About Us

A Brief History of Daylesford

Daylesford is located on Djaara Country, the traditional owners are the Dja Dja Wurrung people who continue their strong connections to this place. By 1840s the land was mostly overrun by Pastoralists who had little regard for aboriginal people who suffered greatly as a result of the population influx.

A Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate was established at Larnebarrumul (Franklinford), but was short-lived and by 1863 most of the survivors had been moved to Coranderrk station at Healesville.

In 1851 gold was found in the bed of a watercourse, now known as Wombat Creek, where Lake Daylesford is formed. This began the rush to the ‘Jim Crow’ diggings, also known as ‘Wombat’. The easier surface alluvial gold was quickly extracted, and deep mining soon predominated.

The Daylesford settlement developed within part of the early Wombat pastoral run, later owned in 1852 by William Stanbridge, who established ‘Wombat Park’ estate on the Castlemaine Road.

Between 1851 and when Daylesford was declared a municipality with its first Council in 1859, the population had risen to approximately 7000. Men and women of all nationalities came to this town of rough timber huts and miners cottages accessed by deep mud tracks, stores of all types with many hotels and dancehalls. Amongst the population were the great number of Italian speakers from Switzerland and the northern parts of Italy. This group have left an enduring legacy evident in family names, street and place names together with a legacy of unique places.

A huge amount of timber was required for the mines to operate and the settlements for building, as fuel for homes, businesses and soon a growing demand from afar. A large timber industry was established with mills dotted through the district that quickly denuded the native forests. The Wombat Forest took 50 years to recover. Timber was also supplied to the burgeoning Melbourne area, and men like J P Wheeler made a fortune from their timber mills.

A wide variety of shops and industries grew and developed alongside the more established residential, commercial and agricultural and mining pursuits. The local newspaper records the changing business, the new buildings and enterprises through their advertisements.

In 1864 a gas company was formed by Henry Courtis, and an early commercial attempt of extracting and canning of mineral water began at Hepburn Springs. It took many years to properly bottle the mineral water but a bathhouse from 1894 saw a surge in interest for the wider health aspects of mineral water. Hotels and accommodation houses flourished once the railway came to town in the 1880s bringing visitors to take the waters.

Long-time Town Clerk Donald McLeod went on to be elected to the Victorian Parliament in 1900, becoming Minister for Mines. He was influential in encouraging a second stage of gold mining, with the reopening of the Argus Hill mines. This led to another boom, and some town buildings date from this era. By the 1920’s gold was no longer economical to extract, and mining fell into a terminal decline.

Late 1920s & 1930s depression years saw government sponsored works programmed to boost employment across the state and this included the construction of Lake Daylesford. Tourists continued to flock to the area throughout this period; as those who kept their jobs were actually able to afford more, as prices sank due to the depression.

Daylesford & Hepburn continued to be the centre for a farming community, with a small manufacturing base, timber industry, and a tourist industry based on mineral water and the surrounding forest.

A brief history of our home

About the Museum building

Our building was originally the School of Mines, built in 1891 and by 1914 extended and renamed as a Technical School. The school was relocated in 1960s to a new complex at Smith Street.

One of few intact secondary school buildings from this period in Victoria still with its unique gold assaying furnace room and chimney.

The building and reserve is managed by a Museum Reserve Committee , on behalf of the Victorian State Government with DEECA.