In Waterloo's early days, this was the town pump. Water was sourced from the Waterloo Reservoir, located in bushland to the west of the township.
Waterloo was a thriving community in the gold mining days of the mid 1800s. It boasted 13 hotels, a number of shops, a church, a school, and a Mechanics Institute with library. None of these buildings remain today.
Mechanics Institute
Where the CFA shed now stands (about 300 metres to the north of here) was where the Waterloo Mechanics Institute once stood. Built in 1884, it was the last remaining gold rush building in Waterloo until December 1976, when it was tragically burnt down after a working-bee accidentally ignited nearby bushland. The Waterloo community not only lost its communal meeting place, but also its free library, historical records and photos, and the piano.
However, what you can see behind the CFA shed is the old Beaufort Police Lockup, which was restored in 2014 by the staff and woodworking crew of the nearby Langi Kal Kal Prison using original timbers for the outer skin.
New Victoria Mine
Also to the north you can see the large mullock heap that is a remnant of the New Victoria Mine, which was one of the richest mines in the district. This mine ran from 1856 for three decades, and yielded about one tonne of gold.
Ponies were used underground to pull the trucks of dirt along the drives, then a raised timber tramway transported the dirt further down the road to Trawalla. If you look carefully across the road from here, you can see an old low bridge across a small creek that was once part of this tramway.
Being on a flood plain, flooding was an ongoing problem for the mine and pumps were required around the clock to try to keep water out of the shafts and drives.
Cache contains logbook only, so BYO pen.