The GDTA was established in 1992 by a small group of volunteers who sought to develop and promote walking tracks linking the gold rush cities and townships of central Victoria. The network’s hub is Daylesford on top of the southern end of east coast Australia’s Great Dividing Range. The tracks, with a few exceptions, pass through forest and public land. All of the tracks feature mining artefacts dating back to the gold rush era in the mid-19th century.
The Lerderderg Track
The southernmost track is the Lerderderg Track, which starts in Daylesford at a trailhead at the Bridport St Lookout above Lake Daylesford. It can be accessed at the halfway mark from Blackwood and the final trailhead is at the Bacchus Marsh railway station. Posts marking the track are blue-topped. Track maintenance and promotion is the responsibility of the GDTA in association with the land managers. A guidebook for the Lerderderg Track was published in October 2025, similar in style to the Goldfields Track guidebook.
Lerderderg Track Daylesford to Bacchus Marsh 84km
For access and convenience, the Lerderderg Track is broken into seven sections:
Graves Mill Walk/Ride: Lake Daylesford to Leonards Hill Rd 11.0km [W & R]
Balt Camp Walk/Ride: Leonards Hill Rd to Balt Camp 12.4km [W & R]
Simmons Reef Camp Walk/Ride: Balt Camp to Canns Reserve 15.0km [W] 16.0km [R]
Byres Walk/Ride: Canns Reserve to O’Briens Rd 12.6km [W] 9.6km [R]
Whisky Creek Walk/Ride: O’Briens Rd to Mt Blackwood 10.2km [W] 8.4km [R]
Gorge View Walk/Ride: Mt Blackwood to Swans Rd car park 12.1km [W] 12.6km [R]
Township Walk/Ride: Swans Rd car park to Bacchus Marsh railway station 11.6km [W & R]
The Goldfields Track
This is the oldest and longest of the GDTN’s tracks. It stretches from Mt Buninyong through the gold rush era towns of Ballarat, Creswick, Daylesford and Castlemaine to Bendigo. A guidebook for the Goldfields Track was published in 2012 and a 2nd edition reprinted by the GDTA in 2017. It won an award at the Victorian Community History Awards. Management of the Goldfields Track was handed back to land managers in 2010. The GDTA, however, continues patrols and track maintenance between Mt Buninyong and Daylesford. Promotion and marketing is vested with Goldfields Track Inc (GTI).
Goldfields Track Mt Buninyong to Bendigo 214km
Four sections form the Goldfields Track:
Eureka Track Walk/Ride Mt Buninyong to Creswick 43km
Wallaby Track Walk/Ride Creswick to Daylesford 52km
Dry Diggings Track Walk/Ride Daylesford to Castlemaine 58km
Leanganook Track Walk/Ride Castlemaine to Bendigo 61km
Shared use by walkers, trail runners and bike riders
The majority of both the Lerderderg Track and the Goldfields Track are designated as
‘shared use’ for walkers, trail runners and bike riders. Where bike use is considered as
unsuitable, a separate bike route is designated.
Five bike diversions exist on the Lerderderg Track, which follows a steep gradient
down a river to a gorge mouth. The GDTA has followed national walk/ride standards in
assessing the degree of difficulty of each of the track’s seven sections.
Bike diversions on the Goldfields Track add an additional 36km to its 214km.
Guidebooks, maps and circuit walks/rides
The GDTA has published guidebooks for both the Lerderderg and Goldfields tracks so we now have complete coverage of the GDTN. We also have a waterproof DL map for the Lerderderg Track and DL maps for the Dry Diggings and Leanganook tracks.
Central Victorian Highlands Walk and Ride Circuits is a short walks & rides circuits guidebook, which was published by the GDTA in 2021. It provides full colour, large scale contoured maps together with detailed track notes of 20 circuit walks and 10 circuit rides within a 25km radius of Daylesford. A number of the circuit walks and rides were damaged in an extreme storm event in June 2021, but are now largely open. Current information about each of the walks and rides can be found here.
Online downloadable gpx files of all tracks are available on the GDTA website here. The guidebook and maps for the Lerderderg, Dry Diggings and Leanganook tracks can be purchased online here or at regional information centres or retail outlets listed on the website here. The Wallaby Track map is out of print.
Circuit walks and/or rides commencing on the Goldfields Track around major regional towns with detailed maps have been prepared here.
The Ararat Circuit Track (14.5km) map is downloadable for free from this website here.
Land management and track maintenance
The land managers for the Lerderderg Track are DEECA, Parks Victoria and the shires of Hepburn and Moorabool. The GDTA has developed track maintenance arrangements with the land managers. The whole of the Lerderderg Track is due to become encompassed by the 44,860ha Wombat-Lerderderg National Park in 2026. Parks Victoria is to enter co-management arrangements with the two Traditional Owner First Nation groups, the Dja Dja Wurrung in the northern third and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung to the south from Blackwood to Bacchus Marsh.
The land managers for the Goldfields Track are Parks Victoria, DEECA, cities of Ballarat and Bendigo, shires of Hepburn and Mt Alexander, Central Highlands Water and Coliban Water, together with several committees of management. Small sections are under the management of either VicRoads or VicTrack.
Track maintenance is shared for the Goldfields Track. The GDTA is responsible for co-ordinating track maintenance on the southern end of the Goldfields Track between Daylesford and Buninyong. For maintenance issues relating to the northern half of the Goldfields Track between Daylesford and Bendigo, contact GTI here.
Joining the GDTA
Anyone can become a member of the Great Dividing Trail Association. Annual membership entitles you to regular newsletter bulletins, information about the Association’s walking and interpretation program focused around the trail, and access to free member events.
The GDTA is always seeking volunteers to aid in regular patrols of the network, reporting back on issues such as fallen trees; as well as carrying out supervised track maintenance, such as replacing damaged posts. To be added to the volunteer list, email the Maintenance Manager – maintenance@gdt.org.au
