Silverband Falls - Dairy Creek

Silverband Falls pre-floods

Many years ago while on a visit to the Grampians we visited the  popular and beautiful Silverband Fall on Dairy Creek. This unusual waterfall where  the water falls over the moss covered cliff face to disappear into the rocks at the base of the falls, only to re-emerged further downstream in the fern clad gully. Sadly on a return visit recently the falls and the little creek with tranquil fern-lined gully were no more. Nature builds beautiful areas like this one and nature can also destroys them.

 

 Sign showing Dairy Creek pre-flood

The picture on this sign at the creek crossing gives the visitor an idea of how beautiful the area along Dairy Creek with its lovely lush tree fern clad gully and meandering little creek once were. In January 2011 a very significant storm and flood event swept through this area and many other parts of the Grampians National Park causing catastrophic and wide spread damage.

Nature's fury sending a raging torrent of floodwater's, landslips and derbies such as giant boulder, rocks, towering eucalypts trees from the cliffs above destroying everything in its path and reshaping the little creek forever stripping it of all vegetation.

Silverband Falls walking track bridge washed metres down the creek bed

So much  derbies litter the once tranquil creek-bed

Trees uprooted and washed away

looking at walking track bridge from creek crossing

Will this area return to it's former state I think not, not in my lifetime, the demographic's of the landscape have changed, the little eco system evolved over hundreds in not thousands of years. What helped to create this once beautiful area has been totally washed away.

Debris can been seen for many metres down stream, the extensive erosion of the creek edges by the floodwater very evident in some photos.