Group at Seppelts Winery c1930’s. Cr C Brown Mayor left in photograph. C1930 Gentleman in centre holding hat is possibly Governor with wife holding flowers.great western stawell government

Believed taken by Ian McCann Stawell's first Tourism OfficerLarge format Positive Colour Slides

Believed taken by Ian McCann Stawell's first Tourism OfficerLarge format Positive Colour Slides

Believed taken by Ian McCann Stawell's first Tourism OfficerLarge format Positive Colour Slides

Believed taken by Ian McCann Stawell's first Tourism OfficerLarge format Positive Colour Slides

Great Western. Part of a collection of Photographs by Mr. O.G. Armstrong as commissioned by the Shire of Stawell for the Inter-colonial and Paris Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. Great Western began as a changing station on Concongella, northeast of the present Township. The gold rush in Great Western began in 1858 and soon after a post office and store opened. A Township was surveyed and lots sold in October 1858. The gold soon passed and the diggers went on, leaving a small settlement. In 1863 Jean Pierre Trouette and Emile Bampied, his brother-in-law, planted the first vines and build the first winery, thus setting a firm foundation upon which the present wine industry has been built. Telegraph poles and wires visible. Bakery visible in distance on right of road, looking west. stawell