About Heathcote

Heathcote is a small, rural town, 
located  approximately  110kms  
North of  Melbourne, Victoria.

The district, originally known as 
" McIvor",  has a rich history               
steeped in gold  mining 
and grazing.                                                                       



                               
It was Major  Mitchell,  the  renowned Australian explorer, who made  
the first recorded accounts  of  traversing  the area of  Victoria which  
was later to become known as McIvor. 

His party crossed the Campaspe River just a little
south of  where Redesdale's Iron Bridge is today.
              			    This crossing took
				    place on the 5th of 
				    October, 1836, and
				    is  documented  in Mitchell's book, 
				    published  in London in 1838:  
			    - "Three Expeditions into Eastern Australia", 
Mitchell gave names to many local geographical landmarks, although
few of these names  have survived in  usage today.

Before gold was discovered in the McIvor Creek, the surrounding area
                                   was largely taken up by squatters, who farmed the
                                   land under licences, which originally cost them
                                   some 10pounds annually.

The first official report on the McIvor goldfield, is dated the 19th of
March 1853, and was written by the then Police Inspector, Mr. Smith,
who stated that there were now a " few hundred men digging" at what
he called McIvor Creek, Wild Duck Gully.

The McIvor "rush" , like many others of the era,
was short-lived . It reached its peak just a few
weeks after it had begun, in 1853, and was over
by June the following year.

It is difficult to gauge, accurately, the population
figures for the area at this time, but it has been muted that, at the peak
of the rush, there were some 20,000 people at the diggings.


Over the ensuing years many institutions have been established in the
district, they include Churches, Schools, and a Hospital, as well as
Government and Commercial establishments. Often these originated

                                    in tents or makeshift accommodation during the
                                     "rough and ready" early years and graduated to
                                     permanent buildings as  the needs and appropriate
                                     funding arose.

As years have passed, many of the areas which lay outside the township
of Heathcote itself, have become faded memories of where people worked
to construct buildings and lives.

The shape of the township has changed, and evolved over time, as it has
been touched by so many who have arrived, lived there lives and either
left the district or become names etched on gravestones here.

As a group, we are working toward the recording of these "memories" as
well as the preservation of all aspects of this district, its people and
their lives.

panorama of High St, Heathcote, looking South from what we now know as Barrack's Reserve.