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Directions to story point 11 plus: Return to the main street. Turn left at Gollops petrol station. The Union Hotel once occupied this site. Avoca had 11 hotels in its heyday. At number 103 High Street, Shear Delights Bakery; park safely. At this point in your trail, you could opt to complete the trail as a walking trail. Look for the upcoming buildings northward bound on High Street. Pause the video. Play to resume.
High Street northbound
103 to 105 High Street (Mackareth's); The shops were associated with the early wine making in the region. It served as a wine depot after Edward Macarthur was granted a colonial wine license in 1898. Macarthur was one of nine wine makers in the Shire, and his wines were distributed all over Victoria.
In later years, the shop became famous for electrical and wireless repair, especially aluminium welding for farm spotlights.
111 High Street (Hurley); This double-storey building forms part of a prominent 19th-century commercial precinct, along with the Avoca Hotel, National Bank, and News Agency. Over the years, it has been a grocery store, drapers, household goods, millinery, and barber shop. The building retains many of its original features. Second storey veranda, balustrades and fretwork frieze are a feature.
115-117 High Street (Avoca Hotel); Built within two years of Avoca's establishment in 1854, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful hotels in Australia, with its high decorative style. With over 100,000 bricks, it reflects the wealth of the gold rush era.
At times it also served Avoca with a doctor and dentist consulting rooms, and it was favored by Cobb & Co.
119 High Street (Savings Bank of Victoria); 1912 The bank is said to have been built on the site of an early grave of an unknown timber worker who suffered an accident in the Pyrenees Ranges. It was taken over by the Commercial Bank, then the National Bank.
Cambridge Street West; Cobb & Co. staging point. Cobb & Co. was set up in Melbourne in Victoria in 1853, with the intention of servicing the Victorian gold fields. It quickly developed to become the most successful company of its kind during the 19th century, pioneering transport routes delivering mail, gold, and passages throughout the country, and contributing greatly to the social growth and expansion of pastoral settlement across Australia.
119 High Street (National Bank 1912); is an example of high Victorian commercial buildings in the classical revival style of an Italian palazzo. Designed to be both a bank and a residence, it closed in 2002.
127 High Street features a wide shop front, unusual for its time.
133 High Street, Lalor's Prescription Depot, 1854. Before modern pharmaceuticals, apothecaries made medicines for physicians, surgeons, and patients. Surprisingly, the pharmacy also cultivated nursery plants and seeds. Lalor's Pharmacy is the oldest continuously operating pharmacy in Victoria. It is closely associated with William Goodshaw, a prominent citizen in town affairs. In 1899 it was owned by A.G. Lalor, who was prominent in the town's sporting life. He added tooth extractions and false teeth services to the depot's many services.
The Avoca War Memorial was built by public subscription and unveiled in November 1920. Inscribed on four granite tablets are the names of 137 officers and men, 29 of whom were killed in action. Beside the memorial is a pine tree grown from the seed of the lone pine on the Gallipoli Peninsula that witnessed the ferocious fighting between Anzac and Turkish forces. In 1915, over 8,600 soldiers on both sides were dead or wounded.