In 1853 gold was found in The Woolshed, so-named because of a nearby woolshed owned by early settler David Reid, who had a lease on the land which stretched from nearly Wangaratta to Stanley. Using timber from his woolshed and a waterwheel to keep water out of his claim, increased mining interest in the area.

Reidy Creek, just down the road, was the richest creek in the whole history of the Australian Gold Mining Days of the 1850's. 

By 1857 around 8000 people lived and worked here. Numerous business flourished, among them 29 stores, eight restaurants, 14 hotels, several breweries, four doctors, a professor of music and two racecourses. By 1859 miners began to move on.

Little remains of the once bustling town of Woolshed, it's hard to imagine such activity and chaos was here not so long ago, as now it's beautifully peaceful.

Even today an absolute amateur can by using a gold pan, find small particles of alluvial gold anywhere along the Creek from the Woolshed Falls to ElDorado.

Also found in the Creek today are the following gemstones, agates, amethyst, citrine, corundum, diamonds, garnets, jasper, lydionite,  petrified wood, quartzites, rock crystal, rubies, sapphires, smoky quartz, tourmalines, topaz  and zircon.