Avoca at the beginning of the twentieth century

In 1903 Avoca was described in the Australian handbook:

AVOCA (37° 6' S. lat., 143° 29′ E. long.), county of Gladstone, electorate of Talbot and Avoca, and police district of Maryborough, is prettily situated on the river of the same name, about 12 miles from its source, and 6 miles E. of the Pyrenees ranges, on the main roads from Castlemaine and Ballarat to the NW. parts of the colony, 794 feet above sea level. Avoca is the principal town in the Avoca shire, a municipal district of 453 square miles, containing several other goldfields and townships, having 900 dwellings, 726 rate-payers on roll, 1s. rate, and ratable property of the annual value of £24,568. The shire is locally ruled by a shire council, consisting of nine councillors, under the Local Government Act. Avoca has a police and warden's court, and post savings bank, money-order, telegraph, and sub-treasury offices. It is a railway-station on the Maryborough to Ararat line, 128 miles NW. of Melbourne, fares, 22s. 10d. and 15s. 4d. Coaches run to Percydale, St. Arnaud, Landsborough, Redbank, Lamplough, Lexton, Waubra, and Moonambel, Frenchman's and Stuart Mill. Hotels: the Avoca, Royal Oak, Victoria, Railway, Bull and Mouth, and Albion. Bank: Victoria. There are lodges of the Australian Natives, Oddfellows (M.U.), Foresters, Rechabites, a detachment of mounted rifles, one brass band, and a fire brigade. State school (No. 4), ladies' school, English, Roman Catholic Wesleyan and Presbyterian churches, and a mechanics' institute, with library of 1,600 vols. The water supply is derived from wells and the flats of the Avoca River. Both alluvial and quartz mining are carried on in the district, particularly in that portion lying at the foot of the Pyrenees ranges, which is also very well adapted for farming operations, growing wheat of unusually good quality. The Working Miners Homebush has been one of the most successful mines in the district. A mining revival is taking place in the district. An important discovery of slate in the ranges about 7 miles from the railway station was made a few years ago, but the quarries are now at a standstill. The slate found here is said to be the best of its kind yet discovered in the Australian Colonies, and the supply appears to be inexhaustible. Several vineyards are making good progress. The land under tillage on the 1st March, 1901, was 11,381 acres. The gold yield for 1900 was 1,591 ozs. Recent discoveries of alluvial gold have led to a mining revival. The formation of the district geologically is Silurian. The population of the town alone is 1,100; the number of residents in the entire shire is 4,300. Local newspapers, the Avoca Mail, Tuesdays and Fridays, and the Avoca Free Press, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

From Avoca and Avoca Shire | Victorian Places