Homebush, Victoria One Place Study
Location: Homebush, Victoria, Australia
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies Australia Victoria
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Homebush, Victoria One Place Study
The goal of this project is to build up a history and eventually a more complete story about Homebush, a mining town in central Victoria, it's inhabitants and their lives. This project covers both Homebush and Lower Homebush.
Wikipedia page for Homebush: Wikipedia:Homebush,_Victoria
Right now this project just has one member, me. I am Anne Young.
Here are some of the tasks that I think need to be done. I'll be working on them, and could use your help.
- Add people and their lives to this space
- Review mentions of Homebush in the digitised newspapers at Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/category/newspapers?keyword=homebush&l-state=Victoria
- Fill in details of the history
Will you join me? Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send me a private message. Thanks!
- Wikidata: Item Q5889304, en:Wikipedia
- WikiTree Profiles that link here
- See also Homebush, Victoria category
Name
Geography
- Continent: Oceania
- Country: Australia
- State/Province: Victoria
- GPS Coordinates: -37.05, 143.516667
- Elevation: 245.0 m or 803.8 feet
History
Homebush was a gold mining town 10 kilometres (6 mi) from Avoca in central Victoria, Australia. It is located within the Pyrenees Shire. The towns of Homebush and Homebush Lower, also known as Lower Homebush, were founded on gold mining in the 1860s and in the 1880s were at their peak. Homebush Lower was four miles north-east of Avoca; today only the school building remains at Lower Homebush but it was still a small town during World War I.
There was a mining rush in 1853 to the area near Avoca, Victoria. Planned development began in June 1860 when, following a second rush to the diggings, Homebush was surveyed and its streets laid out. Homebush Post Office opened on 1 October 1863 (closing in 1944).
An Office of Lands and Survey map shows the Township of Homebush ( Coordinates 37.0559341°S 143.5293448°E ) as it was in January 1863. The map shows, the land subdivisions, some buildings and the location of the Star Hotel and the Wesleyan Chapel.
Three churches were built, and within little more than a decade. The town opened a railway station. By 1884 Homebush was firmly established as a business centre, with two agents, a bootmaker, a butcher, two carpenters, two contractors, nine farmers, a gardener, a registrar, a station master, a storekeeper, and a teacher. Lower Homebush, three miles away, where the commercial life of the town had moved closer to some deep-lead mines, had a blacksmith, two bootmakers, a carpenter, a draper, an engineer, two farmers, three hotels, two mining managers, and twelve stores.
The Methodist Church / Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1872. As the town declined, in 1928 the church was dismantled and moved 6 km to Rathscar West.
In 1861 a Church of England school opened, with classes held in a rented building. Over the next two decades the number of students increased to more than two hundred and two more schools were built, one at Homebush, with another, even bigger, at Lower Homebush - the Lower Homebush Primary School. ( Coordinates 37.0298153°S 143.5269012°E ) But by 1903 the average attendance at the Lower Homebush school was only forty. Gold yields had dropped and mining companies had ceased operating. Homebush School closed permanently in 1908. Lower Homebush School had small enrolments from the 1930s, and by 1967 it too had closed.
The school buildings at Lower Homebush are still standing among the paddocks.
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| Lower Homebush school building February 2022 |
Population
- Electoral rolls: Homebush Electoral Rolls
World War 1
A memorial to men from Homebush who served in World War 1 stands in the school grounds. The original Honor Roll is in the Avoca RSL Hall. https://www.monumentaustralia.org.au/australian_monument/display/102324
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| Homebush World War 1 Honor Roll |
For more information including names of men who served see Homebush WW1 Honor Rolls
Notables
Sources
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