How Avoca was founded by mounted troopers

Directions to your third story point: Continue south along High Street and turn right into the very next street which is Davis Street. Take the second sandy path on the left directly opposite the Bowls Club. Soon you will see the historic police precinct on the left. Pause the video then play in front of the old police residence. With over 16,000 prospectors, a police camp of some 50 troopers was quickly established in 1853 to maintain order in the disarray of the gold rush. The former police residence (1859) and lock-up (1867) is an early example of police buildings erected throughout Victoria in the mid- 19th century. Today it is a private residence. Take a close look at the lock-up. Do you think you might escape?

From the lock-up you would be escorted to the courthouse to learn your fate. To appreciate the difficulty of law and order in such a wild environment, the following description of the diggings in the early 1860s is appropriate.

"Shanties, public houses, and shops sprung up rapidly, and the place was a veritable beehive of industry. The whirring of the windlass, the clink and clank of the buckets, the rumble of the cradle and puddling machines, tents; the lights innumerable at night. The singing often bacchanalian, the laughter and the brawls made a medley of sounds."