Today’s Panton Hill Hotel was built around 1920. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p61 Panton Hill was originally known as Kingstown, and consisted of only one hotel when the Orams Reef was discovered in 1859. Kingstown was a quartz mining centre and many old mine shafts remain in the area. Orams Reef was one of the first reefs with a rich find of gold in the area. The Hotel Francais, which had been operating in 1861, was well situated on the way to Queenstown (later St Andrews). So was Herr Hirt’s Hotel and store at Smiths Gully. The Kingstown hotel, known as the Frenchman’s and in 1864 as the Hotel de France, was run by a Monsieur Emile Hude and his wife Jeanne, and known for its good food. They hosted social events, business conventions and debates, attracting patrons from as far as Melbourne. The hotel’s name was changed to Panton Hill Hotel in 1905. In 1883 Charles Caudwell built another hotel nearby, possibly in Long Gully Road,3 which it is thought, was burnt down early last century. Today’s Panton Hill Hotel, built around 1920, is the only one of the cluster of buildings in the main road, not to date from around the turn of last century. It was severely damaged by fire in 2003, then underwent extensive alterations. It is the township’s only hotel and is an example of a modest hotel building exterior, constructed early last century. In its early days the hotel also housed the first post office, newsagency and store. Orams Reef yielded a total of £100,000, and fossikers also found alluvial gold in the creeks and gullies, but there is no record of the total value of their finds. Gold greatly increased the Panton Hill population, which peaked between 1865 and 1885. On holidays large sports meetings were held with wood chopping contests and foot races and the day would end with a ball. Miners came from various countries to seek their fortune, including many from China. The Chinese became unpopular however, and gradually left the district, although some stayed and grew and sold vegetables.5 Panton Hill was named after Joseph Panton, who in 1862 was appointed Police Magistrate for the Woods Point, Heidelberg and Yarra districts. Panton was an outstanding man, who in 1852, was Commissioner of Crown Lands and Assistant Commissioner of Goldfields at Bendigo. In 1874 he was promoted to Chief Magistrate for the Melbourne Police. Panton was also an artist, becoming president of the Victorian Arts Society in 1888, and in 1913, president of the Royal Geographical Society. Despite Panton Hill’s prosperity, it still lacked many services as poor roads made access to Melbourne difficult. A horse-drawn mail coach travelled to Melbourne until 1890, when the railway came to Heidelberg. The nearest doctor was at Yarra Glen or Heidelberg, and the Indian hawker Singh’s annual visit was very welcome. A miner’s shack opposite the school was used as a post office. Today’s general store and post office in the main road dates from early last century, and has changed considerably. While most people searched for gold, the more enterprising ones established farms to feed the diggers. Farmers grew wheat, barley and oats, and sent animal skins to the Eltham tannery, to make furs in Melbourne. As gold became scarce from around 1880, miners took up farming on 19 to 20 acre (8ha) allotments. The first settlers in Cherry Tree Road included Purcell, Smith, Owens, Hughes and Shillinglaw. By 1900 all the land had been taken up around Panton Hill and Hurstbridge. The orchards in Panton Hill and the wider district, particularly of apple and pear, were very successful, and made Panton Hill a cohesive and successful community. About 1914 the Moores built the first cool-store and refrigeration plant at their orchard in Cherry Tree Road. Many settlers planted vineyards and made high quality wine, but in 1922 the blight destroyed them.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, panton hill hotel

.1 This is a single sheet of paper folded twice to make a pamphlet. It has a multi-coloured map (predominantly yellow), an illustration, several black and white photographs, printed text and coloured headings. .2 This is a single sheet of paper inserted into item 1. It is folded twice and contains black and white photographs.non-fictionWarrnambool Tourist Map and Guidetourism in warrnambool, warrnambool rail, warrnambool tourist guides

Plan on heavy parchment - section neatly cut out of area now Kennington. Written on plan in black print ' Sheet No. 1. Sandhurst'. Plan shows Government Camp, Commissioner's Gully, old cemetery site, manure depot, cattle market, Benevolent Asylum Reserve, railway reserve. Landowners' names on allotments. On bottom lithographed at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne, by D. Henerson, March 12th., 1867 Plan part of George Lansell, Fortuna auction, documents found in wardrobe purchased by Marks family in 1930's.bendigo, planning, sandhurst 1867

p.100.non-fictionAn alphabetical listing of all the station names in Victoria & the origins of the names.railway stations - victoria - history, railroad stations -- australia -- history

index, ill, map, p.240.non-fictionA history of the South Australian Railways including the era of Chief Railways Commissioner William Alfred Webbrailroads -- south australia -- history., south australian railways -- history.,

ill. p.172.non-fictionAn entertaining look at railway events in Australia in the month of September - from 1848, when a meeting was called to start a railway company in New South Wales, to 2013, when the great Bayer-Garrett AD6029 steam engine was restored to working order. For some strange reason, September has been a month when particularly memorable railway events tend to occur. Author David Burke has crafted a 'diary' which documents, day by day, major happenings to do with railways in Australia - from the days of steam, to diesel, to diesel-electric and electrification, covering the first trains that ran between New South Wales and Queensland, and to Melbourne. It was in also September that the first sod was dug for the Trans-Australian Railway across the Nullarbor to Perth. The book is heavily illustrated with historic photographs, both black and white and colour, newspaper cuttings, sketches and maps, and features 13 paintings by renowned railway artist Phil Belbin. Names that leap to the fore among those who made railway history happen include Ben Chifley, the locomotive driver who became Prime Minister of Australia, engineer Dr John Bradfield, designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and responsible for putting Sydney's city trains underground, James Fraser, first Australian-born Chief Commissioner for Railways, and Harold Young, the Scotsman who designed the C38 engine and the Silver City Comet. Cover picture shows: Climbing the steep Fassifern Grade with a heavy coal train maakes for plenty of Bayer-Garrett action in Phil Belbin's painting of the AD60 class at work on the Shorty North line to Newcastle New South Wales Australia.railroads -- australia -- history., railroad travel -- australia -- history.