Whipstick Gully is smack bang in the middle of Warrandyte but in 1970’s once you headed down the Gully it was so quiet, dank and remote,you felt you were in a forest far from anywhere. Warrandyte in 1975 was a smaller village than it is today, and Whipstick Gully had a total of 2 houses well away from traffic noise and street lights.
It was a little bit creepy at night but by day was a fantastic place to explore. Further up the Gully were the old gold mine shafts and quarries left over from busy prospecting days. In the 70’s if you weren’t careful you could lose your footing down an old mining hole. I had many fantastic walks up to the fire tower with my red setter who would chase the ghosts through the bushes. My brothers used to scale the quarry as an after school activity. Our neighbours answered their doorbell one night to find a young man had collapsed and died, after just managing to stagger up the gully from the pub. These days Whipstick Gully has more houses, self guided historical walks through the mines and “be careful” signs abound. But once you are off the track in the State Forest you could be back in the 1970’s, or even the 1870’s…..
