Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

LAST DRINKS
Elphinstones Last Pub

Figure 1.

Where the roads slope and the bushland clears, a Carlton Draught sign pokes out above a
Colourbond fence. Huddled at the intersection of two highways, the now-disused Old
Calder highway and the Pyrenees, and triangulated by the Swan Hill railway, this sign still
calls to travellers; few answer anymore. With the building of the new Calder Freeway, and
the closing of the train station, our quaint highway-side town is more often bypassed by
travellers. But for myself and the other residents of Elphinstone, this sign, and the tinroofed white-brick building that sits beneath it, is the centre of our town. This is The
Elphinstone Hotel.
A pub in some shape or form has stood on this land for as long as the town of Elphinstone
has existed. During the 1840s, when Elphinstone was known as Sawpit Gully, it was in the
form of grog-tents.1 Elphinstone was originally a sawmilling settlement; a bundle of
roadside tents which serviced teamsters, sawyers and travellers on their way to
somewhere greater.2 During the 1850s, Elphinstone was left relatively untouched by
gold.3 Instead, the town had a different type of gold rush; a liquid gold rush.
For Elphinstone, our story begins with a hotel. And beer. Lots of beer.
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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

The Aussie Pub

The hotel, the pub, the bar, the local; It is
an integral part of many Victorian
communities.
Australian historian Weston Bate once
declared that communities in nineteenth
century Victoria had two hearts; the pub
and the church.4 Indeed, Melbournes
very beginnings were decided in a pub
with the idea to settle in Port Phillip Bay
being decided by a publican.5
The pub not only came with the first white
settlers in Victoria, it spread with them. As
populations spread, hotels were often the
first buildings erected in new settlements
and the seed from which communities
grew.6 In many Victorian towns, the pub
was built before the church, the hospitals
and schools.7 The pub was often the
towns largest building, and as a result,
they doubled as dance halls, concert
venues, protest meeting places and
auction houses for the sale of land and
gold.8During the nineteenth century,
some pubs were known to be used as
places to store corpses before burials due
to the large cellars.9
As the gold rush hit Victoria, the number
of hotels mushroomed. For many rural
townships, hotels became gauges of local
prosperity; the more hotels in a town, the
bigger the boom.10 Almost anyone who

could offer a spare bed and

a home cooked meal did,
and many hotels took
many shapes and forms.11
Although selling alcohol
required a license, many
Victorians sneakily flogged
grog from their houses,
tents and even from their
pockets on the gold fields
and hoped they wouldnt
be caught. Ellen Kelly,
mother of notorious Ned,
was herself a crafty grogflogger and wannabe
publican.12
Hotels continue to be
barometers of population
change and measures of a
towns wealth. They
flourish where people
frequently stop and have
become sad reminders of
prosperous times for
others.
For Elphinstone, largely
forgotten amongst the
upgrading of highways and
the streamlining of
railways, our hotel is the
last living descent of a
legacy of pubs.

Figure 2.
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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

The Story of Elphinstone

Elphinstone is one of the few towns in the
Mount Alexander region to pre-date the
gold rush.13
In the 1840s Elphinstone, or Sawpit Gully
as it was then called, was a thriving sawmilling settlement. The town consisted of
an assemblage of huts on the side of
Melbourne Road, now the Old Calder
Highway, which serviced the saw millers
and travellers to and from Melbourne.14
With an announcement on 8 September
1851, everything would change for
Elphinstone, and for much of Victoria (see
figure 3).15

Figure 3.
The announcement made on 8 September: gold found in
the Mount Alexander region

No gold was found in the Elphinstone township, but as the road from Melbourne to the
diggings ran through Elphinstone, the town experienced a boom.16 As people flocked to the
goldfields in search of their fortunes, Elphinstone became a travellers rest.17

Figure 4.
An engraving of Elphinstone (Saw-Pit Gully) as a travellers rest during the 1850s
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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

It was in Elphinstone that prospective

miners rested with their weary horses and
had a drink.
Mark T. Amos was one of these weary
travellers. On his way to the diggings in
1852 in search of gold, he stopped at
Elphinstone, or as many were still
referring to the town, Sawpit Gully. In a
diary entry, he wrote:
I shall not easily forget the trip
from Melbourne to Sawpit Gully
(Elphinstone); the hardships we
went through, the poor blistered
feet, and the dirty water we
were compelled to drink while
crossing Keilor Plains. All our
drinking water for one day was
obtained from ruts in the
roadway.

18

For Amos, as with many other miners, the

trip from Melbourne to the diggings was
arduous. During the nineteenth century,
the main route to Melbourne was
relatively unmade, the weather was

unpredictable and journeys were long and

lonely. It often took upwards of 3 days by
horse, longer on foot as Amos
journeyed.19
Caroline Chisholm had chosen Elphinstone
as a location for one of her Shelter
Sheds.20 As safe places for women,
children, single men and families to stay in
on their way to the gold fields, for
travelling families, Elphinstone was an
important rest stop.21
W.H. Wilson was a single man who spent
the night in Elphinstones Shelter Shed in
1890:
At Elphinstone we saw the first
of Mrs Chisholms Shelter Sheds.
At Elphinstone we lay on the
floor of an outhouse for 1/- each.
22

Although the facilities Wilson experienced

seem crude, they were not for the time. A
sheltered room, a warm meal, a bed to
sleep in and a person to talk to was a
relief for travellers; a beer was even
better.

Figure 5.
Travellers rest out the
front of the Adelphi
Hotel in Saw-Pit Gully
(Elphinstone) in 1856.

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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

The Glory Years: 1851-1854

A few months before this there
was no licensed hotel nearer
Castlemaine than Sawpit Gully,
and none nearer Bendigo than
Porcupine, so the Government
with a view to lessening the illicit
sale of spirits on the diggings
proclaimed Sawpit Gully a
wholesale depot, and here, at the
time I speak of, about a dozen
establishments existed for the
sale of liquors in quantity not less
than two gallons23

(Robert Mitchell on Elphinstone in

1854)

Liquor was banned on the goldfields for

the first few years of the gold rush, and
for these years, Elphinstone was the
closest town to the Castlemaine diggings
in which liquor was allowed and licensed
premises could be found.24 The town was
also designated, by Act 13 Victoria, no. 29,
as a depot for the supply of wholesale
grog to the diggings.25

Because of these two laws, Elphinstone

became the local watering hole for
miners. After a long day digging for solid
gold, diggers made their way to
Elphinstone for some liquid gold, and we
had plenty.
With a monopoly on alcohol within the
area of the diggings, Elphinstones sales
expanded, and so did their prices. Many
travellers and miners mention the
painfully expensive price of alcohol and
food in Elphinstone.
James Robertson was travelling to the
goldfields with his mates in 1852 when he
stopped in Elphinstone. For Robertson,
the inflated price of a drink was a source
of confidence in the apparent wealth of
the miners who drank in Elphinstone
regularly; in a diary entry he wrote:

We had a hearty laugh at one of

our mates being charged 4/- for
a bottle of porter at Sawpit
Gully, and construed this into a
certain assurance, despite what
we had heard, that gold was still
plentiful.26

Not everyone took these price hikes so

well. Robert Mitchell, a Scotsman
hoping to strike it rich in the mines, was
not willing to pay such high prices for a
drink or dinner:
After several days journeying we
reached Sawpit Gully, the

Figure 6.

junction of the Bendigo and

Forest Creek roads, and there
camped to discuss a knotty point

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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

which was brought up for reconsideration, namely, whether
we would go to Forest Creek or
carry out our first idea and
proceed to Bendigo. While the
subject was under review,

Figure 7.

dinner was suggested, but as

4/- or 5/- a head was charged
at the public-house for cold
corned beef and damper, we
being Scotchmen and the
national trait of thrift strong
within us, thought that by
getting a couple of bottles of
Figure 8.

porter, tendered 1, and got

4/- change. This I considered a
mistake, but was soon
undeceived. One of my mates
called at a store opposite, and

Figures 7 & 8: The Elphinstone town sales record

book. The exact locations and sized of the one
hundred lots auctioned off on July 28, 1853, are
recorded, and ticked off, in this folder. Figure 8 lists
allotment 12 of section 2.

paid 4/- a loaf for the bread and

5/- a lb. for the cheese, so that
our lunch cost us double what a
good square meal would have
done27

Hot Property
By 1855, Elphinstone was home to around
1,500 people and at least twelve hotels.28
The oversupply of pubs in Elphinstone had
several effects on the towns reputation.
Elphinstone became hot property.
Hundreds of lots in Elphinstone were sold
over the years, one land sales book from
1853 listed one hundred lots in
Elphinstone for auction on one day; 28th
of July 1853.
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Figure 9: This 1858 Public Lands Office

map shows allotment 12 of section 2 as
owned by Aberdeen.

Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

Alternately, with the towns main industry

firmly cemented in the sale of liquor,
Elphinstone gained a reputation for
tomfoolery and crime.

Figure 9 close-up: Aberdeen is shown to own

allotment 12 of section 2 in 1858. The second
lot in the first row of section 2; directly below
the S in Gilbert Street.

Australian historian James Flett notes that

The reputation of Sawpit Gully for crime
and drunkenness was equalled only by
Chokem and Murdering Gully at Fryers
Creek, where organised gangs operated at
that time.29 Indeed, the occurrence of
arrests in Elphinstone, most commonly in
the pubs themselves, is heavily
documented in the local newspapers at
the time.

Elphinstone became renowned as a gold

mine of its own; in real estate. Articles in
newspapers publicising the vending of
land in the township declared it to be a
place in which fortunes were rapidly made
and in which businesses were flourishing.

Figure 11: An article reporting James

McGraths arrest in an Elphinstone pub

Elphinstones growth was enormous and

rapid; within five years the town had
transformed from a shanty-tent collection
on the side of Melbourne road into a
thriving town with the liveliest nightlife in
the area.

Figure 10.
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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

Figure 12.

The Sudden Decline

Elphinstones boom left as quickly as it
came.
On the 21st of September 1853, the first
hotel licences were approved in
Castlemaine and liquor licenses for the
Goldfields were eventually approved in
1854.30 For Elphinstones wayside
shanties, public houses and thriving
hotels, this signalled the beginning of the
end.31

By 1868, Elphinstones pubs had been

whittled down to only two.35
Then, in 1878, the Freemasons Tavern
burnt to the ground; and only one pub
remained.36
The Commercial Hotel was aptly renamed
the Elphinstone Hotel, and it continues to
be the sole remaining pub in
Elphinstone.37

A record from Castlemaine Police Court at

the end of 1854 sees someone lament
that times were much worse than they
had been in Elphinstone as liquor
licenses begin to be rejected and pubs go
out of business.32
In 1856, just over two years after the
change in laws, only 4 hotels remained
operational in Elphinstone.33
In 1865, only three hotels survived.34

Figure 13.
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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

Last Drinks
The Elphinstone Hotel is the towns last
remaining pub.
With the coming of the new Calder Freeway,
the Old Calder Highway is relatively disused,
and Elphinstone is now regularly bypassed by
motorists. The Swan Hill V-line still rushes
through the town but, surrounded in thick
bushland and disused highways, it could be
missed with an ill-timed blink. However, if you
were to look out the window of your carriage
and peer between the tightly packed box
trees, you might just spot the rusty
corrugated-iron roof of the Elphinstone
Hotel.38
This hotel is not only the last living reminder
of Elphinstones glory days; it is the unofficial

centre of our humble town. While it now

services mostly locals, who as of 2011 number
only 670, for travellers who choose a more
scenic route to Bendigo or further, a beer and
a meal are always available.39
While these days the pub is more likely to
house a wedding reception or a local band
than a corpse in its cellar, not much has
changed at the Elphinstone hotel.
You may not see any brawls between miners,
as was common during the gold rush. Nor will
there be, as the myth goes, gold flecks
embedded in the bar, but youll certainly be
able to find someone to tell you about the
pub and these old stories it holds.40
For Elphinstone, our story not only begins, but
remains with a pub.

Figure 14.

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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

Ken James and Noel Davis, A History of Elphinstone (Campberwell, Vic: Ken James, 2008), 1.
Ibid.
3
Only a few discoveries of gold were made in Elphinstone, many of these were outside the actual township.
The following announcement is an example of this. Fiery Creek, Age, 7 February 1856, 3, in Trove [online
database], accessed 14 August 2016.
4
Weston Bate, A History of Brighton (Parkville, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1963), 133.
5
Diane Kirkby, Tanja Luckins and Chris McConville, The Australian Pub (Sydney, NSW: University of New South
Wales Press, 2010), 28.
6
Ibid, 29-30
7
Ibid.
8
Metcalfe Shire, Metcalfe Heritage Study Part One (1994),
<http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/DESD/METCALFE_HERITAGE_STUDY_PART_1.pdf>, 61,
accessed 24 August 2016; Diane Kirkby, Tanja Luckins and Chris McConville, The Australian Pub (Sydney, NSW:
University of New South Wales Press, 2010), 1-2.
9
Diane Kirkby, Tanja Luckins and Chris McConville, The Australian Pub (Sydney, NSW: University of New South
Wales Press, 2010), 1.
10
Ibid, 44-46.
11
Ibid, 3-6, 46-47.
12
Ibid, 46-47.
13
Mrs Charles Clacey, A Ladys Visit to the Gold Diggins of Australia in 1852-1853 (Melbourne: Landsdowne
Press, 1963) As cited in Metcalfe Shire, Metcalfe Heritage Study Part One (1994),
<http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/DESD/METCALFE_HERITAGE_STUDY_PART_1.pdf>, 42,
accessed 24 August 2016.
14
Mount Alexander Shire, Mount Alexander Shire Thematic Heritage Study: Thematic History (vol. 2) (2016), <
http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/Heritage/Mount_Alexander_Thematic_Environmental_History_
Volume_2_-_Final_-_RBA_Architects_Conservation_Consultants_-_11_April_2016.pdf>, sec. 3.1, pg. 27,
accessed 26 August 2016.
15
The gold rush is contended to have commenced with the following announcement of the discovery of gold in
the Mount Alexander region in the Melbourne Argus: John Worley, New Gold Field, Argus, Domestic
Intelligence, 8 September 1851, 2, in Trove [online database], accessed 27 September 2016.
Mount Alexander Shire, Mount Alexander Shire Thematic Heritage Study: Thematic History (vol. 2) (2016), <
http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/Heritage/Mount_Alexander_Thematic_Environmental_History_
Volume_2_-_Final_-_RBA_Architects_Conservation_Consultants_-_11_April_2016.pdf>, sec. 2.4.1, pg. 18,
accessed 26 August 2016.
16
Metcalfe Shire, Metcalfe Heritage Study Part One (1994),
<http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/DESD/METCALFE_HERITAGE_STUDY_PART_1.pdf>, 32,
accessed 24 August 2016.
17
Diane Kirkby and Tanja Luckins and Chris McConville, The Australian Pub (Sydney, NSW: University of New
South Wales Press, 2010), 41.
18
Mark T. Amos, Mark T. Amos (28 March 1884) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide; Sydney;
Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972), 181.
19
Robert Mitchell was another such traveller to the goldfields, he notes it took approximately 3 days to reach
saw pit gully from Melbourne. Robert Mitchell, Robert Mitchell (30 June 1882) in Records of the Castlemaine
Pioneers (Adelaide; Sydney; Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972), 34.
20
Peter S. Knights, The Caroline Chisholm Shelter Sheds(Keilor, Vic: Keilor Historical Society, 1992) as cited in
Metcalfe Shire, Metcalfe Heritage Study Part One (1994),
<http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/DESD/METCALFE_HERITAGE_STUDY_PART_1.pdf>, 44,
accessed 24 August 2016
21
Heritage Council Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, Victorian Heritage Database
Report: Caroline Chisholm Shelter Sheds (2010),
<http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/8777/download-report>, accessed 7 October 2016.
22
W. H. Wilson, W. H. Wilson (26 September 1890) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide; Sydney;
Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972), 158.
2

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23

Robert Mitchell, Robert Mitchell (30 June 1882) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide; Sydney;
Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972), 39-40.
24
Paul McGuire, Inns of Australia (Melbourne: Heinemann, 1952), 108-9.
25
James Flett, Old Pubs: Inns, Taverns & Grog-houses on the Victorian Gold Diggings (Melbourne: The
Hawthorn Press, 1979), 6.
26
James Robertson, James Robertson (31 March 1882) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide;
Sydney; Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972), 47.
27
Robert Mitchell, Robert Mitchell (30 June 1882) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide; Sydney;
Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972), 34.
28
This is the number of hotels registered. We know that many pubs or alcohol-selling businesses were
unlicensed or informal, hence twelve being the minimum estimate.
Department of Education, Vision and Realization, vol. II (Melbourne: Department of Education, 1973), 635;
Elphinstone Progress Association Inc., Elphinstone Community Plan (2014)
<https://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/Elphinstone_Community_Plan_2014.pdf>, 21, accessed 18
August 2016; Beverley J. Walker, In Gods Acre: Elphinstone Cemetery Victoria, Compiled and Researched by
Beverley J. Walker, (Kangaroo Flat, Victoria: Beverley J. Walker, 2008), 211.
29
James Flett, Old Pubs: Inns, Taverns & Grog-houses on the Victorian Gold Diggings (Melbourne: The
Hawthorn Press, 1979), 6.
30
Raymond Bradfield, Castlemaine: A Golden Harvest (Kilmore, Victoria: Lowden Publishing Co., 1972), 53; Paul
McGuire, Inns of Australia (Melbourne: Heinemann, 1952), 108-9.
31
Raymond Bradfield, Castlemaine: A Golden Harvest (Kilmore, Victoria: Lowden Publishing Co., 1972), 53.
32
Castlemaine Police Court, Mount Alexander Mail, 10 November 1854, 2, in Trove [online database],
accessed 13 September 2016.
33
Elphinstone Progress Association Inc., Elphinstone Community Plan (2014)
<https://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/Elphinstone_Community_Plan_2014.pdf>, 21, accessed 18
August 2016.
34
Baillieres Victorian Gazateers, 1865 as cited in Beverley J. Walker, In Gods Acre: Elphinstone Cemetery
Victoria, Compiled and Researched by Beverley J. Walker, (Kangaroo Flat, Victoria: Beverley J. Walker, 2008),
247.
35
These are statistics of hotels strictly, and does not include the number of beershops in operation. Metcalfe
Shire Rate Book 1868 as cited in Beverley J. Walker, In Gods Acre: Elphinstone Cemetery Victoria, Compiled
and Researched by Beverley J. Walker, (Kangaroo Flat, Victoria: Beverley J. Walker, 2008), 247.
36
Mrs. Alice James was the Publican of the Freemasons Tavern at the time of its destruction by fire.
Metcalfe Shire Rate Book 1878 & 1879 as cited in Beverley J. Walker, In Gods Acre: Elphinstone Cemetery
Victoria, Compiled and Researched by Beverley J. Walker, (Kangaroo Flat, Victoria: Beverley J. Walker, 2008),
251.
37
This was the third name-change this same hotel had undergone. Originally named Lonsdales Hotel, then the
Commercial Hotel and finally, in 1871, the Elphinstone Hotel. Wises Victorian Post Office Directory as cited in
Beverley J. Walker, In Gods Acre: Elphinstone Cemetery Victoria, Compiled and Researched by Beverley J.
Walker, (Kangaroo Flat, Victoria: Beverley J. Walker, 2008), 246.
38
Amy Groch and Mary Camilleri, Forests Notes: Castlemaine State Forests: Report of the Department of
Environment and Primary Industries (2006),
<http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/225672/FS0078-Castlemaine-State-Forests.pdf>, 12, accessed 19 October 2016.
39
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011 Census of Population and Housing (2011), cat. No. 2001.0,
<http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/SSC20456>, para. 1,
accessed 1 September 2016.
40
Metcalfe Shire, Metcalfe Heritage Study Part One (1994),
<http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/DESD/METCALFE_HERITAGE_STUDY_PART_1.pdf>, 63,
accessed 24 August 2016.

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Bibliography
Figure list:
Figure 1: Photo of Elphinstone Hotel c. 1950 [image], located in The Elphinstone Hotel, 14 Wright
Street, Elphinstone 3448, courtesy of Mani Heck.
Figure 2: A General Shout - Sketch of the inside of a bush tavern in Queensland, ca. 1875 in John
Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland [online collection], accessed 20 October 2016.
Figure 3: John Worley, New Gold Field, Argus, Domestic Intelligence, 8 September 1851, 2, in
Trove [online database], accessed 27 September 2016.
Figure 4: Mount Alexander from Saw-Pit Gully, c1850, in Trove [online database], accessed 30
August 2016.
Figure 5: Samuel Charles Brees, Mount Alexander from Saw Pit Gully, 1856, in Trove [online
database, accessed 30 August 2016.
Figure 6: Township of Elphinstone, Argus, 11 August 1853, Domestic Intelligence, 5, in Trove
[online database], accessed 30 August 2016.
Figure 7: PROV, V/AF/046/06/03 Metcalfe Shire, VPRS000873/P/0001 Sale Contract Books, unit
000002, cover, Sale Contract Book. [image by the author]
Figure 8: PROV, V/AF/046/06/03 Metcalfe Shire, VPRS000873/P/0001 Sale Contract Books, unit
000002, pg. 1, Sale Contract Book. [image by Amy Hodgson]
Figure 9: Public Lands office Victoria, Township of Elphinstone, County of Talbot [cartographic
material]/ surveyed by G. Urquhart & T. Adair; lithographed at the Public Lands Office,
Melbourne, no. 902, ca. 1:26 928 (Melbourne: Public Lands Office, 1858).
Figure 10: Sales by Auction, Argus, Advertising, 14 June 1853, 9, in Trove [online database],
accessed 30 August 2016.
Figure 11: Castlemaine Court Criminal Sessions: Larceny, Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, 15
April 1853, 2, in Trove [online database], accessed 4 September 2016.
Figure 12: Image by the author.
Figure 13: Image by the author.
Figure 14: Image by the author.

Primary Sources
A General Shout - Sketch of the inside of a bush tavern in Queensland, ca. 1875 in John Oxley
Library, State Library of Queensland [online collection], accessed 20 October 2016.
Amos, Mark T., Mark T. Amos (28 March 1884) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide;
Sydney; Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972).
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Last Drinks by Amy Hodgson

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011 Census of Population and Housing (2011), cat. No. 2001.0,
<http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/SS
C20456>, para. 1, accessed 1 September 2016.
Brees, Samuel Charles, Mount Alexander from Saw Pit Gully, 1856, in Trove [online database,
accessed 30 August 2016.
Castlemaine Police Court, Mount Alexander Mail, 10 November 1854, 2, in Trove [online database],
accessed 13 September 2016.
Castlemaine Court Criminal Sessions: Larceny, Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, 15 April 1853,
2, in Trove [online database], accessed 4 September 2016.
Fiery Creek, Age, 7 February 1856, 3, in Trove [online database], accessed 14 August 2016.
Mitchel, Robert l, Robert Mitchell (30 June 1882) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide;
Sydney; Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972).
Mount Alexander from Saw-Pit Gully, c1850, in Trove [online database], accessed 30 August 2016.
Photo of Elphinstone Hotel c. 1950 [image], located in The Elphinstone Hotel, 14 Wright Street,
Elphinstone 3448, courtesy of Mani Heck.
PROV, V/AF/046/06/03 Metcalfe Shire, VPRS000873/P/0001 Sale Contract Books, unit 000002, Sale
Contract Book.
Public Lands office Victoria, Township of Elphinstone, County of Talbot [cartographic material]/
surveyed by G. Urquhart & T. Adair; lithographed at the Public Lands Office, Melbourne, no.
902, ca. 1:26 928 (Melbourne: Public Lands Office, 1858).
Sales by Auction, Argus, Advertising, 14 June 1853, 9, in Trove [online database], accessed 30
August 2016.
Township of Elphinstone, Argus, 11 August 1853, Domestic Intelligence, 5, in Trove [online
database], accessed 30 August 2016.
Wilson, W. H., W. H. Wilson (26 September 1890) in Records of the Castlemaine Pioneers (Adelaide;
Sydney; Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth: Rigby Limited, 1972).
Worley, John, New Gold Field, Argus, Domestic Intelligence, 8 September 1851, 2, in Trove [online
database], accessed 27 September 2016.

Secondary Sources
Bate, Weston, A History of Brighton (Parkville, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1963).
Bradfield, Raymond, Castlemaine: A Golden Harvest (Kilmore, Victoria: Lowden Publishing Co., 1972).
Elphinstone Progress Association Inc., Elphinstone Community Plan (2014)
<https://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Files/Elphinstone_Community_Plan_2014.pdf>,
21, accessed 18 August 2016.
Flett, James, Old Pubs: Inns, Taverns & Grog-houses on the Victorian Gold Diggings (Melbourne: The
Hawthorn Press, 1979).
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Groch, Amy and Camilleri, Mary, Forests Notes: Castlemaine State Forests: Report of the Department
of Environment and Primary Industries (2006),
<http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/225672/FS0078-CastlemaineState-Forests.pdf>, 1-2, accessed 19 October 2016.
Heritage Council Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, Victorian Heritage
Database Report: Caroline Chisholm Shelter Sheds (2010),
<http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/8777/download-report>, accessed 7 October
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