With Eve Lamb

Coliban Water Channel Walk, 9km section.

There’s some beautiful country up around Sutton Grange and Mount Alexander (Leanganyuk) and today we’re going to sample a handsome piece of it.

After driving to the designated meeting spot, my sturdy walking accomplice, Paddy H, and I join the Great Dividing Trail Association walkers for a 9km hike along a section of the Coliban Water Channel. This is a concrete structural fete that would almost certainly verbally activate even the most reticent of civil construction engineers.

First up we leave some of our cars at our meeting spot on the Harcourt-Sutton Grange Road – which will ultimately become our finishing point for today’s walk.

We now car pool, and ferry some the cars a few ks to the actual start point of today’s walk at Earls Grate, an important Channel structure used for catching and clearing debris and potential contamination, located off the Faraday-Sutton Grange Road, just a tad east of the Mica Grange Garden and sculpture park.

The walk ahead is fairly flat with a rise and fall of 225m and is being led by two GDTA stalwarts Mick Evans and Ed Butler who begins by telling us a bit about the historic, but still used, Coliban Water Channel itself. 

The Channel was built in the nineteenth century to meet the water needs of Bendigo, a city rich in gold but very poor in water. Designed by J M Brady and completed in its first stage in 1877, it had the Malmsbury Reservoir as its water source.

Ed tells us that all up it’s a 70km walk with many original bluestone structures along the way. It’s been expanded over the intervening 150 years and still serves a major water need, but today it’s pretty much bone dry.

We set off,  contouring around the eastern flank of Leanganyuk (Mount Alexander) and the sprawling, undulating landscape is impressive with its granite outcrops.

“So, 70 km all up,” I muse aloud to Paddy H as we stride along with the group as it strings out along the Channel path.

“What!?” Paddy H’s face is ashen and I realise he didn’t quite catch the detail of Ed’s informative talk just before we set off from Earl’s Grate.

“That’s the total distance the Channel walk covers, not what we’re walking today,” I soothe. “It’s just 9km today.”

Relief issues across my walking accomplice’s sun-tanned features.

“It’s a pretty impressive engineering fete,” I say.

“How can you tell an engineer is extroverted?” my walking companion asks.

“I don’t know.”

“He’s the one looking at your shoes when he talks to you!”

In the months since we’ve been joining the GDTA for some of its scheduled walks I’ve discovered that the easy, companionable, and frequently informative chit-chat is a pleasant aspect of participating in their program.

Today’s walkers have travelled from locations including Daylesford, Ballarat, Castlemaine and Clunes.

“Did you do a test run for this walk?” I ask one of today’s leaders, Mick Evans, as we stroll along.

“Yes,” says Mick. “We’re a pretty relaxed group but we always do a reconnaisance visit before we lead a walk.”

A bit further along I chat to a retired nurse who tells me a bit about her former demanding work and her current work running a couple of B&Bs, before we move onto food and cooking.

Further on, a walker from Leonards Hill and I talk birds. She tells me about peregrine falcons roosting in the city as I spot a wedge tail eagle gliding about Leanganook’s sunny outcrops.

The views across the plains, although in dire need of rain, are fairly magnificent and at about the half-way mark we all pull up for lunch at Byrnes Tunnel, blasted through granite as part of the water course.

It’s a decent stop for lunch, and everyone kicks back for a while and relaxes before we cover the last few ks, admiring bushland and a young olive grove along the way, to finally finish at our initial car plant site.

“Great spot and I never would have seen it if we hadn’t done this GDTA walk,” Paddy H announces as GDTA members, well satisfied with today’s leisurely adventure, disperse issuing farewells and reminders that there’s some good walks coming up on the program ahead.

Words, Video and Images: Eve Lamb

Jan Hull has been striving towards captaincy within CFA for over 30 years, and now as Sutton Grange and Myrtle Creek’s first woman to become Captain, she is ready to put her promising ambitions into action.

To ensure the brigade continues making progressive advancements, Jan is hoping the 58-strong cohort can boost their skills through a number of proactive initiatives. 

“I’m most looking forward to leading the brigade itself and to lean into the future to utilise more technology, get people up to speed through more training and implement a few different ways of operating.” she said.

For Jan, volunteerism is at the core of all aspects of her life, so it’s no surprise she is leaving a dedicated legacy across many other organisations within the community.

“I started out at Harcourt CFA and was in the Ladies Auxiliary doing refreshments with my mum. I then went onto becoming their first woman to graduate as a firefighter.”

With four generations of her family now involved in CFA, and most paving the way in a leadership role, Jan couldn’t be prouder of how far they’ve come in their respective brigades. 

“My grandfather was Secretary of Harcourt, dad was the Captain and Group Officer, now my brother is Harcourt’s Captain, his wife is Secretary and Treasurer and one of their girls is now an active firefighter.

“I couldn’t do this without the support of my husband and two children. He’s been involved for over 20 years, and both of our kids are active firefighters, with our youngest now 4^th Lieutenant.

“Pre-election, I was 3^rd Lieutenant for Sutton Grange and Myrtle Creek, and previously in a comms role.

“We all love helping and supporting people at a time when they’re in need. To be able to give back to our community and help protect them is why we do what we do.”

Working as a primary school integration support officer, Jan has found her CFA and teaching skills go beneficially hand in hand.

“At school, I’m helping the kids and staff problem solve through various circumstances, then at CFA we develop the ability to work under pressure, so I do reap the rewards of both skillsets.

“If you’re wanting to give CFA a go, jump in, become a sponge, learn off others around the brigade and always put your hand up for any training opportunities to keep evolving your skills.”