Date: 18th of August 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
Ballarat darkie might be the biggest bluestone drain in all of Australia. It isnt the most feature filled drain but it has a charm like no other.
Entrance: 2m
Materials: Bluestone
Shapes: Canal
Since mid 2025 they have added a skylight in the drain with a ring of LED lights around it permanently turned on. This is one of the only spots in victoria where painting on bluestone isnt taboo as the drain is filled with sections of well done graff.
Its a wonderful drain its just a shame its so short at about 500m long. There is also a few offshoots but I cant seem to find photos of them. None are really that interesting, but one is a redbrick balloon that leads to a manhole.
Date: 13th of October 2024
Rating: ★★★★★
Arclight may be one of the oldest and most beautiful bluestone drains in all of australia. Even though it is only about 800m long, it is this high bluestone arch the whole way through with many grilles and a few cool sidepipes, including one that has a large ventilation shaft.
Entrance: 2.4m
Materials: Bluestone, Brick, Concrete
Shapes: Arch, Round, Box
This is the hardies sidepipe from Arclight. Its very low but has some very old brickwork and some cool shapes. There may be 2 or three places you can stand up but apart from that this is very very stoopy.
The final 10 meters require an army crawl to exit, there is a very tight gutter hole just before the end to avoid the crawl. If you follow the pipe upstream from the inflow, you’ll eventually end up in peoples backyards.
Date: 2nd of Febuary 2024
Rating: ★★★★☆
I am very biased about this drain because I love it. It is so charming and has so many features in such a small old drain.
Entrance: 1.7m
Materials: Concrete, Brick, Bluestone
Shapes: Arch, Round, Balloon
Although Mousehole is stoopy and short, it's packed with features. There are several shape changes, a variety of materials, a slide, multiple grilles, and even a conveniently placed gutter box at the end for an easy exit.
Anyone visiting the area for the drains should definitely check out Mousehole, it's one of Ballarat's best.
Date: 7th of March 2025
Entrance: 1.8m Materials: Concrete Shapes: Round
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ I personally think this drain sucks, it is in serious disrepair and is falling apart currently. The entrance is a bit stoopy and it stays a bit stoopy for a while until it opens up a tad to walking height. A bit past this there is a section of Shin deep water from where the floor has fallen in. The drain continues to a balloon shape that is clogged with a trolley and a bunch of other shit. It turns back into concrete box and then a small section of bluestone balloon for the inflow.
