Great Southern

Great Southern, a former gold mining locality in north-east Victoria, is 7 km south-east of Rutherglen.

The Great Southern Gold Mining Company was formed in 1889, and the mines required intermittent sinking of the shafts and dewatering until coming into production in about 1900. By 1903-04 mining employed nearly 400 workers and peak production was achieved in 1904-05.

A school was opened in a Methodist church in 1901 and a hotel and a store were also opened. In 1913 work ended at one of the mines and four years later the last of the big alluvial mines in the Rutherglen district closed down. The mines’ returns to the shareholders were poor compared to the wages paid, and closure was a blow to the local economy. The school closed in 1926.

Great Southern is now a farming district, marked by a few large mine tailings sites. Its census populations were: