History

Recent media coverage of “red carpet” events and “fashions in the field” shows how much attention is still paid to what women wear. But while fashion is often portrayed as a product of women’s vanity or self-indulgence, the forces driving female fashion have long involved male influence.

In the late 19th century, Daylesford residents often looked beyond the local hospital to treat their medical complaints and the Daylesford Advocate was full of advertisements with generous promises of good health.

This week The History Files browses snippets of news that caught the attention of the editor of The Daylesford Advocate in 1882.

A police reserve of 66.8 acres was set aside on Wombat Hill when Daylesford was first surveyed in 1854. In 1859, the first Courthouse and rudimentary police quarters, lock-up and stabling were built.

A spider captured more than the attention of curious onlookers as reported in the Daylesford Advocate in 1882.

Mind your own concerns, my friend,
For they are yours alone;
Don’t talk about your neighbour’s faults,
But strive to mend your own.

Everything old is new again. A young woman may have attempted to poison family members 1882. Or maybe not…

In 1859 a young mining agent was tarred and feathered in the main street of Daylesford.  The case excited great local interest and charges were laid against the perpetrators. This is an account of the court case.