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The Emigrants
Talbot Former gold mining town with historic buildings
Talbot is a tiny former gold mining town located off the beaten track159 km north-west of Melbourne, midway between Clunes andMaryborough.The first European settler in the area was Alexander McCallum whoestablished a pastoral property in 1839 which he called 'DunachForrest'. The nearby towns of Amherst and Daisy Hill developed on the'Glenmona' run which was in existence by 1840. It is said that ashepherd discovered gold at Daisy Hill (7 km north of Talbot) in 1848but the first rush to the district did not occur until 1852. The townshipof Daisy Hill emerged in the 1850s due to its location on the mainroute from Adelaide to the goldfields around Castlemaine.Two km south of Daisy Hill, and five km north of Talbot, is anintersection where the east-west road joining Amherst and Craigiemeets the north-south road from Maryborough to Talbot. At thisjunction the Emu Inn emerged after the 'Emu rush' of the mid-1850s.
Gold was first found at Back Creek in 1854 and a settlement began toemerge on the diggings which was also known as Back Creek. After the'Scandinavian' rush of 1859 a survey was carried out. After a visit bythe governor of Victoria in 1861 the name of the settlement waschanged in honour of an English peer named Talbot.There were initially 15,000 people on the field with five banks, possibly49 drinking establishments, a brewery, and numerous stores andbusinesses scattered along six streets. The population dropped to 3,000or 4,000 by the mid-1860s by which time more substantial brick andbluestone structures had begun to replace the canvas and timber. Atthat time there were 16 hotels, a courthouse, a town hall, soap andcandle factories, flour mills, a theatre and a gas works. Cohn Brotherssoft-drink manufacturers of Bendigo was founded at Talbot in 1861.
After the gold rush died down and the railways connected up thevarious mining towns the cartage business fell away and so the entirefamily moved to Yarraville, a suburb of Melbourne, where the familyfound work in the Sugar Refinery and the Woolen Mills along theMarybinong River. My Great Grandfather worked as a Steam Rollerdriver for the local council. It was while in Yarraville that theMacDonald's of Yarraville started the clan of that name. The Clan hasbeen recognized as being an official offshoot of Clan MacDonald andevery so often we have get together where family business is discussedand Scottish traditions like piping in the Haggis are enacted.My Great Grandfather George Alexander MacDonald, son of JohanMunro and Norman MacDonald, was born in a Gold Rush town calledDaisy Hill in 1859. It is believed that Norman and Johan had set up acartage business for transporting the miners to the nearby diggings asthis short extract on the history of the area shows, Daisy Hill was idealfor this type of operation.”
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