Avoca
History
Our first residents … belonged to the Dja Dja Wurrung tribe and there is still evidence of their presence in the district. The Blood Hole massacre occurred at Middle Creek, near Glengower at the end of 1839 or early 1840 killing an unknown number of Dja Dja Wurrung people.
The explorer and surveyor … Major Thomas Mitchell was the first recorded European to travel through Avoca and he recorded that the area was more temperate and better watered than inland NSW. He named the river ‘Avoca’ after the Vale of Avoca in County Wicklow, Ireland in 1836.
You might be surprised to learn that Avoca was born of law and order. Whilst the gold rushes may have caused a population explosion of over 16.000 within 4 years, it was the need to have a central location to station 50 mounted police troopers that started Avoca’s recent history.
The Discovery of Gold at
Avoca
The discovery of gold … at Four Mile Flat near Homebush in 1853 enticed prospectors to the area and a few months later the main lead at Avoca was discovered. By the beginning of December 1853 the population had increased from 100 to 2200 and by June the following year the population had grown to 16,000, making Avoca one of Victoria’s most important gold rush districts. Avoca was one of the first goldfields in the north western area of Victoria that produced some of the richest finds anywhere in the world.
Avoca soon established itself as the centre of the gold mining region with the building of a police station, court house, post office, schools and churches and when the miners moved on to new claims, Avoca continued to serve the region’s commercial and administrative life. The Court House and Police residence became template designs for future police precincts throughout colonial Victoria.
The Goldrush in Avoca
After Mining
Many of the miners who had rushed the area in the 1850s and early 1860s sifted from gold mining to agriculture and settled and took up land. The big pastoral runs that had existed before the rushes were broken up for closer settlement. In addition to running sheep, several vineyards were planted from the late 1850s onward. Mining continued to be an important source of employment, but for the last decades of the nineteenth century most miners no longer worked individually or in small teams except for a small number of larger companies still working deep leads. Homebush, about ten kilometres from Avoca, was based almost entirely on company mines and flourished for several decades before these mines became uneconomical. Rural Victoria was hit particularly by the depression and drought of the 1890s. From 1895 the larger mines in the Avoca district closed and at the outbreak of World War I very few companies were still in operation.
Avoca Historic Society
You can find further history on Avoca at the Avoca Historic Society which is housed in the old Avoca Court House.
It now contains a local history & family history resource centre containing thousands of documents, photographs, maps, microfilm of local newspapers & rate books, artifacts, etc., pertaining to the localities in the Avoca district.
The Avoca Historic Society is open on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month or can be contacted via email at [email protected].
AVOCA history
Avoca Heritage Walk
If history fascinates you, there is no better way to experience the history of Avoca than by taking a self guided heritage walk. Wander Avoca’s wide main street, past historic buildings and discover the town’s rich history at a leisurely pace.
