The Sawpit Gully Plantation contains the site of the first State Nursery established at Creswick in 1888 and a collection of exotic and native trees. The trees were planted under the supervision of the founding forester, John La Gerche.
In 1882 La Gerche was appointed a Crown Land Bailiff and his chief tasks were to regulate timber cutting and cattle grazing in the Ballarat and Creswick State Forest. His appointment came at a time when the government raised concerns about the loss of tree cover in Victoria.
The Creswick soils had proven gold bearing and most of the trees had been cut down, in the pursuit of alluvial and quartz gold. The land had been upturned and was covered in diggers’ holes and was a mass of weeds and eroded gullies. The Plantation retains a mine shaft, pits and water race.
La Gerche experimented with ways to rehabilitate mining land and planted a small patch of Blue Gums in Black Snake Gully in 1886. In 1888 La Gerche established Creswick’s first nursery in Sawpit Gully and an area of 30 acres was enclosed.
The plantation commenced between May to September 1888 and the first planting of around 8,500 seedlings was a mixture of native eucalypts, (Eucalyptus corynocalyx, E. siderophloia, E. sideroxylon, E. virgata, E. rostata, E. globulus, E.leucoxylon) pines (Pinus halepensis, P. austriaca, P. insignis, P.pinaster, P.laricio P. pinea) and decidous trees (Plane, English Oak, English Ash, Maple, Lime, Elm, Sycamore, Poplar, Willow) obtained from the Macedon Nursery, Ballarat Water Commission and Havelock State Forest.
By the end of 1892 about 115,000 trees had been planted and included several small enclosures of experimental planting.
In 1892 a gully, now known as Oak Gully was planted with oaks, mainly English Oaks, with various exotic conifers along the perimeter. Surviving conifers include Monterey Pine, Himalayan Cedar, Douglas Fir, Aleppo Pine and one Big-cone Pine. The Plantation appears to have reached its final size by 1899, covering 300 acres and contained a total of 246,000 trees.
At the first nursery site are the foundations of Albert Wade’s house, the nursery’s first caretaker, a dam and ornamental planting of Douglas Fir, West Himalayan Spruce, Norway Spruce, Picea sp., Bhutan Cypress, Turkey Oak, English Oak, Monterey Pine (“Mother Tree”) and a Himalayan Cedar. South of the first nursery site is a eucalypt trial planting.
Since the early 1900s, the old plantation has survived without major changes and is primarily used to assist in the training of foresters and land managers from the adjoining Creswick School of Forestry. The plantation adjoining the Creswick School of Forestry is arguably the home of forestry in Victoria. It has been managed by foresters for over 100 years, and used for scientific research and recreation.
In 1998 an interpreted La Gerche walk was developed through the Plantation.
The site contains three buildings, the Stables complex which were relocated from the North Creswick Nursery. Erected in 1918 using recycled timber, some of which is reputed to have come from the house of Peter Lalor a leader of the Eureka rebellion and one time share holder in the Australasian company.
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 