Let's catch up with the club’s Gippsland chapter and go back to Jindi. After this event you'll wish you had grown up there so let this ride implant an idyllic false memory of a carefree bare-footed rural childhood in a very pretty part of Victoria. As we need to book a table for lunch, please confirm your attendance ASAP.
Destination
This is a pleasant 220km day ride to an out-of-the-way pocket of west Gippsland that one hardly ever has a reason to visit. Jindivick is a small hamlet which sits high on a ridge at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range about 15 km north of Drouin and boasts splendid views of the surrounding countryside and mountains beyond. Jindivick also has a quintessential country town general store with a cafe attached which will stir your soul. This will be the lunch spot where we'll meet our Gippsland friends while gazing out across the beautiful farmland scenery of rolling pastoral hills. A Sunday roast is available. The first Jindivick General Store was established in 1889 by Norwegian Seaman Johann Tandberg. Jindivick is an Aboriginal word meaning "burst asunder". Does anybody remember the Jindivick remote controlled target drone produced by the Government Aircraft Factory during the 1950s?
Ride Description
From Mitcham our off-highway route is via Silvan and Gembrook. We'll be riding through part of the Bunyip State Forest. There is a short 5.5kms section of good dirt road here but you'll hardly notice it as the forest is so pretty. A fuel stop at Longwarry North will keep our scooters happy as the next available fuel is at Launching Place. Although we are here for the beautiful scenery, of historical interest we will ride along the length of Jacksons Track (see notes below). We aim to get to Jindivick at 12:30pm. After lunch at the Jindi Cafe, we'll visit the town's cricket ground which surely has one of the best views of any pitch anywhere. There is some stunning riding north of Neerim South with distant purple-blue mountains forming a backdrop to cleared rolling hills. We have been climbing ever since leaving Longwarry, however after passing through Nayook, we plunge down through a steep forested road into the LaTrobe River Valley to meet the main Poweltown-Noojee Road. Observe if you will, the majestic white-trunked manna gums near Gilderoy and Three Bridges. Our return route to Melbourne is via Yellingbo and Mount Evelyn.
Departure Point and Time
Britannia Mall, 485 Whitehorse Road, Mitcham shopping centre. Pull into the left service road at the start of Mitcham shopping centre before Mitcham Road. The ride departs at 9am sharp. Come earlier if you want coffee and breakfast beforehand. Several cafes in the mall will cater for our needs. Please arrive with a full tank of petrol.
Ride coupons cannot be redeemed on the day. Route subject to change on a whim without notice. The colour 'purple-blue' mentioned in the description may not be available on the day. The weather will be sunny and no further correspondence will be entered into on this matter. The lead scooter may produce noxious gases when under pressure.
Comments
Hi Jo
Thanks for booking us in for lunch, so sorry you won't be joining us though..
Cheers Julie
Enjoy your day everyone! Sadly I’m at work but you’re all booked for lunch at 12.30pm. Noel and Allan Tregea will meet you at Longwarry North when you refuel. Don’t forget the roast special, $20, lamb or pork! YUM!
haha Love it Pete :)
Hi Julie and Leonie, thanks for letting me know of your arrangements. Looks like we have a sunny if a little hot day going up on Sunday. Now to get Ferguson back together again before then.
Hi David
Greg and I will have breakie at home and arrive in time to have a coffee with you all. Possibly with Princi in tow..:)
Hi, we will meet you at lunch and ride back together, shame to miss Jacksons track but riding back from Yanakie. Cheers L
The Story of Jacksons Track
Joseph Jackson blazed this track through the heavily timbered hills near the Gippsland town of Drouin in the early 1860s. Jindivick is the only settlement along its length. Daryl Tonkin settled there in 1936 where he and his older brother Harry owned 880 acres of forest on a flat to the west of Jindivick. The rich temperate forests of Gippsland grew some of the largest eucalyptus trees in Australia and so the brothers set up a timber mill. Jacksons Track came to national attention when Carolyn Landon assisted Daryl Tonkin write his memoir which was published in 2000.
The men who worked with the Tonkins came from all over. One of these bush workers was an Aborigine Kurnai man, Stewart Hood, who had been driven out of a church-run mission station for opposing the authorities. The brothers decided to help him and collected his family to bring them to live on the property. Stewart set up a camp near the brothers' shack and taught them about living off the land. Daryl instantly connected with Stewart’s way of living, which he felt was much more suited to his personality than the typical white lifestyle. He was drawn to Aboriginal people for their good humour, generosity and lively and entertaining company.
In time Daryl became attracted to Stewart Hood's daughter, Euphemia. He married her tribally to the concern of his brother Harry and the disgust of his sister Mavis who tried to break up their relationship. The story involves the kidnapping of Euphemia by Harry. However Daryl and Euphemia remained partners for life and had twelve children together.
Word soon got around to various Aboriginal communities that there was plenty of work, good water, firewood and lots of game to be had at Jackson's Track. Aborigines from all over Victoria began turning up. For two decades up to 150 Aborigines lived at the Jackson’s Track camp in an amicable relationship. From the 1930’s onwards an almost utopian community of white and Aboriginal people lived and worked happily alongside one another earning a simple but dignified living from the timber industry.
In the late 1950s “do-gooders” as Daryl referred to them began to agitate for the removal of the Aboriginal camp at Jacksons Track. In accordance with the attitudes of the day and the policy of assimilation, the community was given a week's notice to leave. Their camp huts were burnt and destroyed in 1961 and the residents relocated to the fringes of Drouin.
A bushman all his life, Daryl died in 2008 aged 90. He attributed natural and supernatural powers to Aboriginal people, which he said made them particularly well adapted to living in the Australian bush. He tells of his own respect for these distinctly Aboriginal abilities, and of his eagerness to learn from the people at Jacksons Track.
One of the four Aboriginal families living on the Track was the Roses. Lionel Rose, world bantam weight boxing champion (1968), grew up in a one-room tin hut on Jacksons Track settlement near Labertouche. Daryl Tonkin was his uncle by marriage. The affection Lionel had for his childhood days living on "The Track" can be heard in his song.
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