Barkers Creek Valley 1872: This Holtermann image taken in 1872 has been artificially coloured by Malcolm Qualtrough (click image to zoom in). The view is towards the south from near the Walker Street rail crossing. On the right, the old Gaol stands out clearly on the hill as does the old Castlemaine Hospital, once located below it on Gingell Street, while the Camp Reserve occupies the lower land in the background. The train station with its two goods sheds is in the background but unfortunately, one of the sheds met with an accident with a train and was later demolished. At this stage, the only change to the landscape of the river valley has been the construction of dual railway lines. To the west or right of the railway line, the valley slopes down gradually to the creek located behind the small residence and enclosed by the wooden rail fence.2022: This modern image was taken from as close to the original as possible and shows the station in the distance with the one remaining goods shed. Since 1872 virtually the entire rail corridor to the west or right of the main line has been filled in and built up to the level of the railway line. In recent times, structures have been built on this raised area to support the Castlemaine – Maldon Railway project, and the buildings can be seen in this image. This infilling of the land has in fact created a gigantic levee bank on the eastern side of Barkers Creek and where once any flooding would have spread to the east and the west of the creek, nowadays it has only one way to go, and that is the west bank of the creek in Gingell Street where flooding frequently occurs.
