Mount Rouse & District Historical Society Homepage

*Penshurst * Historical * Tourism * Western District*

* Volcanic Trail * Victoria * Australia*

Index page  

The background/"watermark" shows  rock crushing on Mount Rouse, probably in the early 1900:s.

1. Former Police Lock-up 

The Police Department have donated the former prisoner lock-up to us. We thank the Apex Club's present and former members for moving it from the adjacent premises to the laneway at the Court House. Our special thanks go to Stuart Burger and Peter Rentsch for providing the heavy equipment that made this possible.

Ed.: The "old" lock-up has not been used for decades but will now provide a historical feature. We hope to re-paint it in a color as close as possible to that of the Court House front, and to provide a sturdier base.

2. Penshurst Hotel – Day Book 1888

We have uploaded the first of three installments of Phillip Doherty's new article "Penshurst Hotel - Day Book 1888" 

Ed.: The picture (left) shows Penshurst Hotel the way it would have looked in 1888, prior to a major fire in the 1890:s. However, we are uncertain whether it was actually in Penshurst, since we have an even older picture of a smaller hotel. It was rebuilt as shown in a recent picture (above right).

As usual, our website is  dependent on contributions, and we would welcome any Penshurst related historical articles and/or pictures. The latter can be sent to us electronically, or lent to us for scanning and digitalisation. We promise to return any "hard copies" within a couple of days.

 3. Matthew Brown's Recollections

We are very grateful to Phillip Doherty for his research, resulting in "Matthew Brown's Recollections". It can now be read in our Serial Section.

4. Annual General Meeting (AGM) and President's Address

Our AGM was held on 27/7/2008. 'Click' on this hyperlink to read our new president Ruth Pihl's address.

5. Twomey family and Kolor Station

Penshurst - by Phillip Doherty 

"John Joseph Twomey, his wife Margaret and six children arrived aboard the Royal Consort in 1844.  It seems another three children were still in Ireland.  John Twomey was listed as a labourer on the ship records but this maybe so he could qualify for a free passage - labourers being in much demand.  Little is known of the Twomey's first years on the Port Phillip district of NSW (as Victoria was known then)..." 

Ed.: Read Phillip Doherty's full a rticle in our serial section. 

6. "Penshurst History - Snapshots" - Award Success

Ruth Pihl on behalf of Mount Rouse & District Historical Society  received a certificate from Lynne Kosky MP, Minister for the Arts that we have been awarded $3,000 to write and publish "Penshurst History - Snapshots. We have been promised a photograph of the award ceremony held at Stawell on 22/4/2008

7. Penshurst History - by Elizabeth Hatfield

*A 22,000 years perspective

"The area around Penshurst is in the country of the Djab wurrung language group of Aboriginal people, very close to the border with the Dhauwurd wurrung language group people to the south. The Djab wurrung language is apparently some 5,000 years old according to linguists, but the people referred to a previous group as the Old People. It is presently believed that Aboriginal people lived in this area some 22,000 years prior to the arrival of Europeans."

*Ed.: Thank you Elizabeth Hatfield for your article, which reminds us that settlement of the Penshurst area dates back for thousands of years. Read the full article in our Penshurst Historical section. Subheading added editorially, since the township Penshurst as such has only existed for some 160 years.

8. Second World War Memories -  by Arthur B Cook 

Penshurst RSL are collecting stories about local servicemen and women.
The following article was provided to the Penshurst RSL by Arthur Cook. Arthur has kindly agreed for it to be published. The Penshurst RSL would gratefully accept any memoirs or stories for a collection of stories about local servicemen and women.

Ed.: Thank you Arthur Cook for providing us with your biographical article, and thank you Mary Johnson for making it available to this website. 

9. Volcanoes Discovery Centre Open 

The Volcanoes Discovery Centre is now open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 1000 - 1600 hrs, and in addition when Penshurst News is being prepared (we can not guarantee any specific hours for the latter, since timing depends on very few overworked volunteers). The centre was officially opened by Helen Morrison on 18/10/2003.  It became possible thanks to grants of $100,000 from the Commonwealth Government, and $70,000 from the Southern Grampians Shire. The opening event was hosted by the Shire. 

27/5/2005: The Centre is running well, thanks mainly to a small number of volunteers (28 "on the books") and Val Rentsch's organising skills. We are presently preparing its own website, but its uploading is subject to finding  suitable host.

10. Tree Planting Day, 1/9/02 - history in the making; the pine trees on Mt Rouse have been removed, a walking track made, and up to 5,000 tree saplings and grasses planted. The 1st of September 2002 started with an "invisible" Mt Rouse" swept in mist, but it soon cleared up, and the rest of the day was in glorious sunshine and warmth. By noon, 116 people had registered. The day was a great success. We are keeping it uploaded to demonstrate that our community spirit was alive and well at least five years ago, although several of our clubs, community organizations e.g. Advance Penshurst, and related internet websites are now (2007) in strife, attracting very few members or willing contributors.

Friday, 03 October 2008