Newstead Victoria | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°6′19″S144°3′54″E / 37.10528°S 144.06500°E |
Population | 572 (2016) |
Postcode(s) | 3462 |
Location |
|
LGA(s) | Shire of Mount Alexander |
State electorate(s) | Bendigo West |
Federal division(s) | Bendigo |
Newstead is a town in Victoria, Australia, situated along the Loddon River. It is in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area. At the 2016 census, Newstead had a population of 572. Newstead has many festivals and folk events and is in the centre of the golden triangle, close to many tourist attractions and events.
Although Newstead is located in the Victorian Goldfields, the settlement began as a crossing-place on the Loddon River (known as “Mingus’s crossing-place”) on the way to the nearby Castlemaine and Mount Alexander diggings. A very early business at the crossing-place was a “refreshment tent” operated by Thomas Jones (probably established in about 1853-4). The refreshment tent, called the “Bullock Drivers’ Home”, was primarily a sly-grog shop (for which Jones was charged on several occasions), but also incorporated “a bakehouse, butcher's shop, three-stalled stable, stockyard, and about a quarter of an acre of well-stocked garden ground”. [1]
By mid-year 1855 the partnership of James David Jones and Frederick Beard (businessmen from Castlemaine) had completed and opened the Newstead Hotel at Mingus’ crossing-place (with Jones as the publican license-holder). Soon after the hotel was opened their local business rival, the sly-grog seller Thomas Jones, erected a bridge over the Loddon “at his own expense” (which was subsequently destroyed by flood waters in September 1855, within a month or two of being built). The locality began to be referred to as the Newstead Crossing (or simply Newstead) after the name of the hotel. [2]
By August 1856 Jones and Beard of the Newstead Hotel had constructed more substantial bridge over the Loddon River. [3]
A Post Office at Newstead was opened on 1 August 1857. [4] The first Postmaster was Mr. J. Day. [5]
In about June 1858 district farmers and landholders formed the Newstead Agricultural Society which held competitive ploughing matches and organised annual agricultural shows highlighting district produce and livestock. The Society flourished during the 1860s and early 1870s, guided by its secretary, Andrew Kirwan. [6]
The Newstead Magistrates' Court closed on 1 November 1981, not having been visited by a Magistrate since 1980. [7]
The first local government body to cover Newstead was the Newstead Road District, which was created in 1860 and redesignated as Newstead Shire in February 1865. In October 1915 Newstead Shire absorbed Mount Alexander United Shire, which had been created in June 1871 by amalgamating Campbell's Creek Road District, Fryers Road District and Guildford Borough. The expanded shire was renamed Newstead & Mount Alexander Shire in May 1916. The name reverted to Newstead Shire in May 1949. In January 1995 Newstead Shire was amalgamated with Castlemaine City, part of Maldon Shire and part of Metcalfe Shire to form Mount Alexander Shire.
It has two pubs, community centre, cafe, a general store, a Rural Transaction Centre (with Internet café, Bendigo Bank, library, daycare and other services), a small licensed IGA and bakery, a swimming pool, a hairdresser as well as a monthly newspaper, the Newstead Echo. It also has a licensed cafe, a butcher, two small shops selling vintage odds and ends and a winery just out of town.
The town has a football team in the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football League.
There is a town primary school and kindergarten and high schools nearby, a community hall, race park and Rotunda park for events such as the Newstead Fire Brigade Market which occurs 4 times a year.
There is a women's group, four churches, performers group, organic growers group, playgroup, senior citizens' club, lawn bowls club, croquet club, football and netball club, tennis club, natives groups, walking group and spinners' group. Annually, Newstead holds a folk music festival over the Australia Day weekend with artists coming from all around Australia and some from overseas. As well as 'Chopped' magazine holding their annual, Chopped Rod & Custom show, which brings traditional style rods and custom cars from all over Australia into the town for a weekend.
The Loddon River that flows through the town has caused a levee bank to be built in 1912 which has stopped the town from flooding several times. The old courthouse has now become the Newstead historical society and holds a collection of items relating to the history of Newstead.
Castlemaine is a town in west central Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The population at the 2021 Census was 7,506. Castlemaine was named by the chief goldfield commissioner, Captain W. Wright, in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine.
The Mount Alexander Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of 1,530 square kilometres (590 sq mi) and, in August 2021, had a population of 20,253. It includes the towns of Castlemaine, Chewton, Elphinstone, Maldon, Newstead, Harcourt, Taradale, Vaughan, Fryerstown and Campbells Creek. It was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of the City of Castlemaine, Shire of Newstead, and most of the Shire of Maldon and Shire of Metcalfe. The traditional owners of the land are Dja Dja Wurrung.
Maldon is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area. It has been designated "Australia's first notable town" and is notable for its 19th-century appearance, maintained since gold-rush days. At the 2016 census, Maldon had a population of 1,513.
The Loddon River, an inland river of the north–central catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Loddon Mallee regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters of the Loddon River rise on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range east of Daylesford and descend to flow north into the Little Murray River, near Swan Hill. The river is impounded by the Cairn Curran and Laanecoorie reservoirs.
Mount Alexander is a mountain located approximately 125 km north-west of Melbourne, near the town of Harcourt. It rises 350 metres above the surrounding area to a level of 744 metres above sea level. Being a prominent local landmark, the mountain has its name associated with the surrounding district once known as the Mount Alexander goldfields, and presently defined as the Shire of Mount Alexander, centred on Castlemaine. Most of the mountain is included within the boundaries of the Mount Alexander Regional Park managed by Parks Victoria. The Djadjawurrung name for the mountain is Lanjanuc.
Vaughan is a locality in the Shire of Mount Alexander in the state of Victoria, Australia south of Castlemaine and east of Guildford.
Chewton is a town in central Victoria, Australia in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area, 116 kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Chewton had a population of 1313.
The Shire of Metcalfe was a local government area about 105 kilometres (65 mi) north-northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, and 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of the regional city of Bendigo. The shire covered an area of 590.52 square kilometres (228.0 sq mi), and existed from 1860 until 1995.
The Shire of Newstead was a local government area about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of 409.22 square kilometres (158.0 sq mi), and existed from 1860 until 1995.
The City of Castlemaine was a local government area about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north-northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, and 38 kilometres (24 mi) south of the regional city of Bendigo. The city covered an area of 23.31 square kilometres (9.0 sq mi), and existed from 1855 until 1995.
Campbells Creek is a town in Victoria, Australia.
Muckleford is a locality in central Victoria, Australia. The area, also known as Wattle Flat, lies along the Muckleford Creek, a minor tributary of the Loddon River, approximately 127 kilometres north-west of the Melbourne city centre, and within the jurisdiction of the Mount Alexander Shire council. The nearest sizeable town is Castlemaine, approximately 7 km to the east. The original township is named after the English hamlet of the same name in Dorset, UK.
Timor (/ˈtaɪˈmɔː/), short-speak for the adjoining localities of Bowenvale and Timor, in the Central Goldfields Shire of Victoria, Australia. Their shared boundary is 8 kilometres (5 mi) north of Maryborough, Victoria and 178 kilometres (111 mi) northwest of Melbourne, the state capital.
Navarre is a town in the Wimmera region of the Australian state of Victoria. The town is in the Shire of Northern Grampians and Shire of Pyrenees local government areas, 227 kilometres (141 mi) north west of the state capital, Melbourne and 37 kilometres (23 mi) north east of the regional centre of Stawell. At the 2021 census, Navarre and the surrounding area had a population of 99.
The Jim Crow goldfield was part of the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia, where gold was mined from the mid- to the late-nineteenth century.
The Diggers Rest Hotel is an early hotel on the original route to the Bendigo goldfields in the town of Diggers Rest, Victoria, Australia. It was originally built in 1854 and is one of the few Mount Alexander Road goldrush wayside hotels known to survive. A blacksmith and wheelwright shop, and also Cobb & Co stables were established behind the hotel to provide facilities for travellers.
The Castlemaine Mail is a weekly newspaper published in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia.
Frederick Henry Coldrey was an early Australian portrait photographer active c.1855 to 1889.
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.
Adolphus Verey was an Australian commercial photographer operating in North Central Victoria from the 1880s. An archive of 6,000 of his glass plates survives and his work of historical value is represented in national collections including the State Library of Victoria.
Media related to Newstead, Victoria at Wikimedia Commons