Mount St Gwinear, near Mount Erica, now has a road as far as the snow line and is popular for cross country skiing and tobogganing. A development association promoted the mountain as a ski resort, but this was abandoned in 1944 when a road was cut close to the summit of Mount Baw Baw allowing it to be developed. In the 1930s, the Rover Scout crew from Yallourn cleared ski runs, started a ski club, prepared maps and built a hut at Mushroom Rocks. In the early 1900s, a walking track between Warburton and Walhalla passed over Mount Erica, to the north of the town. The mill was rebuilt but the timber was hauled by road. The loss of its weekly loading of timber led to the complete closure of the rail line the next year. In 1953, the State timber mill was destroyed by fire. In the 1950s the timber industry began to decline, with many sawmills closing. Timber was the main commodity carried, as well as lime from nearby Cooper’s Creek and dairy produce and potatoes from the surrounding farming district. In 1944, the northern part of the line was closed and by 1952, trains only ran as far as Erica. Walhalla was already in decline when the railway opened. After the 1939 fires, the State sawmill was constructed at Erica to salvage the burnt timber. In the 1930s, there were 13 sawmills working in the vicinity of Erica, which had 208 inhabitants in 1933.Įrica was threatened by serious bushfires every few years. The other, running into the Thomson Valley to the north, was about 40 km in length. One of these, running into the Tyers Valley to the west, served six sawmills at its peak. Most of the tramways were wooden, but two were of steel construction. Tramways ran into the bush to bring the timber to Erica and several nearby sidings, from whence it was railed to Moe on the main Gippsland line. There had been some sawmilling in the area from the early 1900s, but from the 1920s Erica became the centre of a thriving timber industry. A Union Church was established in 1914 in a building moved from Walhalla. A school had operated in the area since 1881 but in 1912 a new building was constructed in the township. There was soon several stores and post office. But due to postal confusion with another town, in 1914 it was changed again to Erica, after nearby Mount Erica and the native heath.Ī small township had begun to develop in 1906 while the railway line was being constructed. The station at Upper Moondarra was renamed Harris, in honour of Albert Harris, the local parliamentarian who had promoted the line. In 1910, a narrow gauge railway was opened between Moe and Walhalla. The district became known as Moondarra, and the area around present Erica as Upper Moondarra. From the early 1900s, selectors were attracted to the area and established market gardens on the fertile red soil to supply Walhalla with produce. In the 1860s gold had been found at Walhalla, further into the mountains. Erica is a village 30 km north of Moe and 135 km east of Melbourne.
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