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| History of Talbot & AmherstThe Amherst Winery is located in the heart of the Central Victorian Goldfields district. Amherst is considered to be the location where gold was first found in Victoria, and the property still abounds with many signs of the alluvial gold fields. Even today, prospecting still continues in the surrounding areas. The Chinese Garden Cottage is on the site of an old Chinese Garden, run during the gold rush days.
Today, Talbot & Amherst are a shadow of their former selves 140 years ago. Amherst is a mere ghost town and Talbot still has the remains of what was once one of Victoria's busiest gold fields. The Aboriginals who lived in the Talbot area were members of the Jajawurrong people. Today there are several sites left including the maternity tree on the road to Maryborough, not far from Amherst. In September, 1836, Major Thomas Livingstone Mitchell and his party reached this district and passed in the vicinity of Mt. Greenoch. Upon his return to Sydney he gave impressive reports as to the suitability of the land for sheep grazing. The settlement commenced when Alexander McCallum arrived in the area in June 1841.
The first unofficial record of a discovery of gold in the area was at Daisy Hill on Hall and McNeill’s “Glen Mona Run”. The discovery was made by a sheperd, Thomas Chapman. This discovery was not reported for fear of prosecution for gold digging. The first official discovery in the area around Talbot was made by two South Australians and their families at Daisy Hill Creek (later Amherst) in 1852. The rush to Daisy Hill followed his discovery. Amherst was first called by that name in official letters in May 1853. The population in those early years drifted up and down according to the reports from other areas. The miners started to test the ground around Back Creek and soon discoveries were made. During 1854 the only mining at Back Creek was on the creek about 2˝ miles from Amherst. Later in 1854 there was a big rush to Amherst and Back Creek. At the beginning of 1855 there were about 2500 diggers and store owners at Back Creek as well as 300 women and children. Samuel Dunn settled in Amherst in the early 1850s, and commenced cultivating an orchard and vineyard on the land that was later to become our vineyard. More can be found about Samuel Dunn by clicking here. In May 1855 the Chinese arrived and set up camps in Long Gully and Nuggety Gully. The next major development in the history of the area was the Scandinavian Rush in 1859. It was this rush that established the present township of Talbot. The Scandinavian Rush began in earnest in the early part of 1859 and the diggers found the areas “alive with gold”. Windlasses were going in all directions, tents erected in every available spot. By March 1859 there was an estimate of 15,000 people at the rush. The “Amherst and Back Creek Advertiser” was started in March followed by the “North-West Chronicle”. The sights recorded by visiting correspondents – a cake of gold (200 ounces) in a gold-brokers window in The Crescent and in another, 1,500 ounces of nuggets – seem like fairy tales such was the wealth of the area. In November 1858 the first sitting of newly
proclaimed Amherst Borough Council took place. This council was formed to
administer the district including the Back Creek area. Talbot had made rapid strides in its development. In 1864 it had a Court House, borough offices, seven schools, a street of good shops, two breweries, churches, two soap and candle factories, sixteen hotels, coach services and general carriers, and a number of crushers. It also had a population of about 3,400. Talbot was officially named on the 19th October, 1861 by the then Governor of Victoria, Sir Henry Barkly. The area continued to develop during the sixties and on 31st October, 1865 the Shire of Talbot was proclaimed. Many of the buildings still existing in the town were built during the 1860’s and 1870’s. By the late 1880's the gold rush began to subside and people drifted away. |
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