Daylesford and Hepburn Springs

The neighbouring spa towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs (combined population of 3,500) reflect the character of their early heritage in the Victorian era when people travelled to "take the waters". Today, the towns retain the character of the gold rush era and the Swiss-Italian immigrants who were early settlers, and are the centre of a robust tourism industry.

The area is the centre of the largest concentration of mineral springs in Australia and is surrounded by the heavily timbered Wombat Forest. The natural beauty of the area and its period character have drawn a widening artistic community so that there is a profusion of performing and visual arts to be enjoyed by artists of national and international repute. The holistic health services, provided in conjunction with the mineral springs and spas, retain the tradition of the area as a place of healing. The Hepburn Spa Resort is an internationally recognised mineral spa centre.

The area also boasts the finest in elegant gourmet dining and pampering of all the senses. Some of the high quality tourism attractions include the award winning Convent Gallery, Lake House Restaurant, Lavandula Swiss-Italian Lavender Farm and Tuki Trout Farm. In addition, the natural forest surroundings offer extensive bush trails and exploration of the many mineral spring areas. There is an increasingly recognised wine industry in the region and organic food production and horticulture are developing recognition as key markets.

History

The Daylesford and Hepburn Springs region was first settled in the late 1830s and 1840s by white squatters who displaced the Dja dja Wrung Aboriginal people. Captain John Hepburn, after whom Hepburn Springs and Hepburn Shire are named, arrived in the district in 1838 and took up a squatting run. Other early settlers included pastoralists, timber cutters and farmers.

The gold rush of the 1850s brought prospectors to the region from throughout the world, including miners from the northern Italian areas of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and the Duchies of Modena and Parma (before Italy even existed as a nation). More than 1000 Swiss-Italian miners came to the Daylesford and Hepburn Springs region from the neighbouring Italian speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Many of these miners remained in the area after the gold rushes and settled into small farms or businesses.

Many fine early buildings remain, reflecting the region’s Swiss-Italian heritage. It is to these Swiss-Italian settlers that we owe the discovery and preservation of the mineral springs and spas which are the region's trademark, the early wineries, the early establishment of a multicultural community and the lifestyle which is reflected in so much of the district today.

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