Established during the Victorian gold rush, the Swiss Mountain Hotel was one of Victoria's oldest licensed hotels until it was recently closed due to dwindling patronage.
Originally
the hotel was named the The Manchester, but was renamed the Swiss
Mountain in the 1880's by the new owner, a Swiss immigrant, Andre
LaFranchi. The LeFranchi family operated the hotel for 80 years.
An interesting history of the Blampied district by Aussie Rules football identity, Phil Cleary can be found here.
The Windermere was once a busy hotel on the Western Highway (the main
route between Melbourne and Adelaide) just outside Ballarat until the
Western Highway Bypass was built. Today it is the local for residents of
Cardigan Village, a new fast growing area about 10 kms west of Ballarat.
Group of Men & Boys Pictured Outside the Windermere Hotel, Ballarat, Victoria, circa 1905.
Hotel Victoria - Avoca, Victoria
Built in 1930, with a Spanish style that was very popular in Hollywood at the time, the Vic is one of two pubs in Avoca.
Avoca is a town in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, 71 kilometres (44 mi) north west of Ballarat. It is one of two main towns in the Pyrenees Shire, the other being Beaufort to the south. At the 2006 census, Avoca had a population of 951.
Avoca has had a number of A.F.L. players over the years. The most
notable being Jim Jess who played 223 games for Richmond Football Club
and playing in the 1980 Premiership. Jim Jess also represented Victoria
on 5 occasions and was an All Australian rep. The town has one current
player, Darren Jolly now playing at Collingwood Football Club recruited from the Sydney Swans at the end of the 2009 AFL season.
Britannia Hotel, Carisbrook, Victoria
Small, historic goldmining town Carisbrook is a very pleasant little town of several hundred people
located 159 km north-west of Melbourne between Castlemaine and
Maryborough (7 km to the west). A former goldmining town it
possesses some fine old bluestone buildings.
Carisbrook derives from an early pastoral run which was named in
honour of the squatter's daughter Caroline. The Simson brothers,
who later took up runs in the area, made a great deal of money in
the 1850s by collecting tolls from diggers travelling between
Castlemaine and Maryborough. The township also arose on the backs
of this through-traffic which was in need of facilities and
supplies.
In 1854 the population was around 100. It became a borough in
1857. A goldrush attracted some 15 000 diggers to Majorca, just
south of Carisbrook, in 1863.
Court House Hotel, Talbot..Victoria
Talbot is small historic town situated in central Victoria between Ballarat and Maryborough. Gold was discovered around Talbot around 1855 surging the population to 15,000 overnight. Many hotels sprung up in the town including the Court House Hotel built in 1861 being the only one still operating today.
Many of the buildings still existing in the town were built during the
1860s and 1870s. During the late 1880s the mines began to close and the
population slowly started to drift away. The return of soldiers from the
First World War
saw an acceleration of this drift. With no established industries left,
the town today is only a shadow of the town born during those early
days of 1860. However, Talbot still has an interesting story to tell to
any visitors.
Miners Rest is a small community on the outskirts of Ballarat, Victoria.
