Trentham’s distinctive 1970s High Street clock holds special significance for the town: it commemorates the life and career of Dr Gweneth Wisewould (1884-1972). From a well-to-do Brighton family, she had already enjoyed a full career in Melbourne before arriving in Trentham. She had worked at the Melbourne, Alfred and Queen’s Memorial hospitals; performed surgery at […]
The Mansions of Malmsbury
With thanks to Malmsbury Historical Society. Located on a prominent corner, the former Junction Hotel is one of Malmsbury’s most significant landmarks. A timber hotel was built on the site by 1865 and operated by the Coghlan family. Fire destroyed that building, and the general store and butcher’s shop that also occupied the site, in […]
Between the rods in a hard place
Trentham’s police complex is thought to have had only a single cell until 1879, when a rod-and-slab portable double cell arrived from Kyneton.
The test of time
With thanks to Woodend & District Heritage Society. The society meets on Wednesdays, 10am-4pm, at the old courthouse in Forest St, Woodend. It’s June 1919. Barely seven months have passed since the end of World War I. The president of the Woodend branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, James McDonald, is about to address a […]
The red-brick ruin on the road to Malmsbury
Situated opposite Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre, it was one of the first hotels reached by travellers coming from Kyneton.
Back to school
The Trentham district has had 21 schools since the first was built in the 1850s. Only two are still operating.