Vaughan - Glenluce Mineral Springs
Tucked away deep into the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park along the Loddon River is Glenluce Mineral Springs.
Alongside a water pump that allows for you to try the water straight from the source, there is interpretative signage about the spring. The area also features some interesting rock formations.
This spring bore is 34m deep and was sunk in 2013. Around 30 - 50m upstream (south) of the spring natural discharges of mineral water seep into the river and can be seen as an orange-brown stain on the river pebbles and rocks.
Camping and fires are not permitted.
Facilities
There is one table without seats.
Glenluce Mineral Springs is a nice spot for swimming with shallow areas for younger kids and deeper swimming spots for the more experienced.
Glenluce Spring Signage
"...an ideal picnicking ground"
Mining and other commercial interests have always competed with those of public recreation and enjoyment of natural sites.
As early as 1909, EJ Dunn, Director of the Geological Survey, advocated that a minimum of 80 acres (32 ha) be set aside for each mineral spring reserve which was "to be scrupulously preserved" and mining to be prohibited.
To "arouse public opinion" to their value as pleasure resorts, a "Monster Picnic" was held at Glenluce and Vaughan in March 1913, supported by the Mt. Alexander Shire and Castlemaine Borough Council. They hoped "that after to-day it (Glenluce) will be pronounced an ideal picnicking ground."
In 1932, the Committee of Management objected to miners fossicking in the river. It was later confirmed that the area was exempted from occupation under miners' rights and for the purpose of mining.
The Glenluce mineral water
Originally, the presence of mineral water at Glenluce could only be detected when bubbles could be seen in flowing Loddon River. To get to the mineral water, a pit was dug under a sandstone outcrop. Then, in 1925, the old Mines Department drilled three bores.
By 1929, Glenluce Mineral Spring was fitted with a standpipe and hand pump centred on a small circular area of recessed paving within a low stone retaining wall.
The water from the spring is of the sodium bicarbonate type and has a "sweetness associated with an elevated chloride level". The water is also lighter than the hard mineral waters at nearby Vaughan.
Access for Dogs:
Dogs are permitted on lead.
How To Get There
From the Vaughan Reserve, turn right back onto the Vaughan-Chewton road and continue for 2.5km and turn right into the Drummond-Vaughan Road. After about 300 metres turn into a signposted track to Glenluce Reserve. Follow the track approximately 600 metres to the end of the track. Google maps may try and get you to turn off this track before reaching the reserve. Don't listen to it and continue to the end of the road.
For more information about mineral springs in Victoria, see "From The Spa Country, A Field Guide to 65 Mineral Springs of the Central Highlands, Victoria", published by Edward and Maura Wishart
Photos:
Location
Glenluce Springs Road, Vaughan 3451 View Map
