LAANECOORIE Vic

    Laanecoorie is a small township on the Loddon River where I found a nice camping area right beside the river with a weir not far upstream. A few others also had discovered the place and it looked as though some had settled in for an extended stay. An honesty box existed, with the funds usually collected by a caretaker. However, another regular visitor told me that the caretaker recently had been sacked for stealing the money so there was no need to pay.
 Laanecoorie is in the heart of the Golden Triangle, on the river crossing coming from the Tarnagulla and Waanyarra goldfields, that were operational in the 1850s to 1870s. The first bridge over the Loddon River was built in 1870, but was destroyed in the big flood of 1909 at the same time as the weir was breached. Laanecoorie Weir was constructed in 1891 and was the second irrigation scheme for Victoria. Sir John Monash (a famous engineer and W.W.1 General) designed and built a new bridge of reinforced concrete beam and slab construction, which still remains today.

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