HISTORICAL OUTLINE
Welcome to the Bacchus Marsh History Website. This site explores the history of the town and surrounding area of Bacchus Marsh, a community of 17,000 people (as of 2012) located 54 km west of Melbourne, capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia.
ABORIGINAL LAND
Bacchus Marsh is located in a fertile valley through which the Lerderderg and the Werribee rivers both pass. Before the arrival of Europeans the area was inhabited by two Aboriginal peoples, the Wurundjeri - north of the Werribee River - and the Wathaurong - south of the Werribee River.
There are several sites in the Bacchus Marsh area for which archaeological and documentary evidence indicates different aspects of Aboriginal life in this area. The Wurundjeri and the Wathaurong remained in the area when Europeans first arrived in the 1830s. However by the 1860s the impact of European settlement, through the dispossession of their land and depletion of their traditional sources of food, saw many of them living in European administered Aboriginal missions away from the Bacchus Marsh area.
FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLERS
The first European to settle in the area was Kenneth Scobie Clark who arrived 1836. Soon after his arrival came William Bacchus after whom the town is named. Initially a pastoral district for sheep farmers, the area soon developed a number of small separate communities in what is now the greater township area of Bacchus Marsh.
GOLD
After gold was discovered in the Ballarat region in 1851 the town became an important stopping point for travellers to and from the goldfields.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
A local government authority, the Bacchus Marsh Road District, was established in 1856, later a Shire Government was proclaimed in 1871.
INDUSTRY
Over time industries developed in the area such as wheat and dairy farming, quarries, and then orchards, market gardens and coal mines.
PROXIMITY TO MELBOURNE
The town was connected by railway to Melbourne in 1887. This provided a significant stimulus to local industry providing ready access to Melbourne markets for the town's agricultural produce, and allowing new industries such as the Darley firebricks company and the Lime Kilns at Coimadai, to supply the building industry in Melbourne.
The advent of motor transport, improved roads and increased rail services has gradually led to Bacchus Marsh developing as a commuter community for Melbourne based workers who prefer a rural township lifestyle.
LITERARY HERITAGE
The town also has a significant literary heritage, being the birthplace and childhood home of one of Australia's most acclaimed writers, Peter Carey, a two-time winner of the Booker Prize for literature. Frank Hardy, most famous as author of Power Without Glory, also grew up in the town, and based many of the stories in Legends from Benson's Valley on his observations of local people and events. Other writers to have written about the area, or to have lived here, include Joan Lindsay and Sumner Locke Elliott.
Today the town continues to grow and prosper, with the proximity to Melbourne, relatively cheap housing, and scenic surroundings, continuing to attract new residents.
(C) 28/02/2006
ABORIGINAL LAND
Bacchus Marsh is located in a fertile valley through which the Lerderderg and the Werribee rivers both pass. Before the arrival of Europeans the area was inhabited by two Aboriginal peoples, the Wurundjeri - north of the Werribee River - and the Wathaurong - south of the Werribee River.
There are several sites in the Bacchus Marsh area for which archaeological and documentary evidence indicates different aspects of Aboriginal life in this area. The Wurundjeri and the Wathaurong remained in the area when Europeans first arrived in the 1830s. However by the 1860s the impact of European settlement, through the dispossession of their land and depletion of their traditional sources of food, saw many of them living in European administered Aboriginal missions away from the Bacchus Marsh area.
FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLERS
The first European to settle in the area was Kenneth Scobie Clark who arrived 1836. Soon after his arrival came William Bacchus after whom the town is named. Initially a pastoral district for sheep farmers, the area soon developed a number of small separate communities in what is now the greater township area of Bacchus Marsh.
GOLD
After gold was discovered in the Ballarat region in 1851 the town became an important stopping point for travellers to and from the goldfields.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
A local government authority, the Bacchus Marsh Road District, was established in 1856, later a Shire Government was proclaimed in 1871.
INDUSTRY
Over time industries developed in the area such as wheat and dairy farming, quarries, and then orchards, market gardens and coal mines.
PROXIMITY TO MELBOURNE
The town was connected by railway to Melbourne in 1887. This provided a significant stimulus to local industry providing ready access to Melbourne markets for the town's agricultural produce, and allowing new industries such as the Darley firebricks company and the Lime Kilns at Coimadai, to supply the building industry in Melbourne.
The advent of motor transport, improved roads and increased rail services has gradually led to Bacchus Marsh developing as a commuter community for Melbourne based workers who prefer a rural township lifestyle.
LITERARY HERITAGE
The town also has a significant literary heritage, being the birthplace and childhood home of one of Australia's most acclaimed writers, Peter Carey, a two-time winner of the Booker Prize for literature. Frank Hardy, most famous as author of Power Without Glory, also grew up in the town, and based many of the stories in Legends from Benson's Valley on his observations of local people and events. Other writers to have written about the area, or to have lived here, include Joan Lindsay and Sumner Locke Elliott.
Today the town continues to grow and prosper, with the proximity to Melbourne, relatively cheap housing, and scenic surroundings, continuing to attract new residents.
(C) 28/02/2006