Daylesford, Victoria

Prior to European settlement, the area was occupied by the Dja Dja Wurrung people. Pastoralists occupied the Jim Crow and Upper Loddon districts following early white settlement in 1838, and Edward Stone Parker established a farming protectorate for the Dja Dja Wurrung at Franklinford in 1841. The beginning of the Victorian Gold Rush a decade later imposed further suffering on the Dja Dja Wurrung in the area, and by 1863, most of the protectorate's survivors had been moved to the Coranderrk reserve at Healesville. In 1851, Irish immigrant John Egan and a party of searchers found alluvial gold in the bed of Wombat Creek, now covered by Lake Daylesford, initiating the local gold rush. Other finds quickly followed and a townsite was surveyed and founded in 1854, initially named Wombat but soon renamed Daylesford after the birthplace of Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of India. Agricultural activity followed the gold rush, with many of the Chinese in the area also operating market gardens, and Italians in particular establishing vineyards. Despite exhaustive searches for nearly a month after the boys' disappearance, their remains were not found until 13 September, when a farmer's dog found a boot about 10 kilometres away. The Daylesford Primary School also has a prize, the Graham Dux Award, presented annually since 1889 in their memory. The Daylesford Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990. ==Climate==

At above sea level, Daylesford has a cooler, wetter climate than Melbourne. Summer (January–February) temperatures range from , while July temperatures are cold, ranging from about to . Annual precipitation, occasionally falling as snow, averages about but has ranged from to over per year. ==Economy==

With 65 mineral springs, the Daylesford-Hepburn Springs region accounts for more than 80 per cent of Australia's known mineral water springs. As a result, the region has a number of spa developments including Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa, Mineral Spa at Peppers Springs Retreat, and the Salus Spa at Lake House. The town is also known for hosting a number of annual events, including the ChillOut Festival held during the Victorian Labour Day long weekend in March each year, the largest LGBTQ festival in rural and regional Australia; the Harvest Week Festival; the Lavandula's Festivals; and the Hepburn Springs Swiss Italian Festival celebrating the town's Swiss-Italian heritage. The annual Daylesford Highland Gathering features pipes and drums, Highland heavy games, a street march, dancing and cultural food and drink, and highlights a variety of Scottish clans and local clubs. Major industries in the economy of Daylesford today are healthcare, accommodation and food, and retail trade respectively. ==Education==

The town is served by a number of primary schools and one public secondary school, Daylesford Secondary College. The town's Secondary College was originally established as a mining school, in 1890. In 1961 the college was established as the sole provider of secondary education in the Shire of Hepburn and has just over 500 pupils. Daylesford Primary School, formerly known as Daylesford State School, is the oldest and longest-running provider of primary education in Daylesford. Other primary schools in the area include St. Michael's Primary School and Daylesford Dharma School. Since 2010, Daylesford Primary School is host to an annual book fair where used and unwanted books are donated to raise funds that go towards improving children's literacy. ==Transport==

The Midland Highway runs directly through the town linking it with Castlemaine in the north and Ballarat in the south-west. The Western Freeway is the main route linking Daylesford to Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria. The railway to the town closed in 1978. The railway layout at Daylesford station was unusual in that the lines from Creswick and Carlsruhe both entered the station from the same end. The Daylesford Spa Country Railway currently operates a Sunday tourist service to Musk and Bullarto along the line towards Carlsruhe. ==Sport==

The town has an Australian Rules football team and a netball team competing in the Central Highlands Football Netball League. Daylesford is also home to the Daylesford and Hepburn United Soccer Club, also known as the Saints or the Sainters. The Saints have won four league titles in their 20-year history along with two cup finals. ==Incidents==

On 5 November 2023, a car crashed into a beer garden situated in a grassed area in front of the Royal Daylesford Hotel resulting in the deaths of five people including two children, one aged nine and the other eleven. ==Notable people==

• Prue Acton – fashion designer and artist • David Allison – politician • Keith Bradbury – politician • David Bromley (born 1960) – artist, worked in Daylesford • (Lord) Sebastian Ulick Browne – 12th marquess of Sligo • Peter Corrigan – architect • Josh Cowan – AFL footballer • Bessie Lee Cowie – temperance campaigner • Charlie Foletta – VFL footballer • Joseph Furphy – novelist • Jack Gervasoni – VFL footballer • Chris Grant – AFL footballer • Geraldine Hakewill – actress • Lynda Heaven – politician • John Stuart Hepburn – early pastoralist and landholder • Merv Hobbs – AFL footballer • Simon Holmes à Court – entrepreneur and founder of Climate 200 • Sir Charles Hotham – governor of Victoria • George Raymond Johnson – architect (designed the Daylesford Town Hall) • Samuel Johnson – actor and radio presenter • Michael Leunig – cartoonist • Peter Loney – politician • Cecily Maude O'Connell – trade unionist and religious social worker • Charlie Pannam • Ambrose McCarthy Patterson – painter and printmaker • Alfred Cecil Rowlandson – publisher • Edward Russell – trade unionist • Jack Stevens – major general (Australian Army) • Eugene von Guerard – painter • Ferdinand von Mueller – botanist • Abigail Wehrung – basketball player • Carl Willis • Mark Leonard Winter – actor ==Gallery==

Image:Daylesford ca1908.jpg|Daylesford circa 1908 File:2009-Jul-Daylesford- 003 (3689249371).jpg|Park in winter ==See also==