Daylesford History

Daylesford is another town built upon gold

Although an historical township, Daylesford doesn't show off it's history that well.  You won't find a lot of information by just walking around the town. 

The Djadja Wurrung Aborigines are believed to be the original inhabitants of the region.

European settlers arrived around in the late 1830's led by Captain John Hepburn (Hence Hepburn Springs and the Hepburn Shire). By the late 1840's John Egan an1848, Irish immigrant took an area of land on Wombat Flat where the township now resides (Wombat Hill is the main hill with the botanical gardens in Daylesford). Egan and others discovered alluvial gold in 1851 where Lake Daylesford now is.  This caused a goldrush in the area and a population explosion with around three hundred diggers by the following year. By the mid 1850's the townsite was surveyed and named Wombat (curious if people would drive for a massage and spa if it was still called Wombat). Sir Charles Hotham renamed the town after the English birthplace of Warren Hastings who was the first governor-general of India and Daylesford was born.

Lake Jubilee was originally constructed in the 1800's for domestic water (including supplying the goldfields) it is fed by springs and creeks. Great place to take the whole family.

Daylesford Lake is man made having been originally gold diggings followed by extensive Chinese Market Gardens with their own village, Joss House and store. In 1883 it was discussed to turn the area into a lake and construction finally began in 1927.

By the end of the decade nearly three and a half thousand diggers were gold mining, nearly 800 of were Chinese sticking to alluvial workings.  The Chinese planted market gardens and had their own village with a Joss House and store (where the lake is now).   Daylesford became a municipality and a borough several years later. Local agriculture started to flourish in the 1860s to meet the demand including the opening of a flour mill.

Alluvial gold was all but gone by the end of the 1860's and the miners changed over to quartz reef mining until the 1830s. As the mining waned, the interest in the health giving mineral waters grew with the town also being used as a retreat for the Melbourne wealthy.  The Great Depression took away Daylesford's market until the 1980s when interest in the town began to grow quickly.

Daylesford is now a vibrant community and destination for both health and indulgence.