Visit Specimen Gully, the place where the Mount Alexander goldrush began. Explore the evocative ruins of Bridget Worley’s home and the memorial to her husband and his colleagues - the first Europeans to discover gold in the area. Learn about how Dja Dja Wurrung People constructed shelters and the importance of the nearby slate quarry.

Visitor Tips: before you leave home, download the Heritage Notes for the hut from the park webpage. Specimen Gully is a great place to begin a driving tour of the Castlemaine Diggings. The road is unsealed but suitable for 2WD vehicles in dry conditions. There is no designated parking, so take care parking on the side of the road and exiting your vehicle. The hut is located only 180m west of stop LT6 on the Goldfields Track, where the walking and cycling routes diverge, 12.8km from Castlemaine.

Please do not touch the ruins or disturb the ground. All plants, animals, historical and archaeological sites and geographic features are protected by law. Fossicking, prospecting and digging for gold are strictly prohibited within the Special Protection Area of Specimen Gully, which includes the hut site and the gully. Download the prospecting map of the Castlemaine area from this website to find out where you can prospect.

The Castlemaine Diggings is a heavily mined landscape which contains a variety of ongoing hazards, including uneven and unstable ground, mineshafts, open cuts, quarries, and mine tailings. For your own safety, please stay on mapped tracks, supervise children, comply with local signs and do not climb over or around barriers, fences or on the ruins. We recommend hiring a local guide to explore the gully itself which is very rugged with many hidden dangers.

Specimen Gully is in the North Central fire district. It is in an isolated and heavily forested location with only one road in and out and unreliable mobile phone coverage. We do not recommend visiting on days of high fire danger, on hot, dry, windy days or when thunderstorms are forecast. On Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating days the Park will be closed for public safety. Do not enter the Park. If you are already in the Park, leave the night before or as early as possible in the morning. Bushfire safety is a personal responsibility. Check the Fire Danger Rating and for days of Total Fire Ban at www.emergency.vic.gov.au, on the VicEmergency smartphone app or call the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226.