Printed booklet. 39 pages. Spiral bound. Paper copy obtained from digital PDF document downloaded from Moorabool Shire Council website on 17 May, 2025. BMDHS Location: AR/SU5/Magazine Box 1Bald Hill is a 120 hectare council reserve located in Darley, Bacchus Marsh. It overlooks the township of Bacchus Marsh and is one of the highest points in the township area. The reserve is undergoing ongoing planning and development for a range of recreational uses. As part of this planning a cultural heritage assessment was undertaken in 2019. This included assessment of the area for Aboriginal heritage. This assessment was part of the overall Bald Hill Activation Plan Final Report and forms an appendix to that report. aboriginal australians bacchus marsh region history, aboriginal artifacts bacchus marsh region, heritage studies bacchus marsh victoria, bald hill bacchus marsh

The Border Inn located on the corner of Main Street and Graham Street Bacchus Marsh opened in 1851 making it a very early hotel in Victoria. It was built and owned by John Pilmer. The first licensee was James Watt. The building has been added to and changed many times. It was originally a single storey building. A second storey was added in 1863 by John Pilmer. In 1866 the hotel was purchased by Edward Jones. The Jones family owned and operated the hotel until 1939. Additional second storey sections were added in 1883, 1904 and 1936. For a number of years the Border Inn was a stopping post for coaching services between Melbourne and Ballarat. The first licensee of the hotel James Watt was among the first in Victoria to offer a regular coaching service and his hotel was used for overnight accommodation by coach travellers. At the time this picture was taken coach services were still operating between Bacchus Marsh and other locations. The coach in this picture is possibly one of those coaches.This building has been documented as of state significance by Richard Peterson and Daniel Catrice in their 1995 heritage study for the then Shire of Bacchus Marsh. Their assessment of the heritage significance of the building was: "The Border Inn is of state historical significance as a pioneering pre-gold rush building, on the route to the Ballarat goldfields. It is the representative-embodiment of several historical periods and their way of life. It demonstrates a complex changing sequence of patterns of occupancy and architectural styles. Its development at this location, demonstrates the effect of a social movement, the gold rush, as a transport stopover.It is also historically significant for its association with the first rural public transport in Victoria. Locally, the hotel is significance for its association with the first meeting of municipal government, and also for its social significance as a traditional community, visitor focus and meeting place".Small sepia unframed photograph on card with gold border framing photograph. Housed in the album, 'Photographs of Bacchus Marsh and District in 1883 by Stevenson and McNicoll'. The image shows the Border Inn Hotel at an angle depicting the front of the building facing directly to the camera. It is a two storey brick building, with one-story additions at either end. Five chimneys can be seen extending from the building. The bottom storey has a verandah extending onto the footpath. A covered wagon, probably a coach, with four horses in harness is in front of the building. There are several people in the image. Two people are sitting on the driver’s seat of the wagon. Another man is standing holding the reins of the horses. At his feet is a dog. Behind them are two male adults. One is holding a small child. A young boy stands beside him.On the front: Stevenson & McNicoll. Photo. 108 Elizabeth St. Melbourne. COPIES CAN BE OBTAINED AT ANY TIME. On the back: LIGHT & TRUTH inscribed on a banner surmounted by a representation of the rising sun. Copies of this Portrait can be had at any time by sending the Name and Post Office Money Order or Stamps for the amount of order to STEVENSON & McNICOLL LATE BENSON & STEVENSON, Photographers. 108 Elizabeth Street, MELBOURNE. stevenson and mcnicoll 1883 photographs of bacchus marsh and district, hotels bacchus marsh, border inn hotel bacchus marsh, carriages and coaches, stagecoaches, james watt bacchus marsh, john pilmer bacchus marsh, edward jones family bacchus marsh

Anglican (Church of England) services began in Bacchus Marsh as early as the 1840s. In 1855 an imported iron building from England became the first permanent Anglican Church building in Bacchus Marsh. It stood close to the location of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church erected in 1877 which still stands in 2025. It was in use between 1855 and 1877. These type of iron structures were cheaper to erect and could be dismantled and moved to other locations when necessary. The Iron Church was brick-lined and could hold between 150 and 200 people. The Church was opened on 4 July 1855 by Hussey Burgh Macartney, Dean of Melbourne. It was later consecrated by Bishop Perry on 28 July, 1861. The cost of construction was around 1,000 pounds. In 1877 the Holy Trinity Church was erected. The Iron Church was dismantled and sold to to two local businessmen, George Marshall and James Reid. It was re-erected in July 1877 without its brick lining or steeple and is presumed to have been used as a shed at a location in Graham Street known as 'Webster's Brothers Yard', (14 Graham Street). Over time the structure deteriorated to the point that it could no longer be used. Remnants of the Iron Church could be seen for many years. In 1995 the remnants were described by Peterson and Catrice in the Heritage Study of Bacchus Marsh Shire in the this way, 'on the rear boundary, now used as an outbuilding, is the surviving fabric of the former "Iron Church". This has a gabled roof and had four pointed windows at sides. It is all clad in corrugated iron. Access was not possible, but a 1977 photograph shows Gothic tracery in a window'. This is a rare image of a prefabricated building in mid-nineteenth century Victoria. Prefabricated buildings were widely used in the early Colonial period of Victoria as a cheaper building option for new and developing communities. Most of these buildings did not survive in the long term and photographic evidence of these type of structures is an important record of an aspect of Victoria's architectural history.Small black and white 'carte de viste' style photograph mounted on card. The image depicts the first permanent Anglican Church building in Bacchus Marsh, the Trinity Church, also known as the Iron Church. The date of the image is thought to be about 1867.anglican church bacchus marsh, churches bacchus marsh, trinity church bacchus marsh, bacchus marsh iron church, prefabricated buildings