Daylesford Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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![]() Daylesford as seen from Wombat Hill | |||||||||||||||
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Coordinates | 37°21′0″S144°09′0″E / 37.35000°S 144.15000°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 2,781 (2021 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
• Density | 76.82/km2 (198.97/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Established | 1852 | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 3460 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation | 616 m (2,021 ft) | ||||||||||||||
Area | 36.2 km2 (14.0 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
Time zone | AEST (UTC+10) | ||||||||||||||
• Summer (DST) | AEDT (UTC+11) | ||||||||||||||
Location |
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LGA(s) | Shire of Hepburn | ||||||||||||||
County | Talbot | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Macedon | ||||||||||||||
Federal division(s) | Ballarat | ||||||||||||||
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Daylesford is a spa town located in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, within the Shire of Hepburn, Victoria, Australia, approximately 114 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. First established in 1852 as a gold-mining town, today Daylesford has a population of 2,781 as of the 2021 census. [1]
As one of Australia’s few spa towns, Daylesford is a notable tourist destination. The town’s numerous spas, restaurants and galleries are popular alongside the many gardens and country-house-conversion styled bed and breakfasts. [2]
The broader area around the town, including Hepburn Springs to the north, is known for its natural spring mineral spas and is the location of over 80 per cent of Australia's effervescent mineral water reserve. [3]
It is also the filming location for the third season of The Saddle Club , and scenes from the 2004 film Love's Brother . [4]
Prior to European settlement the area was occupied by the Djadja Wurrung people. Pastoralists occupied the Jim Crow and Upper Loddon districts following white settlement in 1838. A farming protectorate was established at Franklinford, but was short-lived and by 1863 most of the survivors had been moved to Corranderk station at Healesville. [5] In 1848, Irish immigrant John Egan took up land on the future town site then known as Wombat Flat. He and a party of searchers found alluvial gold in 1851 on ground now covered by Lake Daylesford initiating the local gold rush. Other finds quickly followed. With the finding of alluvial gold a town site was surveyed and founded in 1852. Between 1851, and when Daylesford was declared a municipality and formed its first Council in 1859. The population had risen to approximately 7000 Men and women of all nationalities came to this town of muddy-streets and numerous hotels. Initially called Wombat, it was renamed Daylesford. [6] Agricultural activity quickly followed the miners, and many Chinese miners quickly turned to market gardening. The early Europeans, particularly Italians, established vineyards.
In 1859, around 3400 diggers were on the local diggings. The post office opened on 1 February 1858 [7] and a telegraph office was opened in August 1859. [8] Daylesford was declared a municipality in 1859 and a borough in the early 1860s. [6]
On 30 June 1867, three boys from Connells Gully, near Table Hill (William Graham, 6, his brother Thomas, 4, and Alfred Burman, 5) wandered into the bush near Daylesford. [9] [10] Despite exhaustive searches, their skeletal remains were finally located (when a boot was found by a farmer's dog) on 13 September about 10 kilometres away. [10] Today, there is a park, a memorial cairn, and a 16 km long "Lost Children's Walk" that visitors can hike. [11] [12] The Daylesford Primary School also has a prize, the Graham Dux Award, presented to annually since 1889, in their memory. [13]
By the 1860s, the alluvial gold was exhausted and a shift to quartz reef mining began. This continued on and off into the 1930s. In later years, Daylesford became associated as being a fashionable spa resort, but fell out of favour in the Great Depression. [6]
The Daylesford Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990. [14]
At 616 metres (2,021 ft) above sea level, it has a cooler, wetter climate than Melbourne. Summer (January–February) temperatures range from 10 to 37 °C (50 to 99 °F), while July temperatures are cold, ranging from about 1–2 °C (34–36 °F) to 9 °C (48 °F). Annual precipitation, occasionally falling as snow, averages about 880 mm (35 in) but has ranged from 445 mm (17.5 in) to over 1,350 mm (53 in) per year.
With 65 mineral springs, the Daylesford-Hepburn Springs region accounts for more than 80 per cent of Australia’s known mineral water springs. [15] As a result, the region has a number of spa developments including Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa, Mineral Spa at Peppers Springs Retreat and Salus Spa, Lake House. The town is also known for hosting a number of annual events, including the ChillOut Festival held during the Victorian Labour Day long weekend in March each year, the largest LGBTQ festival in rural and regional Australia; the Harvest Week Festival; the Lavandula's Festivals; and the Hepburn Springs Swiss Italian Festival celebrating the town's Swiss-Italian heritage. [16] The annual Daylesford Highland Gathering features pipes and drums, a street march, dancing, Scottish Clans, Scottish clubs, stores et. al. [17] [18]
Major industries in the economy of Daylesford today are healthcare, accommodation and food, and retail trade respectively. [19]
The town is served by a number of primary schools and one public secondary school, Daylesford Secondary College. The town's Secondary College was originally established as a mining school, in 1890. In 1961 the college was established as the sole provider of secondary education in the Shire of Hepburn and has just over 500 pupils. [20] Daylesford Primary School, formerly known as Daylesford State School, is the oldest and longest-running provider of primary education in Daylesford. [21] Other primary schools in the area include St. Michael's Primary School and Daylesford Dharma School. Daylesford Primary School is host to an annual book fair which first started in 2010 and has since begun operating as an annual book fair, where used and unwanted books are donated to raise funds that go towards improving children's literacy. [22]
The Midland Highway runs directly through the town linking it with Castlemaine in the north and Ballarat in the south-west. The Western Freeway is the main route linking Daylesford to Melbourne, the State Capital of Victoria.
The railway to the town closed in 1978. [23] The railway layout at Daylesford station was unusual in that the lines from Creswick and Carlsruhe both entered the station from the same end. [24] The Daylesford Spa Country Railway currently operates a Sunday tourist service to Musk and Bullarto along the line towards Carlsruhe.[ citation needed ]
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Central Highlands Football League. [25] Daylesford is also home to the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club, also known as the Saints or the Sainters. The Saints have won four league titles in their 20-year history along with two cup finals. [26]
In November 2023, a car crashed into the beer garden of the Royal Daylesford Hotel, resulting in the deaths of five people. [27] The accident has been described as "devastating" by some locals of the small town. [28]
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa. Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
The City of Kingston is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, its northern boundary lying approximately 15 km from the Melbourne city centre along the north-eastern shorelines of Port Phillip. It covers an area of 91 km² and has an estimated population of 163,431 people.
Kingston is a small town and locality of 19.07km2 in the rural Shire of Hepburn in Victoria, Australia, located just off the Midland Highway about 10 kilometres distance from Creswick, and is about 20 km from Daylesford. Kingston's post code is 3364.
The Shire of Hepburn is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of 1,473 square kilometres (569 sq mi) and, in the 2021 Census the shire had a population of 16,604.
The Daylesford Spa Country Railway is a volunteer-operated 1,600 mm gauge tourist railway located in Victoria, Australia. It operates on a section of the closed and dismantled Daylesford line, and currently runs services between Daylesford and the hamlet of Bullarto.
Trentham is a small town in the Shire of Hepburn and Shire of Moorabool local government area, Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Trentham had a population of 1,180, with a median age of 55 years. Located at an altitude of 700 metres (2,297 ft), the town is 87 kilometres (54 mi) north-west of Melbourne.
Ballan is a small town in Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballan had a population of 3,392.
Hepburn Springs is a resort town located in the middle of the largest concentration of mineral springs in Australia, situated in Victoria, 48 km northeast of Ballarat. At the 2016 census, Hepburn had a population of 599 and Hepburn Springs had a population of 329. Total population of Hepburn-Hepburn Springs was 928. The town is named after Captain John Hepburn who was an early squatter of central Victoria. The traditional owners of the land are the Dja Dja Wurrung.
The Deniliquin railway line is a broad-gauge railway line serving northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from the New South Wales town of Deniliquin into Bendigo, before turning south-southeast towards Melbourne, terminating in Docklands near the central business district. It is a major trunk line both for passenger and freight trains, with many railway lines branching off from it.
Newlyn is a town in the Shire of Hepburn, in Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the Midland Highway between Creswick and Daylesford. At the 2021 census, Newlyn had a population of 136.
The Convent Gallery is located in the Spa region of Daylesford, in Central Victoria, Australia.
The Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve is a 30-hectare (74-acre) reserve near Hepburn Springs, Victoria, Australia. It contains several mineral springs that have been used for drinking and bathing since the 1860s. The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and forms part of Hepburn Regional Park.
Glenlyon is a small village in the Shire of Hepburn local government area, Victoria, Australia around 10 km from Daylesford along the Daylesford–Malmsbury Road, and around 101 km from the Melbourne CBD via Kyneton and Malmsbury.
Daylesford is a railway station that services the town of Daylesford, Victoria, Australia. Daylesford Station is a substantial brick building used by the Daylesford Spa Country Railway, the station yard consists of a number of tracks which are used to store heritage rollingstock. A goods shed is also located at the station.
Bullarto is a town located in the Shire of Hepburn, Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Bullarto had a population of 73.
Lyonville is a town located in the Shire of Hepburn, Victoria, Australia. East of Daylesford on the Trentham road, the town takes its name from James Lyon who had arrived in the Glenlyon district in the 1860s. At the 2016 census, Lyonville had a population of 175.
The Domino Trail is a shared used path running from Trentham, Victoria to Lyonville, 75km northwest of Melbourne. The trail mostly follows part of the route of the former Carlsruhe to Daylesford railway line — part of which is still running as the Daylesford Spa Country Railway —. The trail has been primarily developed for walkers, but is usable by mountain bikes.
Mount Franklin is an extinct volcano about 10 km north of Daylesford and 4.6 km south east of Franklinford in Victoria, Australia. A road spirals round the outside slopes covered with pine trees, into a flat 50 acre caldera, now used as a camping ground, and onto the rim which hosts a fire lookout, parking area and picnic ground.
Victor Zelman (1877–1960) was an Australian painter and etcher. He was born in Melbourne and was the son of Alberto Zelman (senior) and the brother of Alberto Zelman, the founder of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Strangways is a locality within the local government area of Mount Alexander, in Central Victoria, Australia. It covers an area of 20.105 square kilometres between the townships of Guidford to the east, Newstead to the north-west and Clydesdale to the south.