LAKE EILDON

(www.northeastvictoria.online)

The Eildon area was named by early settlers of the district after Eildon Hill, an ancient hill-fort town located just south of Melrose, Scotland.

The township itself was established to enable construction of the Sugarloaf Reservoir in 1915. Previously, the township of Darlingford (near the junction of Big and Goulburn Rivers) was established in the 1860s gold rush. However, this was to be innundated when the Sugarloaf Dam was completed in 1929.

Sugarloaf Dam was then superseded by the much larger Eildon Dam project, commenced in 1951, and completed in 1956; the Sugarloaf Dam Wall is about 100 metres behind the Eildon Dam Wall, and can still be seen in very low water levels.

Several thousand trades people worked on the 1950s dam wall project, as well as on the construction of the new township of Eildon.

A hallmark of the new town was the pre-fabricated timber home, and a drive around Eildon today will reveal many of those the original structures.

In the modern era, Eildon is a popular holiday destination, a popular place for holiday homes, and for retirees.

The shopping centre has one of everything, and the hotel (The Golden Trout) serves a great meal.

Lake Eildon is the largest irrigation storage in Victoria, and stores water from the Goulburn, Delatite, Howqua, Jamieson and Big Rivers. Its lakeshores incorporate Eildon National Park, giving it some of the best lake scenery in Victoria. Not surprisingly this is a popular inland boating venue.

Outside of busy holiday periods and with good weather, paddling on Lake Eildon is a really enjoyable experience.

Some of the best areas for paddling include,

• Wallaby Bay and Coller Bay (17km east of Alexandra) have sheltered inlets with excellent scenery, and convenient camping near the lakeshore. Access is via UT Creek Road from Alexandra, or Skyline Road from Eildon township.
• Jerusalem Creek Inlet has good access to the water and several camping spots in a very scenic area. Access to this part of the Lake is via the Goulburn Valley Highway to the Lake Eildon Dam Wall, and then Jerusalem Creek Road to the Inlet.
• The Delatite Arm of Lake Eildon has extensive camping areas with good vehicular access via Goughs Bay, Walsh Road and the Delatite Plantation Road. This leads to the Delatite Peninsula, and lots of interesting paddling areas, such as Crockett Bay, Maintongoon Inlet and Woolshed Inlet.
• Finally, if you want to get away from it all, the Big River Arm is nice and quiet with few road access points, and with forested country all around. The best access to this area is by boat, and the nearest launching points are Jerusalem Inlet, to the west, and Goughs Bay, to the north-east. Given the isolation of this venue, this is a paddling trip for the more experienced.

Useful map : Rooftop’s Lake Eildon Boating Map.

Eildon website

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