About Newtown Falls
Newtown Falls was an unexpected waterfall attraction as it sat relatively hidden in the historic mining town of Beechworth.
I noticed that in some of the literature out there, this waterfall may also be called Newton Falls.
However, from looking at the signage by a viewpoint overlooking this falls, the bridge further upstream on Spring Creek was known as the Newtown Bridge.
Thus, I believe the official name of the falls came from that bridge.
The stone bridge that was currently in use was designed to “be in service for the next 200 years” (it was completed in 1875), and it replaced the original wooden bridge.
In any case, visiting this waterfall was easy as it was essentially a roadside waterfall.
The hardest part was probably making the three-point turn on the narrow side street it was on (more on this later).
Photographing Newtown Falls
As far photographing the Newtown Falls, the best lighting occurred in the early- to mid-afternoon.
We knew this because the first time we came here in November 2006, we witnessed the underlying reddish bedrock really contrasted the white of Spring Creek.
The Newtown Bridge above the falls also received the benefit of the sun’s soft backlighting in the afternoon.
In fact, the photo you see above came from our afternoon visit in November 2006, where you can clearly see how much better the sun’s backlighting was.
The photo you see at the top of this page came from a return trip in November 2017, when I had arrived in the late morning and the sun was almost on top of the falls and somewhat against my line of sight.
Resilient Flow of Newtown Falls
It was actually a miracle that Spring Creek was flowing at all during our first visit in November 2006 because Southeastern Australia was in the midst of a severe drought that lasted for the better part of the decade.
Spring Creek was one of the feeding watercourses for the endangered Murray-Darling River basin (an important system for agriculture as well as the city of Adelaide in South Australia).
On my second visit in November 2017, Spring Creek appeared to have had better flow after a mild recovery from that drought, but even that visit apparently took place after a drier-than-normal Winter and Spring.
Newtown Falls and the Scenic Gorge Drive
Finally, there was one peculiar thing about my visit to Newtown Falls.
The overlook was at the wrong end of a one-way road.
It bugged me that I had to make an awkward three-point turn in order to return to the main road leading to the Beechworth town centre after viewing the falls.
After all, there was no immediate access to the start of that one-way road.
Well, it turned out that I was at the end of the 4km Scenic Gorge Drive that started on the north end of Beechworth and ended at this waterfall below the town’s south end.
Along that drive, there were panoramic views over Beechworth as well as a Scenic Gorge Bridge providing a view of some attractive intermediate cascades on Spring Creek.
It was almost as if the town authorities would have preferred to have me drive the whole one-way road before reaching the waterfall (so the three-point turn wouldn’t be necessary).
I’ll discuss more about this drive in the directions below.
Authorities
Newtown Falls resides in the Beechworth Historic Park in Beechworth, Victoria. It is administered by Parks Victoria. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
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