Shawfactor

On 22nd August 1770, after having sailed north along the east coast of Australia, British explorer Lieutenant James Cook landed on Possession Island in Torres Strait. The purpose for going ashore is recorded in his journal: “I now once more hoisted English Coulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third, took possession of the whole Eastern Coast from the above Latitude down to this place by the name of New Wales.” Upon returning the England, he amended the name to New South Wales. What exactly about the east coast of Australian reminded Cook of South Wales is not known. Cook’s instructions had been these: ‘You are also with the consent of the Natives to take possession, in the name of the King of Great Britain, of convenient Situations in such Countries as you may discover, that have not already been discovered or visited by any other European Power … But if you find the Countries so discovered are uninhabited, you are to take possession of them for His Majesty.’

Cook’s proclamation effectively declared the whole of Australia as British territory, except for the western third, which was still called New Holland. New South Wales as proclaimed by Cook extended north to south from Cape York to a latitude of 38 degrees south (which excluded Tasmania part of Victoria), and east of the 135th meridian of east longitude included all islands of the South Pacific Ocean discovered during the voyage not previously discovered by an European country, which included New Zealand and Fiji.

Cook’s claim was sealed in January 1788, when Arthur Phillip arrived with the First Fleet to found a convict settlement at what is now Sydney. Phillip, as Governor of New South Wales, exercised nominal authority over all of Australia east of the 135th meridian, as well as the islands of the South Pacific, including New Zealand. Phillip was appointed as ‘Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over Our territory called New South Wales, extending from the Northern Cape or extremity of the coast called Cape York, in the latitude of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south, to the southern extremity of the said territory of New South Wales or South Cape, in the latitude of forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south and of all the country inland westward as far as the one hundred and thirty-fifth degree of east longitude reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes aforesaid of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south and forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south’. It was these territories that Phillip proclaimed as being under his jurisdiction as Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief when he raised the British flag at Sydney Cove on 26th January 1788.

For the next 40 years the history of New South Wales was identical with the History of Australia, since it was not until 1803 that any settlements were made outside the boundaries of New South Wales, and these, at Hobart and Launceston in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), were at first dependencies of New South Wales. It was not until 1825 that Van Diemen’s Land became a separate colony. Also that year, on 16th July, the border of New South Wales was set further west at the 129th meridian to encompass the short lived settlement on Melville Island. In 1829 this border became the border with Western Australia, which was proclaimed a colony.

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Gazetteer of Australian Places

Myrtleford

Prior to European settlement the area was occupied by the Dhudoroa Aborigines. The first white people in the Ovens Valley were the pastoralists who arrived in 1837-38. John Hillas built huts and stockyards on the banks of Myrtle Creek in 1837, near the present Myrtleford Hotel, the area being part of a remote cattle run known as the Myrtle Creek Run.

Forming the boundary of the run, the Myrtle Creek was given its name by the first Europeans in the area. When gold was discovered in the Buckland Valley, thousands of diggers had to cross Myrtle Creek on their way to the goldfields. The creek was named after the myrtle trees growing there but has since been renamed Barwidgee Creek. A small township developed around the fording place, with the name of Myrtleford consequently adopted. The road through Myrtleford was then called the Buckland Road; it is known today as the Great Alpine Road.

The first localised mining rush occurred along Happy Valley Creek in 1856 with reef mining soon commencing at Gapstead. The town was surveyed and named in 1859.

Myrtleford survived the decline of gold mining due to the early establishment of hop and tobacco production. Chinese settlers,the Pan Look family, were, for many years, the largest growers. The1930s and 1940s were hard times for the town but, after World War II,new methods and strains of tobacco were introduced and a Tobacco Research Station was established. Southern European migrants also settled in the area in the postwar years, involving themselves in the tobacco, hops and walnut industries.

Bendoc

Bendoc is 110 kilometres northwest of Orbost,on the edge of the Monaro tablelands close to the New South Wales border.The town was first known as Wagra Bendoc, an Aboriginal word meaning plain of crows.

From 1845 the area was part of pastoral leases. In the 1850s alluvial gold was discovered in the Bendoc River. This was quickly exhausted, and a number of mines began successful reef operations.At the head of the river, the settlement of Clarkville clustered round several other mines. Many miners, including numbers of Chinese, sluiced the rivers.The population of the area was as high as 500 during this period.

The township was surveyed in 1869 and the hotel built in 1870. This building was burnt down in the early 1900s and rebuilt. A school was also begun at this time.

In the 1870s there was a decline in gold mining. Some miners selected land, which in many cases is still held by descendants. Dairying was common in the early days, supplying a butter factory at the New South Wales border,and a milk factory at Orbost in more recent times. Wheat was grown for the settlers’ own use and ground at Bombala. Now beef cattle grazing is the main occupation.

In 1911 the Victoria Star gold mine was discovered. This mine has yielded thousands of ounces of gold. Operations were halted by flooding but in 1935a Melbourne syndicate took over for another three years. Sluicing and dredging were also carried on in the area until 1951. Wolfram was mined at Mt Bendoc during both wars. In 1911, the population of the area was 210. In 1933,there were 90 residents in Bendoc.

Since World War II, saw milling has become important. There were a few mills as early as the 1920s. Sleeper cutting, wattle bark stripping and distilling of eucalyptus oil also provided employment. From 1943, the Forests Commission has maintained an office in the area. In 1994, the settlement described in the Victorian Municipal Directory is little changed with stock raising and timber production. The town has a hotel, post office and public hall, with a tri-weekly bus service to Orbost.

The Baldwin Spencer Trail, following the route of an expedition by naturalist Walter Baldwin Spencer in 1889, passes through Bendoc, where relics of mining and sluicing can still be seen.

Bendoc’s census populations have been 210 in 1911 and 131 in 1961.

Avoca

Historic goldmining town with wide street and large number of historic buildings.

The war memorial in the mainstreet

Located 181 km north west of Melbourne and 72 km north of Ballarat, Avoca is notable for its extraordinarily wide mainstreet – so wide in fact that there is a huge area of parkland in the centre which is large enough for picnic facilities, a war memorial and the occasional shady tree.

Thomas Mitchell was the first European to pass through the area. He reached it in 1836 and, as rumour has it, named the local river ‘Avoca’ after a river or vale in County Wicklow, Ireland. A decade later there were a number of squatters in the area but the realchange to the district’s fortunes occurred in 1852 when gold wasdiscovered only 3 km east of the town. By 1854 the town had apopulation of 2577 and there were a total of around 6000 diggersoperating in the 6 km of riverbed south of the confluence of Glenlogie Creek and Avoca River.

It was around this time that Avoca grew dramatically. Apolice camp of some 50 troopers was established in 1853 and a lock-upbuilt the following year, an impressive Bank of Victoria was built in1854 to capitalise the new-found wealth, a series of businesses set upshop, the Avoca Hotel opened its doors in 1854, the Union Hotel in1855, a Wesleyan Church was built in 1856, a National School in 1857and the courthouse in 1859.

A description of the diggings in the early 1860s: ‘Shanties, public houses and shops sprang up rapidly and the place wasa veritable beehive of industry – the whirring of the windlass, the clank-clank of the buckets, the rumble of the ‘cradle’ and the puddlingmachine, the tents, the lights innumerable at night, the singing oftbacchanalian the laughter and the brawls made a medley of soundincidental to the bush mining camp.’

The town’s population had dropped back to 768 by 1871.The railway line from Maryborough was opened in 1876. But by this time the gold rush was all but over. Men were still making a reasonable living at Amphitheatre as late as the 1890s but the gold was now difficult to get. Slowly the farmers began to reassert themselves. By the 1870s grapes were being grown in the area and over the next twenty years mixed farming – sheep, cattle, orchards – started to dominate in the area. There were various attempts to use dredges to extract thegold and these continued intermittently throughout this century withthe last dredge only stopping operations in 1957.

Today Avoca is a pleasant rural service centrecharacterised by its wide main street and the nearby Pyrenees Ranges. The Pink Lamb and Purple Shiraz Race Meeting is held in March each year. There is an Anzac Day Race Meeting in April each year and the Taltarni Cup Meeting is held in October.

Things to see:

Avoca Hotel

Tourist Information and Historic Buildings of High St

The Tourist Information Office is located in High Street, near the Cambridge St intersection. There is a pamphlet outlining awalking tour of the town’s historic buildings which lists around 40separate destinations. It is detailed and comprehensive and is almostentirely contained within an area of no more than five blocks by sixblocks. In fact, two-thirds of the sites are in High St, tel: (03) 5465 3767.

Between Cambridge St and Russell St are the warmemorial, the handsome bluestone of Lalor’s Pharmacy (1854), which isreputedly the oldest continuously-operating pharmacy in Victoria, theAvoca Newsagency (c.1887), the Bakery and Tea Rooms (c.1860), AlbionHouse (c.1866) and the Victoria Hotel Complex, consisting ofstone-and-brick hotel and stone ballroom (late 1850s) and stone stables(1872). The ballroom became a venue for travelling performers.

Between Russell and Duke Sts are Kelley’s Store (1865) andthe General Store (c.1860) and between Duke and North is the Avoca MeatMarket (c.1856).

Between Cambridge St and Bridport St are the postoffice (1872), the former Albion Hotel (1868), Holland’s Drapery Shop (1866), Filbey’s Butchery (1856), Mackereth’s Shop and Wine Depot (c.1890), Herlihy’s Store (c.1870) and the Avoca Hotel (1870) on the site of the original Avoca Hotel (1854).

At the south-eastern corner of High and Bridport is the former Bank of Victoria (1854). Its imposing facade reflects theboom period of the town’s first years.

Avoca and District Historical Society

The Classical Revival brick courthouse (1859), in High St (near the Davy St corner), is one of the earliest survivingcourthouses in the state and is representative of its type and era. Itis now the headquarters of the local historical society which is proudof its excellent collection of photographs (over 2,000 and allcatalogued), family history details and reference materials. It is avital source of information for anyone wanting to explore the localarea. For more information contact (03) 5465 3744.

Police Camp

The whole area bounded by Bridport St, Camp St, High Stand the river was the site of the original police camp established in1853 and occupied by 50 troopers trying to maintain order in thedisarray of a goldrush. Some buildings associated with the police campare to be found in Napier St, between Davy and Camp Sts. They are thecoursed bluestone lock-up (1867), which replaced the original loglock-up (1854), the police residence (1859) and the powder magazine (1860).

Rutherford St

At Rutherford and Russell is the former Anglican rectory(1894). Over the road is the Uniting Church Complex, consisting of thebrick Wesleyan Church (1867), Sunday School (1870) and parsonage (1871).

At Rutherford and Duke is ‘Rutherford’ (1860s) and at124 Rutherford St is the former National School (1857 with lateradditions). One of the first to be established in the state it is aGothic Revival brick structure which is now a bed-and-breakfast.

Barnett St

In Barnett St (between North and Duke Sts) is theimpressive Avoca State School, built of brick to a Gothic design in1878. On the Russell St corner is the Anglican Church of St John theDivine (1871). At Barnett and Bridport are Chalmer’s PresbyterianChurch (1864) and manse (1869).

Blue Pyrenees Estate

There are two vineyards operating quite close toAvoca. Both can be accessed by driving west on Vinoca Road which runsoff the Sunraysia Highway just north of Avoca.

Blue Pyrenees Estate, established in 1963, is set in idyllicsurroundings and landscaped gardens 7 km west of the town in thefoothills of the Pyrenees (en route to Governor’s Rock Lookout).Chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier, semillon, sauvignon blanc,cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, shiraz and merlot are all undercultivation. There are picnic facilities, al fresco lunches, an artdisplay, tours of the underground cellars and a shaded area where youcan play petanque. The cellar door is open daily from 10.00 a.m. andthe restaurant on weekends, tel: (03) 5465 3202.

Mount Avoca Vineyard

Mount Avoca Vineyard, established in 1970, islocated 5 km west of Avoca off Vinoca Rd in Moates Lane. It producestrioss, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, rhapsody, semillon, shiraz,cabernet, merlot, cabernet franc, Arda’s Choice and a vintage port. Thecellar door is open weekdays from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and weekendsfrom 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. daily. There is a picnic area, light lunchis available on weekends and gourmet picnic lunches by priorarrangement, tel: (03) 5465 3282.

Percydale

Vinoca Rd is the accessroute to the site of the gold town of Percydale which flourished inthis area in the 1870s. It had a large population of Chinese diggers.Daly’s Cottage (built of vertical slabs, weatherboard, stone and brickin 1865) is about all that remains of the early days. It was recentlytaken over by the Avoca & District Historical Society. Contact (03)5465 3744 for information about inspections. The town was named afterthe police magistrate’s son although the diggings date back to the1850s when the area was known as Fiddler’s Creek after aviolin-wielding digger.

Redbank Winery

20 km north-west of Avoca, adjacent the SunraysiaHighway, is Redbank Winery, established in 1973. It produces shiraz,cabernet, a cabernet blend, pinot noir, cabernet franc, chardonnay, asparkling wine, Sally’s Paddock, Long Paddock and Hundred Tree Hill.The cellar door is open from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. every day butSunday when it opens at 10.00 a.m. There are barbecue-picnicfacilities, a petanque piste, cheese platters and antipasto, tel: (03)5467 7255.

Moonambel

Five wineries areclustered around the locality known as Moonambel which is an area 20 kmnorth-west on the Navarre Rd. Moonambel (Aboriginal for ‘hollow in thehills’) was part of the Mountain Creek Run in the 1840s and a townshipdeveloped in the 1850s after gold was discovered in the area. When moresubstantial finds were made around 1860 the town solidified. It isclaimed there was a floating population of up to 30 000 in the area. Asa result houses, businesses, breweries, a flour mill, soap factory,newspaper and hotels emerged. Only the Commercial Hotel (1866) remains.Although most mining was alluvial deep-lead mining continued into theearly 20th century. Orchards and vineyards were established in the1860s. Wine-making went into abeyance from 1948 to 1969 but hasre-emerged with a vengeance since that time.

Summerfield

Summerfield,established in 1979, cultivates shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, trebbiano,chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. There is a bluestone tasting room,self-contained units for those who wish to stay, barbecue facilitiesand even a 1-km airstrip. It is 500 m on the western side of the mainroad at Moonambel and is open daily, tel: (03) 5467 2264. Opening hoursare 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. every day but Sunday when they open at 10.00 a.m.

Warrenmang Vineyard Resort

Warrenmang Vineyard Resort, established in 1974,produces wines for the Warrenmang and Bazzani labels – shiraz,sparkling shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, cheninblanc, a methode champenoise, salute rosato, chardonnay, port, saluteand traminer.

To get there turn right off the Navarre Rd at the MountainCreek Rd sign and it is 500 m away. There is an award-winningrestaurant (open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner), a bar, luxuryaccommodation (for 84 guests), a pool, spa, tennis, petanque, barbecuefacilities, gourmet picnic hampers, a children’s playground andconference-function facilities. They are open daily, tel: (03) 5467 2233.

Mountain Creek

Mountain Creek, established in 1973, is adjacent theresort on Mountain Creek Rd. Cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc andmuscat are the main produce. There are scenic views and a lawned areaadjacent the pool. It is open weekends and public holidays, tel: (03)5467 2230.

Taltarni

Taltarni, established in1972, is 3 km along Taltarni Rd which runs off the Avoca-Stawell Rd, 3km from Moonambel. They produce riesling, chenin blanc, cabernetsauvignon, chardonnay, shiraz, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, malbec andmerlot. They specialise in ‘methode champenoise’ sparkling and dry-winestyles. There is a 1-km airstrip, petanque, a picnic area in a bushsetting, barbecue facilities and a light brunch on the spaciousverandah. It is open daily from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., tel: (03) 5467 2218.

Dalwhinnie

Dalwhinnie,established in 1976, is another 2 km along Taltarni Rd. The mostelevated vineyard in the Pyrenees it offers petanque and outstandingviews. The estate specialises in dry wines and produces shiraz,cabernet sauvignon, pinit noir and chardonnay. It is open daily from10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., tel; (03) 5467 2388.

Lexton

23 km south of Avoca isLexton. Land here was taken up by squatters as early as 1838 and one ofVictoria’s first inland townships (then known as Burnbank) wasestablished in 1845 when two men built an inn, store, blacksmith andwheelwright shop. A post office was set up in 1848 and other businessesbegan to appear. The first Anglican and Catholic services in thedistrict were carried out here in 1850 and 1851 respectively.

The town’s early establishment enabled it tocapitalise when gold finds were made throughout the area from 1851 andit grew quickly. In 1852 the Lexton Hotel was built and a localresidence was converted into a courthouse and police magistrate’sresidence with police paddocks to the rear. A Presbyterian school wasestablished in 1855 and the first church was built the following year.

When the gold petered out, Lexton returned to its role as aservice centre to the local pastoral industry. Remaining buildingsinclude the second courthouse (1874) in Williamson Street, St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (1876), at the eastern end of Williamson St, and St Mary’s Anglican Church (1874) in Skene St.

Further Reading:

Things to see:

Tourist Information and Historic Buildings of High St

Avoca and District Historical Society

Police Camp

Rutherford St