While many of us have had time on our hands during lockdown to get to know our properties, what one woman found in long, dark tunnels on her South Gippsland farm was a surprise.
Anne Roussac-Hoyne used her time during COVID-19 restrictions to explore old gold prospecting tunnels on her farm, believed to be 119 years old.
Inside one of the tunnels were the prospectors' names, T Hurley and J Thomas, alongside the date 21 November '99.
"I was blown away. To me, they were quite a sensational sight," Ms Roussac-Hoyne said.
She is now searching for the descendants of gold prospectors who established two tunnels on her property at Foster in 1899.
"As far as we know there was not any gold found here. They're small [the tunnels], I know there are much bigger ones in areas around here," she said.
From the outside, the larger of the two tunnels looks like a large wombat burrow surrounded by tree roots.
Inside, the tunnel spans 15 metres, with an eight metre tunnel off to the right.
At some stage the tunnel was home to native animals, with two wombat holes and a kangaroo skeleton inside.
Pick marks remain preserved within the tunnel.
"Back in those days all you needed was a pick, a pick and some energy, and you went and found yourself an isolated spot like this and started digging a tunnel," Ms Roussac Hoyne said.
Alluvial gold was discovered at Stockyard Creek, now known as Foster, in the 1870s, and the tunnels are believed to be made by hopeful prospectors who remained in the area almost 30 years later.
Foster and District Historical Society vice president Michael Heal said the tunnels were likely dug by people who settled in the area when the gold rush was finished.
"When it all settled down and the focus changed into land selection and agriculture around there, there were some people from the mining days that believed there was still some gold around there and they'd go out and do some scratchings," Mr Heal said.
"But there's nothing really written about that in our history because this happened all around the place."
