Overview
When most of the accessable timber was being quickly removed from the forests near to Warburton
by the mid-1920s, timber cutting atttention was then being given to the areas further to the east, beyond East Warburton.
In the Upper Yarra area, from as early as 1902, many mills operated along Braham's
Creek, Crooked Creek, Starvation Creek and McMahon 's Creek, which are on the south
side of the present-day Warburton to Woods Point Rd.
Mills also operated along on the north side of the Woods Point Rd. including the Cement Creek East
and West Branches, and in the area which was later absorbed by the O'Shannassy Reservoir.
However, much of the timber in those regions had been cut out by the late 1920s, with some
mills having been destroyed in the fires of 1925/1926.
A few mills still operated to the late 1930s, but the 1939 fires ravaged the area and were
lost.
Timber from these mills was usually transported along tramways, to link
with the main tramway along the Woods Point Rd. This operated until the late 1920s, and extended from the junction of the
Warburton Steam Railway to Braham's Creek.
Many of these tramways ultimately became part of present-day Melbourne Water's network of
management roads, with no public vehicle access.
In 1967, the water catchment areas in the region were closed to public access, to improve
flow into the O'Shannassy Aqueduct, augmenting Melbourne's main supply.
In the decades since, there has been extensive regrowth, which is apparent on the northern
side of the Aqueduct Trail, between the Cement Creek Rd entry point, all the way to the O'Shannassy Weir.
Cement Creek Rd
This links the Woods
Point Rd with the Aqueduct. There is no longer any public access north of the
Aqueduct, at the Trail entry point. The Melbourne Water management roads leading north of the Aqueduct were originally
logging tracks with tramways, bringing sawn timber from the mills.
The Cement Creek West Branch crosses the Cement Creek Rd a short distance down from the
Aqueduct. Just to the west is the site of Yelland's and Duncan's Mill, which operated between 1902 and 1907. As recently
as 2001, artefacts were visible near the Creek.
The Creek joins the Yarra to the west of Cement Creek Rd, and the area is now within the Yarra
Rangs National Park.
Running parallel to the Cement Creek Rd was a tramway, in the years up to the late
1920s, which joined the Wood's Point Rd.
