Today is our last day in this region of Victoria that so far has added a great deal to our store of knowledge of Australian history. While at the same time opening our eyes to the charm of this central Victorian district. That is so close to Melbourne, but a world away. Once again the weather is fine and warm, with some humidity creeping in after last nights rainfall, the first we have seen in many weeks now. Our road trip, today takes us to Kyneton, 16 kilometres northwest of Woodend a region on the border of the Djadjawurrung and Taungurong indigenous peoples country. We now know this as in recent times a great deal of research has gone into mapping the hundreds of aboriginal tribes that once inhabited Australia. Before British colonisation these people resided mostly along the Coliban and Campaspe Rivers. Not long ago we understood Australian aborigines to be nomadic peoples but this has turned out not to be totally true for all of the continent. Here village like communities existed in particular in the area around the junction of these rivers. We know now that large in-ground stone ovens used to cook meat and tubers were commonly found in the region.
Major Thomas Mitchell, the New South Wales Surveyor-General crossed and named the Campaspe River near present day Kyneton on his 1836 expedition to this region. The Major also leant his name to a distinctive white and pink parrot/cockatoo that sports a pink and salmon coloured crest.
The first British colonist Charles Ebden, established a sheep station here in 1837. In June 1838 the Waterloo Plains massacre of Djadjawurrung people took place on the newly established Barfold sheep run north of Kyneton. Kyneton until 1851 remained part of NSW with the Victorian state boundaries not drawn up until after the gold rush ad begun.
Construction of Kyneton’s oldest surviving stone building, the Church of England Rectory, located at 61 Ebden Street, commenced in 1850 and is a rare surviving example of a pre-gold rush buildings. Made entirely from locally quarried bluestone that is plentiful in the area. At this time, Kyneton had become a growing rural centre, serving as a major stop for those heading to the gold rushes at Mount Alexander and Bendigo. The post office had opened in 1843 with the town named Mount Macedon but would be renamed Kyneton in 1854.
The town has three main streets, with Piper street being the most preserved with many of the original buildings untouched, the flagstone pavements untouched show the wear of ages. These buildings are once again occupied by antique shops, home decor, clothing boutiques, restaurants and cafes, a beautiful old Hotel has a cocktail bar on the top floor while the ground floor is totally occupied by antiques.
At lunch time we try a number of cafes but they are packed with long waiting times for meals. We eventually spot a cafe called “Major Tom’s” a nod to David Bowie and or Major Mitchell, that advertises burgers, music and beer, not exactly our preference but hunger beckons. Inside the decor is dubious indeed, a mixture of country, sci-fi and glam, the kind of dive we might of thought cool back in our twenties. There is a bar to our left as we enter and to the back a stage for live music. Country music is playing through the sound system and the stage is lit but vacant. There are plenty of empty seats, so we take a booth with cracked vinyl bench seats and a table littered with the last patrons detritus. The dour faced barman saunters over to clear the table with barely a flicker of recognition that we are even here. Clears off the table but leaving a slightly sticky film. There is no table service, we order our meals at the bar from a long list of burgers that don’t seem to be much different, just the ingredients arranged in a different order. The burgers arrive quickly accompanied by shoestring fries and are delicious washed down with some good old cold H2O.
Whoever it is back in the kitchen knows their burgers. Satisfied with our meals and after previously perusing the shops, we return to an antique shop with superb pieces of furniture, decor items and bric a brac from Europe. Pieces with prices that make your eyes water, Amanda had purchased a nice set of salad servers before lunch and now having previously spotted a set of butter knives we return to give them a closer look. Butter knives have gone out of fashion, you can buy a pate knife or a steak knife but a butter knife with just the right size blade to reach into that jar of jam for the last bit of sticky fruit is believe it or not almost impossible to find. Deciding that these mother of pearl handle silver knives C1900 in a velvet lined case will be robust enough to weather everyday use and that they really are no more expensive than a new set, if we could fund them, we make our purchase and depart. While we had made our purchases Allan had engaged the proprietor in a discussion about a large bronze casting of a red setter dog that he had first seen a few weeks ago, the price is high and he is trying to bargain him down but the proprietor won’t budge enough to entice Allan to purchase. Maybe another day he exclaims, he has fallen in love with this item that reminds him of a dog he once owned, but the price is just not right.
We travel back home to start our packing for the last leg of our journey to Robe back in our home state tomorrow morning. To be continued…..