Extracts from Police Reports on early Gipps’ Land Goldfields

From the mid-1850s, Mounted Police Constables based at the Traralgon Police Station in the Gipps’ Land Police District visited and reported on the goldfields in the vicinity of Russell Creek/Tangil River and Crossover on a regular basis. These fields were significantly smaller than the nearby Walhalla. These Police reports, mainly written by Mounted Constables John O’Connor and William Smythe, were reprinted in an unpublished typescript The Story of Traralgon. The fields were in the mountain country of Gippsland. Access for men and supplies was difficult.