Uncle Dash was a surveyor who migrated from North America in the Early 1800s.
In the 1850’s Uncle Dash lived on Big Hill near Pleasant Creek, he was a solitary, unassuming man and living off the land in this extremely sparsely populated area suited him down to the ground. Uncle Dash was good friends with the Djab Wurrung people of the area and was fascinated with how the men of the tribe would dash off every morning as the sun rose to find the food for the tribe.
He would fossick for gold around his base camp, at Big Hill, and also down in Pleasant Creek from time to time. When he had enough gold he would exchange it for alcohol at the Pleasant Creek Hotel.
As rumours of Uncle Dash and his gold circulated more and more brave men came to try and find their fortune. We know that Uncle Dash was the first to strike it lucky, however, history states that William McLachlan, a local Shepard, first discovered gold at Pleasant Creek in May 1853 while fossicking in his spare time. His find was only small, some pennyweights, and although the find was made public only a few people came here. This was probably because of Pleasant Creeks isolation, water being scarce and no supplies of food while the goldfields of Ballarat, Bendigo, Clunes etc. were operating with stores already established. Some people did come though and there were always people passing through from South Australia on their way to the more popular Victorian goldfields who stopped and found small quantities of gold.
Gold diggers came and went during the next four years - finding some small quantities of gold and in August 1857 the big rush occurred at what became known as Commercial Street, Pleasant Creek, off the Halls Gap Road. This rush spread across to Deep Lead and the Warden reported at the height of the rush, that there were 25,000 to 30,000 people there.
Shafts were being sunk around Big Hill and gold was found in the quartz there. That Big Hill area was called Quartz Reefs, Pleasant Creek. At the same time, Uncle Dash moved off Big Hill and even further out into the bush and joined forces with Boulder Knight, who unbeknownst to Uncle Dash was a scoundrel. They formed the small but apparently lucrative Boulder-Dash Mining group working way out in the scrub to avoid contact with civilisation, only coming to town to trade gold for supplies, the rest they stashed away for their retirement.
Although gold is still being mined at Stawell to this very day all that remains of Uncle Dash’s legacy are an incomplete map and some clues as to where they hid the gold Boulder-Dash Mining found. Boulder was an untrusting man, probably because he was such a scoundrel, insisted that only one map containing the location of their cache of gold be drawn, and the actual numbers for the stash being on another document. The map was coded, so that only when both the map and the code keys were together could they be fully understood and lead to the golds resting place. Uncle Dash, by this stage, was becoming suspicious of Boulder and had a trick or two up his sleeve should something go wrong. Dash’s suspicions were confirmed when Boulder tried to swindle a rough and ready miner out of some of his hard earned gold and ended up shot dead, taking his part of the clues to the grave. The site of which has now been redeveloped. Uncle Dash was wrongly blamed for his murder, the town gossips suggesting Dash killed him for the clues. Dash fled for the scrub and was never seen again. Now you know the history, will you help us attempt to find the hidden gold and clear the proud name of Dash. The finder will be justly rewarded.
Here are the only clues our family has been able to piece together over the last hundred or so years of searching.
Uncle Dash left instructions in his will that would lead to his half of the clues, we found an old army box that contained a map and some cryptic clues. We have included a copy the map below and the order in which we think that the clues should be followed to find the hidden cache. We know the place that Dash referred to as Pleasant Creek to be now called Stawell.
At the above coordinates Boulder was laid to rest. Local legend has it Boulder was buried here clasping a piece of paper in his hand. We think that this piece of paper was Boulder’s half of the clues. No further information as to the whereabouts of Boulder’s half of the clues can be gained from here, as the cemetery has been redeveloped. However, even in Uncle Dash’s exile he ventured to visit Boulder’s grave to pay his respects. While he was there we have figured out that he used the plaque as part of his clues that will help lead you to the location of the gold.
S 37°03.ABC
E 142°47.DEF
A = The third number in the year that the cemetery was established.
B = The second number minus the third number of the year that the cemetery closed down.
C = The month number that the plaque was erected minus the third number of the year the plaque was erected.
DEF = The amount of money that Uncle Dash would have had left after his last known exchange of gold and paid off all of his debts. Uncle Dash had 8.2 ounces of gold and he exchanged it at an equivalent rate of $10 per pennyweight. He then had to pay off his tab at the pub, which had blown out to the equivalent of a whopping $656 in todays money. When calculating these values only use whole numbers ignore any decimal places.
Take care with your sums and the coordinates will take you to the place where Uncle Dash first found gold and there is a signboard explaining the development of the area since his first find.
We believe at this location you can gather all the clues that you will need to locate Dash’s gold. But please be careful, many before you have tried and wandered off into the bush, never to be seen again. The only thing that we know for sure is that the cache is within 3m of a walking track.
T = The number of ounces of gold removed from this area per truckload.
U = Add the first and second numbers of the kilometers of ocean water the Mine Schist (waste rock) was formed in.
X = How many grams of gold per tonne come from the basalt contact ore and divide the first number in to the second number.
Y = The first number of the age of the basalt in this area.
Z = The last number of the amount of gold per tonne in the central lode or the laminated quartz reef.
S 37°08.TUU
E 142°44.XYZ
It is imperative that you transpose the appropriate number accurately to the corresponding letter located on the map. Until now we have not been able to figure out the importance of the map. Hopefully you can help us and unlock the secret location of Dash’s gold.
*Note* Before you dash off you should know that there is a track that leads to the stash. There is no need to go cross country, doing so only increases your chance of seeing a snake
