Porcupine Ridge Estate

A Brief History

Forestry

Farming

Gold

The Gold Rush of the 1850's brought miners to the area from all over the world. In just eight years from 1850 to 1858, the male population of Victoria--which was double the female population--increased from 41,000 to 250,000 and over half were engaged in mining. There were 40,000 Chinese on the Victorian diggings and on our property you can see evidence of their market gardens which supplied the miners. Ruins of miners' huts remain, as do water-races built to divert creeks to wash the gold. Gold brought wealth and between 1851 and 1868, almost 37 million ounces of gold were exported from Central Victoria.

Before the discovery of gold, the land west of Porcupine Ridge was settled by Captain James Hepburn, an Englishman who arrived from Sydney in the late 1830's. About the same time, Warren Hastings of Worcestershire in England settled south of Porcupine Ridge and the town of Daylesford was the name of his home in Worcestershire.

FARMING

Farming was well established by the 1840's.
The original portion of the homestead was built in 1863 from bluestone quarried along side the house. The farm cottages are original as are the stables and outbuildings. The farm today comprises about 300 hectares and is engaged in raising beef cattle.

Forestry was important to the district and surrounding Porcupine Ridge Estate is the Upper Loddon State Forest, a continuation of the Wombat Forest where trees as large as 14 metres in circumference at the butt grew. These forests supplied timbers to the mines, for building and firewood. They were a source of wealth and at the end of the 1860's, Ballarat was taking annually eight million super feet of sawn timber. Today the forest surrounding us is a flora reserve set aside for recreation.