Leitches Creek Mineral Spring

This little patch of land is home to two mineral springs, one with a hand pump the other a free-flowing pipe located in a concrete pit (trench) built in 1905 where mineral water still seeps out of a pipe.

The creek side reserve is surrounded by forest and farmland and is a lovely stopover for a picnic or a taste of the mineral water. Leitches (Wallaby) Creek Mineral Spring was found in the late 1860s in a large pool of water in a naturally swampy section of the creek.

In 1879, a small area around the spring, roughly the size of a suburban lot, was designated as a mineral spring reserve. Although new settlers wanted the land for farming and timber, residents successfully lobbied to expand the reserve in 1881 to protect the springs and surrounding timber.

Around 1905, John Harrison of Musk Creek was licensed to extract water from the reserve with the condition that public access remained. The Jenkin Brothers began bottling water from Leitches Creek from 1905 until the 1950s using a simple timber building.

A new bore was drilled in 2000 to a depth of 9m. The bore penetrates the rock aquifer deeper than the water table. The mineral content of the water from the pit and pump is similar.

A comparison of the levels of minerals in the springs can be found here.