in the Howqua Valley was the basis of Neville Shute's novel 'The Far Country', published in 1950.

Camping along the Howqua River is one of the major recreational uses of the Howqua Valley. The historic area has a number of camping areas.