Spargo Creek - Carrolls Mineral Spring
Carroll's Mineral Spring is located in the heart of the Wombat State Forest at the end of Carrolls Track.
The spring is in the south east corner of the Werribee River Camping Ground which is a spacious and open grassy picnic site but little else in the way of facilities (no toilets).
At the mineral spring there is a a picnic table. The spring itself is set in a stone circle with its flow discharged through a small copper pipe set into the wall. When we visited the flow was very low with barely a drip.
How to Get There
The spring is accessed via 6.5 kilometres of unsealed roads. Note that it's important to drive cautiously and adapt to the road conditions.
Head south out of Daylesford on the Ballan-Daylesford Road for approx. 16km to Spargo Creek, turn left down the Spargo-Blakeville Road for 1.4km. Turn right into McGees Road for 2.6km, then right at Carrolls Track and continue for 0.6km to a cleared area. Park and walk 50m to the spring and picnic table.
Carroll's Mineral Spring Signage
"Carrolls - natural beauty is hard to excel"
Very little is known about the history of this mineral spring, however it is mentioned in glowing terms in an article first published in 1921 in The Argus entitled "Ballan and District. A Tourist Resort." by the then Geological Surveyor for the Mines Department, Mr Hy. Foster:
"Farther along and on the track to Spargo Creek is Carroll's mineral spring, on the Werribee River, a visit to the spot providing a most picturesque walk along a track through heavily-timbered, hilly country that for natural beauty is hard to excel."
The old Carrolls Mineral Spring site. Courtesy "Spa Country, Victoria's Mineral Springs".
The area does have a long history of gold mining though, with numerous articles in the newspapers of the 1900s–1920s reporting the finds of prospectors, mining progress, "handsome returns", purchases of equipment, floods and storm damage and other trials that beset the early miners. The newspapers also record the names of those key to the local mining industry; McDonald of "Haphazard" fame, McGee, Günsser of Blakeville, R. Connell, and Sir Alexander Peacock, M.P., amongst others.
Carrolls mineral water
The spring is situated on an alluvial terrace of the Werribee River. The former spring outlet issued from a pipe set in a concrete tank covered with river stones. A small trench gave access for sampling and filling bottles.
The mineral water at Carrolls (MS 69) has a sweet, though slightly metallic, seltzer (carbonated mineral water) taste. A 1979 mineral water analysis gave a pH reading of 7.62 - the most alkaline spring of those tested. In most other respects it was similar to nearby Spargo Creek's mineral water – though Carrolls had higher levels of calcium and less of sodium.
Location
Carrolls Track, Spargo Creek 3461 View Map
Web Links
→ www.exploreoutdoors.vic.gov.au/activities/picnicking/carrolls-spring
