The Big Peninsula Tunnel is a small river diversion tunnel on the upper Yarra River

Yarra River

The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...

 near McMahons Creek, around 80 km East of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The tunnel was dug in 1864, during the Victorian gold rush

Victorian gold rush

The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...

, by alluvial gold miners to provide access to the bed of the Yarra River. Big Peninsula Tunnel is of square section about 2 metres high and wide, and approximately 25 metres long.
The tunnel can be accessed from a small carpark off the Woods Point Road, approximately 15 km east of Warburton

Warburton, Victoria

Warburton is a town in Victoria, Australia, 72 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2006 Census, Warburton had a population of 2288....

 and 1 km below McMahons Creek. The Goldfields Walking Trail starts nearby.

The site is listed in the Victorian Heritage Inventory

Victorian Heritage Inventory

The Victorian Heritage Inventory, commonly known as the Heritage Inventory, is a list of all known historical archaeology sites in Victoria, Australia...

.