{"id":777283,"date":"2026-07-03T22:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777283\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:03:20","slug":"geological-survey-of-victoria-maps-200000-unrecorded-gold-rush-mining-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777283\/","title":{"rendered":"Geological Survey of Victoria maps 200,000 unrecorded gold rush mining features"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hidden beneath the ground throughout regional Victoria are relics of the state’s gold rush past.<\/p>\n

In July 1851, the state officially separated from New South Wales, and in the same month its first gold discovery was announced, leading to a rapid expansion as a flood of immigrants arrived to seek their fortune.<\/p>\n

That transformation, and the continued hunt for gold over the past 175 years, has left many physical remains in the landscape, which the state government has been attempting to map more accurately.<\/p>\n

A four-year project using LiDAR, Light Detection and Ranging \u2014 a remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth \u2014 has led to a drastic revision of official records, taking the number of mapped mining features from 30,000 to an estimated 230,000.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Holes opening up after heavy rain are frequently attributed to historic mining activity. (ABC News: Laura Mayers)<\/p>\n

The project focused on areas around the Golden Plains, Greater Melbourne, Central Goldfields, and the High Country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A light aircraft equipped with LiDAR surveyed areas to identify features like mineshafts, surface workings, pits, adits (horizontal tunnels), open stopes (steplike excavations), mullock heaps (mounds of leftover soil or rock), and historic mining infrastructure.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bit like echolocation, but with light instead of sound,” said Geological Survey of Victoria director Louise Goldie Divko.<\/p>\n

“It sends out little tiny laser beams, and they hit objects \u2026 and then they bounce back, and then the sensor measures how long it takes for each beam to return.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A comparison of satellite imagery, LiDAR mapping, and an identified mining tunnel near Linton. (Supplied: DEECA)<\/p>\n

The LiDAR data appears as a cluster of dots on 3D mapping software, which recognises patterns to identify objects like trees and buildings.<\/p>\n

These objects are then removed from the image, “revealing” the ground below based on many precise data points.<\/p>\n

Sinks or divots in the landscape can indicate mining features, some of which were verified by field teams.<\/p>\n

The first stages of the report found the automated program was 90 per cent accurate in locating mining features, but was less successful in spotting the difference between mineshafts and surface workings.<\/p>\n

Ms Goldie Divko said the data would be useful for firefighting and emergency services, as well as land managers.<\/p>\n

\"Louise<\/p>\n

Louise Goldie Divko says the mapping project has brought to life the scale of Gold Rush mining. (Supplied: DEECA)<\/p>\n

“Through this program, we’ve got a much better idea of what we’ve got to look after,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said the real figure could be even higher.<\/p>\n

“This is just on Crown land \u2026 we know that there are features on private land as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

The final report will be released in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Mining\"Historic Historic records of mining features. \/ Mining features mapped by the first stages of the LiDAR project.Generations of treasure hunters<\/p>\n

Full-time prospector and gold influencer Chris Bogusis was equally unsurprised to hear how many mining features had been uncovered.<\/p>\n

He said some of the LiDAR data was already used by prospectors on the hunt.<\/p>\n

“It’s literally my favourite part, I love finding old mines \u2014 there’s all different types, and they’re all interesting,” he said.<\/p>\n

“All prospectors are dreamers \u2014 we’re all dreaming of finding the big one \u2026 and the people who created these mines have already done that, and you’re walking in the same footsteps.”<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Bogusis says he has explored a plethora of historic mines from Victoria’s High Country to Orange in NSW. (Supplied: Chris Bogusis)<\/p>\n

He said the scale and ingenuity of historic mines served as an inspiration for modern-day prospectors.<\/p>\n

“They found enough gold to create thousands of kilometres worth of water races and industrial piping in the mid-1800s just to blast the rock away,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s impressive to see that and to feel that energy there, and unless you’ve experienced gold fever, it’s difficult to explain how powerful that force is.”<\/p>\n

Mr Bogusis said navigation was a bigger danger to prospectors than historic mines, but that it was important to carry the right equipment and understand the risks.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman and her dog emerged safely after driving into an old mine shaft near Maldon in 2018. (Supplied: CFA)<\/p>\n

More news from regional VictoriaThousands of hazardsLoading…<\/p>\n

Hidden mineshafts have resulted in many dramatic rescues around the state, with people and many types of animals all needing support.<\/a><\/p>\n

A major landslide<\/a> at Bogong in 2022 was caused by a mining adit collapse after heavy rain, and children have fallen into mineshafts <\/a>and holes <\/a>in urban mining landscapes.<\/p>\n

Bendigo-based historian and La Trobe PhD candidate Natasha Joyce has created a database of child accidents in the Gold Rush era.<\/p>\n

\"Natasha<\/p>\n

Natasha Joyce (right) at the Forest Creek Gold Diggings. (Supplied: D. Pople)<\/p>\n

She mined historical inquests to find more than a thousand falls down mineshafts from 1852 to 1890.<\/p>\n

Growing up, she said her mother always warned her to watch her step.<\/p>\n

“I used to think she was exaggerating, until I actually look into it and it is literally mineshafts everywhere,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And not just in the bush around Bendigo [and the broader goldfields], but right into the middle of town.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Children on a Bendigo mine site in the early 1870s. (Supplied: State Library of Victoria)<\/p>\n

Ms Joyce said the risk from unmapped mineshafts still existed today.<\/p>\n

“People were living among the mineshafts, and that’s where children were playing and this continues today,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hidden beneath the ground throughout regional Victoria are relics of the state’s gold rush past. In July 1851,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,10588,5284,91630,115771,368517,368516,6827,368518,14330,105],"class_list":["post-777283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-geology","tag-gold","tag-gold-rush","tag-lidar","tag-louise-goldie-divko","tag-mineshaft","tag-mining","tag-natasha-joyce","tag-survey","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}