Walhalla: The tiny Victorian town with a massive impact
Once the epicentre of gold mining in Victoria, Walhalla’s population has dropped to just 16 residents. But not even that small number has stopped this town from having a major impact on the state.
Leader
Don't miss out on the headlines from Leader . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Jason Baldwin rides the Walhalla Railway train more than most.
As one of the volunteer conductors who takes thousands of passengers every year on the 30 minute trip from Walhalla to Thomson, he knows exactly when and where to look as the train glides down Stringer’s Creek Gorge.
It’s a view, he says, that gets better every time.
“It’s bloody beautiful ... never gets old,” he says.
Like some mythical land in a Stephen King novel, Walhalla appears at the end of a deep Gippsland forest where motorists catch glimpses of waterfalls as they turn down roads that bend like horseshoes.
With immense greenery surrounding this quaint Goldfields village characterised by 19th century inspired buildings, it is not difficult to see why it catches the imagination of Hollywood stars — including Liam Neeson — searching for a location to film their next blockbuster.
But despite the beauty and the tourist numbers, just 16 people live in the town permanently.
Let there be light
Taking a sip of his machine-made coffee, Michael Leaney flicks on the lights inside the Walhalla Star Hotel and puts his phone on the table to charge.
It’s a sequence he has learned to never take for granted, despite it appearing painfully unnoteworthy to most people.
But most people have never spent more than a few days without power at home.
And most people have never lived in a town without electricity.
“I moved to Walhalla permanently in January 1998 and electricity came in December 1998, so I had a year with no electricity,” Mr Leaney says.
“A cappuccino machine, a fax machine — you need electricity for those to work.
“People complain when the power goes off for a few hours and it’s like Armagedon. Well, imagine living like that and having to unpack your fridge every night.
“It was glorified camping”.
During Victoria’s 19th century Walhalla had a population of more than 3500 people and produced 72 tonnes of gold — believed to be valued about $14.26bn in today’s market.
But the closure of the mines between 1911 and 1914 saw Walhalla “pack up and essentially removed”, laying dormant for nearly a century until someone turned on the lights.
That someone, as it turned out, was Mr Leaney — who later went on to become mayor of Baw Baw Shire — whose plan to rebuild and open the Star Hotel after it burned to the ground in 1951 proved to be pivotal in bringing electricity to Walhalla.
But this electrical phenomenon would not be a catalyst for the construction of some glitzy utopia that would rip the soul out of one of the state’s most significant goldfield towns.
“One of the things you’ll notice in the town is there are no power poles,” Mr Leaney says.
“When electricity was connected it all went underground to keep the heritage streetscape ... we were actually one of the first places to have underground power.
“There’s a real pride that Walhalla maintains its gold-era style. We’ve got strong planning regulations here and a planning scheme that if you’re building here it has to be in the gold era style.
“People compare us to Sovereign Hill but what we’ve got here is real, we’re not a theme park.”
Imaginations running wild
It may not be a “theme park” but the town has no shortage of visitors losing themselves in their own imagination as they wander through it.
“It’s a very immersive experience when you come to Walhalla,” Mr Leaney says.
“Walhalla has that ‘it’ factor. There are a lot of people who come here as kids and have vivid memories of it because it’s very child like in lots of ways.
“If you had a child draw a house or valley it’s very similar to what would get here”.
Run completely by volunteers, the Walhalla Goldfields Railway — which operates every Wednesday and Saturday — is one of the town’s most popular attractions.
Rarely is there ever a spare seat on board the train which takes passengers on a 30 minute journey through Stringers Creek Gorge to Thomson and back.
Walhalla Goldfields Railway president Greg Hansford says the scenery out the window “is a beautiful sight”.
“It brings people from all over the world here,” he says.
“There are two waterfalls on the trip and lots of remnants of the old gold mining. The scenery is beautiful, it’s a great place to recharge the batteries.”
Tours at the Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine — which takes visitors 150m underground into the historic goldmines — is also a tourist hotspot.
Victoria’s paranormal capital?
Walhalla resident Sally May has investigated paranormal activity at haunted locations across the country.
But little did she know the “best evidence” would be in her very own backyard.
“Walhalla at night is a totally different place,” she says.
“There’s no light pollution and because we’re in a valley we don’t get a lot of wind so it gets eerily quiet and black.”
In addition to running the town’s corner store Ms May regularly leads large groups on ghost tours in Walhalla — including several uninvited visitors.
“We are one of the most haunted towns in Australia,” she said.
“There is a 100 per cent success rate that someone will take a photo or a video of something they can’t explain and that’s every single tour.
“We have a bride who haunts one of the cottages built in 1871 that’s been seen roaming down the middle of the road, there’s a girl who’s heard whistling, we’ve had stones thrown at us from within the mines and we hear footsteps everywhere.”
One photo taken by a visitor at midnight after a tour revealed the ghost of an old woman with “grey hair piled high on top her head, wearing a square neck dress”, standing outside the Corner Store with the image going viral online.
Legacy and beyond
Mr Leaney is equally as passionate about preserving Walhalla for generations to come as he is about its rich contribution to Victoria’s history.
“We need to think about what Walhalla will be like in 2124 when none of us are here,” he said.
One of the ways Mr Leaney hopes to achieve this is through Walhalla’s place in a massive bid to UNESCO — submitted by 15 Victorian councils — for the state’s goldfields to earn world heritage status.
“We’re hopeful Walhalla will be on the major sites in that bid,” he said.
“I don’t think people realise how signficant the gold era and Walhalla was in shaping Victoria today.
“If you want to see the results of Walhalla’s wealth, stand on the corner of Spring and Collins St and look down.”
More Coverage
Why home invasions have become so common revealed
Low-level crooks looking to impress organised crime bosses are believed to be among the key players behind a rise in home invasions, a top criminologist says.
Costly habits jeopardising your home loan
Gambling and buy now, pay later products aren’t the only habits that raise red flags for lenders and banks considering your home loan.