I Found A Historic Dry Stone Wall In Australia! (Sunbury, Victoria)

In this video I was on a walk down by a local creek here in Australia and stumbled on this absolute gem of a dry stone wall.
For anyone local it’s near the Nook Sunbury.
GPS location (-37.5802543, 144.7442216)
Follow me on instagram @tgarrattdsw
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For anyone interested in reading the sign I have copied it up below.
HISTORIC DRY STONE WALL
Goonawarra vineyard was established in 1858 (64??) by the hon. James Goodall Francis former chief secretary and premier of Victoria.
Dry stone retaining walls were built to form terraces upon which the original Goonawarra grape vines were grown.
The vineyard covered nearly 37 acres fronting to the macedon river, commonly known as Jackson’s creek and along to the nearby homestead and winery.
The ground was originally rocky spurs of the mount macedon range and the formation cost of some parts of the vineyard were as much as one hundred pounds per acre.
This section of the wall is that remains intact. If you observe each end of this section you will notice the wall continued for some distance in either direction forming what was originally a long terrace, that supported some of the grape vines.
The former vineyard was believed to have yielded 350 gallons of wine per acre.
This section of wall, as part of the original Goonawarra vineyard, is of significant historical value and has been preserved by the city of Hume.
#drystone #drystonewall #australia #victoria

[@kylejames1869]

Hey Tom there are miles of dry stone walls along the Hamilton Highway in Victoria that were built by convicts and by “susso “ workers during the depression. There are more like it around Epping and South Morang. Some great walls at The Chinese Gardens in the mining town of Walhalla which has the ruins of blacksmith shops and chemists and other shops on the side of the hill. I’m a sixth generation mason on the Mornington Peninsula who

[@DryStoneTom]

That’s awesome mate, I’ll have a look into that for sure! Be awesome to do a video on them! 👌⚒

[@kenbaker347]

I have read and been told that most of the drystone walls in the Western Districts were built by Scottish and Irish (not convict ) wallers.

[@rupert5390]

Nice one Tom

[@DryStoneTom]

Thanks mate

[@aussie5.063]

If you want some more info on the wall, get onto the sunbury historic society. Real nice people, loads of history in this town

[@DryStoneTom]

That would be awesome, are they easy to track down?

[@aussie5.063]

@@DryStoneTom SUNBURY FAMILY HISTORY AND HERITAGE SOCIETY INC. Type that in on the net and should be easy to track down

[@stevegibbs7211]

Have a look down around Colac there’s a place called stoney rises you’ll be in your glee literally miles of dry wall

[@DryStoneTom]

I’ll look into that mate, thabks

[@karlbates7271]

I spent some time in the early 90's with a local legend from Pomberneit - Bill Harlock (Harlocks Road was named after him) - he showed me a lot of the local walls including 'The Rabbit Wall' which has deep footings, is over 5 feet high in places with massive throughstones that you can shelter under!.. there's also the floating islands right next to the Princes Highway, which has two huge scoria boulders with trees growing on them and they actually do float .. they'll likely be in a different spot the next day..some great walls to discover down there off the beaten track. Theres also the Kyneton Dry Stone Wall Association if you havent already..good luck

[@JohnMillar5312]

Welcome to Aus

[@DryStoneTom]

Thanks mate

[@Horsecockbadger]

What is working life like out there for a stone mason?
>PAY
>TYPE OF JOBS
>IS IT HARD TO GET WORK IN THE TRADE

[@DryStoneTom]

Steady mate

[@MCC96]

Hi Tom, nice to see you're living the good life in Australia. I was hoping you were still in Yorkshire, I'm based in Leeds and wanted to reach out and ask how you recommend someone at 27 with no experience in DSW can get into the trade? I would also be interested in oak gates/fencing.

[@DryStoneTom]

Hi mate, I’d contact the dswa and join them then go on a corse in otley.
I’d also ring round and try get Abit of labouring work with local Wallers to gain experience

[@MCC96]

@@DryStoneTom thanks a lot, going to do that, such a beautiful craft 👍🏼

[@kenbaker347]

Hi Tom...how do you think i would go using limestone for cheekends and throughs in a wall constructed mostly out of basalt (bluestone) like that in Sunbury and other parts of the western districts? This 'bluestone' is, of course, much harder and heavier compared to the Mount Gambier limestone i am hoping to use.

[@DryStoneTom]

You can near enough wall any stone it’s just figuring out the most effective way to use it.
I’d highly recommend building yourself a few tester stints using a few different methods to see what works best if your planning a big stint for the main project

[@kenbaker347]

Thanks Tom. I appreciate your advise. And,.welcome to Australia. It's great to have another rock star down here. The one piece of advise I can offer you is to be aware of serpents "neath rocks you might be lifting. I once uncovered a very large brown one under a nice flat rock. Having a snake bandage handy in summer is considered wise in these parts.😄

[@DryStoneTom]

@@kenbaker347 I’ve seen 5 so far haha I’ve a snake kit I. The glove box of my UTE! 🙏

[@TAW856]

A heap of dry stone walls throughout the Victorian countryside mate.

[@DryStoneTom]

It’s awesome to see it out here, definitely going to get out and about to look at some more

[@Naaf788]

Are you working as a dry stone waller in Australia?

[@DryStoneTom]

I am mate yea

[@Naaf788]

@@DryStoneTom amazing, is there a lot of work out there too?

[@DryStoneTom]

@@Naaf788 loads!