Note:- As of the 17th March 2026 this cache was moved to a more secure location as it has been muggled quite a few times. The questions have been adjusted to suit the new hide.
While many men risked everything in the hope of striking it rich in the goldfields most did not or were only able to scrape a meager living from their claim. The only people who were guaranteed to make money on the gold fields were the traders who supplied the everyday needs for the diggers to survive.
Stawell's gold was first discovered in Pleasant Creek near this memorial, in May 1853 by William (Bill) McLachlan, a hut keeper for the shepherds of Concongella Station. This small find drew prospectors to the area which probably resulted in the large gold rush of 1857 at Commercial Street, Illawarra and the opening of the quartz reefs around Big Hill.
At the time discoverers of new goldfields were usually rewarded by the Gold Fields Reward Board but McLachlan's claim was disallowed as he was not directly responsible for the later finds. McLachlan, a bachelor from Scotland, spent his last years in the Benevolent Asylum wing of the Stawell Hospital and is buried in the Pauper Section of the Stawell Cemetery.
At WP1 You will find yourself in front of a memorial of McLachlan’s first discovery of gold. From the information you can find some clues to the final location.
A = The last number of the year the monument to finding the first gold was erected minus 1
B = The number of letters in the first word on the monument Minus 6
Bill did not have many friends in the area but his closest would have to have been the Jack family. Of all the members of the Jack family, Mrs. Jack had it the hardest, outliving the rest of her family, three within 21 months and another three in under 12 months. The Jack family are all buried in the same cemetery as Bill. (S37°03.283, E142°45.919 if you are interested)
Mrs. Jack’s son, Henry worked at one of the local businesses that catered for everything from hardware to explosives. Now head off to Henrys place of employment and gather some more information and check out the building, one of only a few remaining buildings of its type in Victoria. From here you will be able to work out the final location of the cache.
WP2:- S37°03.337, E142°46.845 Once at this structure you will see a round National Trust Plaque with a circa date on it , this equals CDEF
You will find the cache at
S 37°03 AB(E+2) E 142°47.A(D-2)E
The cache is now a fake rock.