Oriental Claims

Mining was eventually halted in 1904 due to environmental issues around the state of the Livingstone Creek and the Oriental Company went out of business.

Currently there is a loop track that views Ah Fong's Claim, and there is still evidence of the hydraulic system used to remove the gold.

The few troopers assigned to the area were too busy settling mining disputes and enforcing permits that crimes outside the claims were neglected.

Murderers, con men and women and professional gamblers all utilized the gold rush to their own ends.

Here they also indulged in the Bogong moths that hatched at the High Plains in great number which served as a delicacy in their diets.

During the peak of the gold rush the town accommodated thousands of miners, farmers and businessmen however in 2006 statistics showed that it had a population of 452.

This population decline was mainly due to the end of the gold rush but was also affected by the depression in the 1930s and the 1939 fires that claimed half the town, remarkably only killing two people.

[5] Today most of these areas are practically deserted with few houses or farming, however Swifts Creek still supports 281 residents and a number of small businesses and government agencies.

The Oriental Claim was mined between 1876-1904. Man-made cliffs up to 30m high such as seen here are found throughout the Oriental Claims Historic Area
The Oriental Company used hydraulic sluicing through the land, resulting in these cliffs
The Starlight Claim on Ah Fong's loop walk
View of Omeo from the Oriental Claims c1890s showing the significant silting of Livingstone Creek; this view today is largely obscured by vegetation