This volume of maps is believed to have been compiled by staff at the Shire of Bacchus Marsh and was presumably used to inform and assist Shire staff and Councillors in the carriage of their duties.

This collection of maps are significant due to their rarity as many of them are unique maps made for local purposes in the Bacchus Marsh region. They are also of strong research value containing a wide variety of information including landholders, land sales, infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, public, commercial and private buildings, houses, land use, and geographic features over multiple decades from the late nineteen century into the middle part of the twentieth century.

One bound volume of maps comprising cadastral maps, (indicating property owners and land boundaries), land plans and real estate auction plans and advertising material, and other maps indicating major infrastructure like proposed roads and irrigation areas. Most of the maps and plans are of Bacchus Marsh and nearby areas but some maps are of nearby towns such as Melton, Ballan and Blackwood. The volume comprises 52 pages. Most pages have a single map or plan pasted onto it but some contain 2 or 3 different maps. There are 81 maps in total. Map 1 Liquidators Sale 1896. Map 2. Woodside Estate Sale 1913.

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This plan of town allotments in Lerderderg Street and Bennett Street also includes the location of many of the buildings, shops, businesses and houses which were present in the retail and business area of Bacchus Marsh in the 1890s. The precise date of the plan is not known but it must be sometime between 1891 and 1897. The Post Office and the Wesleyan Church are both shown on this plan. Both of these were constructed in 1890. The plan does not show the Baptist Church in Main Street which was constructed in 1898. Hence the date is sometime between 1891 and 1897.

This plan of Bacchus Marsh is one of the most detailed visual representations of the location of shops, businesses and houses in the central part of Bacchus Marsh. It provides very precise locations of most of the shops and houses in the town in the 1890s.

A single page paper plan showing allotments of land fronting Lerderderg and Bennett Street. Buildings, businesses and houses along most of the streets are identified by hand written annotations. Streets identified on plan: Lerderderg Street - Bennett Street - Main Street - Gell Street - Young Street - Graham Street. Physical boundaries of the map are: North border - Lerderderg Street - South border - Main Street - West border Gell Street - East border - Young Street. The plan is pasted into a bound volume containing 76 maps or plans in total.

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This plan of land allotments for sale indicates the property once owned by the Bacchus family in and around the township area of Bacchus Marsh. The Bacchus family sold their property in Bacchus Marsh to John Aitkins and Robert Nalder Clarke in March 1851. Aitkins and Clarke kept the property for a number of years until April 1856 when these allotments were put up for sale.

This is a very early land sales plan for the township of Bacchus Marsh and it therefore provides some clues as to how the early urban development of the township took place. Upon seeing the map in 1911 Bacchus Marsh Express newspaper editor Christopher Crisp wrote "The sale appears to have created the present township, which had a nucleus in earlier times further east", Express, 30 September, 1911, page 3.

A single page paper plan showing allotments of land for sale. The subdivided shown was owned by John Aitkins and Robert Nalder Clarke, but previously owned by the Bacchus Family and was in and around their Manor House (Mansion) property in Bacchus Marsh.There are 5 portions of land further divided into numerous small portions. The land for sale is bounded by the present day streets of Main Street, Young Street, McFarland Street, Morton Streets, Crook Street, and part of the eastern section extends to the Lerderderg River. The plan is pasted into a bound volume containing 76 maps or plans in total. BMDHS Loc: AR/B12/S4 Bacchus Marsh Township and Nearby Districts Maps Volume In-house Digital copies: BMDHS, Computer Network: Maps\Bacchus Marsh Township and Nearby Districts Maps Volume

Heading: Plan of the first portion of land. The property of Messers Atkins and Clarke situate at Bacchus Marsh. To be sold by W.M. Tennent & Co. at the Mansion on the Ground on Saturday the 19th April 1856. Below heading: Jas Ferguson, Lithographer On upper right side: Subdivided by R.C. Bagot London and Liverpool Chambers, Melbourne.

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This plan was for the sale of parcels of land from the Lerderderg Park Estate property in 1911. Advertising for the sale appeared in the Bacchus Marsh Express newspaper through July of 1911. The property was situated only a few kilometers from the township of Bacchus Marsh. The agents for the sale were L. A. Fairbairn & Co.

Lerderderg Park Estate was a significant and early colonial property in the Bacchus Marsh area. This plan provides details about the first time the property was subdivided for sale. It is therefore documents an important moment in the history of this property and the broader trend of the subdivision of older and larger properties in the district.

A single page paper plan showing allotments of land for sale from the Lerderderg Park property owned by John Wills. The parcels of land for sale are coloured in red.The Lerderderg River and Pyke's Creek Irigation Channel shown on the plan are in blue ink. The rest of the plan is a dark cream or beige colur with the text in black ink. The plan has been extensively annotated with hand-written notes indicating the names of people who purchased the various parcels of lands and the prices paid for those lands. Part of the top of the plan containing some text appears to be missing. The plan is pasted into a bound volume containing 76 maps or plans in total.

Top: Have received instructions to Sell, account Mr John Wills, his renowned LERDERDERG PARK LANDS, so well and favourably known throughout the Commonwealth. In areas from 3 acres to 1276 acres. Every lot is either rich lucerne land (or portion now under lucerne) with some higher land adjoining Railway Station, and 2 Milk factories within 2 miles, absolutely the finest land in Victoria. Bottom: THIS IS THE FIRST SUBDIVISIONAL SALE of Rich Flats in Bacchus Marsh since the Pyke's Creek Scheme, and every lot is commanded by it. Only 32 miles from Melbourne.

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This map is dated Sept. 6th 1856. However places in the township of Maddingley which did not appear until the late 1880s such as the Bacchus Marsh Railway Station and line are shown on this map in their correct locations. This suggests the map has been derived from an earlier map. An earlier date of 1843 with a surveyor's name preceding it can also be seen on the map. The map is important because it indicates the location and dimensions of early but now discontinued use of land such as the showgrounds and police paddock and a site reserved for the Church of England which was not ultimately used for a permanent church.

A single page paper map showing land allotments, streets, rivers, creeks, park lands, the railway line and Bacchus Marsh railway station in the township of Maddingley. The map is pasted into a bound volume containing 76 maps or plans in total.

Bottom of Map: Surveyor-General's Office, Melbourne, Sept 6th, 1856

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Road construction and planning was a primary function of the early local government authorities in rural and regional Victoria. This plan is indicative of the sort of documentation which generated considerable public interest and comment in rural communities. The date of this plan is not clear. Newspaper articles in the Bacchus Marsh Express around 1869 contain numerous references to the proposed new road between Gisborne and Blackwood which suggests this plan may date from the late 1860s or early 1870s.

A single page paper map showing the proposed route of a main road to be constructed between Gisborne and Blackwood. The map is pasted into a bound volume containing 76 maps or plans in total. High resolution digital image stored on BMDHS computer network.

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