VICTORIA'S
GREATEST DRIVING TOURS AND HERITAGE TOWNS
Historic...TERANG
A simple slab hut was erected on the eastern edge of Lake Terang in 1840; its owner, Donald McNicol, was an employee of Neil Black of the nearby Glenormiston run, and he is credited as being the first European here. The settlement which followed became the town of Terang.
The first European settlers found abundant fish, bird and animal life at the lake. Traces of earlier aboriginal occupation here have virtually disappeared - along with the lake. From time to time the lake has overflowed, as it was when McNicol settled on its shores. In 1891 an unsuccessful attempt was made to fill the drying Lake Terang by diverting the town drainage to it. In 1905 and 1933, the peat lake bed was on fire for lengthy periods - local lore claims a Terang resident set the peat on fire to smoke out the primary school.
The lake’s disappearing act, a contrast to the occasional 12m depth which provided boating and fishing pleasures to many in the district, was resolved in 1960 when a pump was installed to permanently drain water from its bed. Now, Lake Terang is partly a golf-course and polo field, complete with encircling 4.8km walking track.
Terang grew slowly, dependant on the fortunes of the grazing country it served. Wheeled traffic only achieved a service to Geelong and Melbourne when the Stoney Rises were penetrated by a proper road; Sumper & Co and Cobb & Co provided daily transport to Geelong from the 1870s, a journey of thirteen hours.
By 1887 the railway from Melbourne had arrived, connecting with Warrnambool two years later. The original station was completed in 1889, and fourteen years later train patrons were reputed to favour Bowman’s Hotel, newly completed across the road.
Most of the historic homesteads in and around Terang are still privately owned. Among the notable properties in the district was Keayang, built in 1844 and then known as Richardson’s Station with an area of some 5,600 hectares. Also on the edge of Terang is Noogee homestead, part of the original property of Messrs Mooney and Harney who settled here in 1864.
Princes Highway passes through Terang’s commercial centre, High Street. It’s a broad, oak-lined green boulevard, landmarked at the Melbourne end by the distinctive Post Office and clock tower built in 1902 - notably, the clock was installed by public donations, the first in Australia. At the western end of High Street stands impressive Gothic-style Thomson Memorial church, built in 1894 and modelled on Scots Church in Melbourne.
Stone walls around nearby hamlets of Noorat and Kolora were started in the 1850s by Irish stone wallers. There were usually three working together - two cowans, one working on each side of the wall and an apprentice who put the filling into the middle. The price in 1880 for wall building was 120 pounds ($240) per mile (1.6km).
Noorat is the birthplace of author Alan Marshall of “I can jump puddles” fame, which recounts his childhood in the town. Mount Noorat is Australia’s largest dry volcanic crater, and this perfect crater is unique in the southern hemisphere. Glenormiston House was originally built in the 1850s by Neil Black; altered and enlarged at a later date, in 1949 this beautiful building was sold to the government and is today the Glenormiston Agricultural College.
Blarney Bakehouse in the main street is a good place for sandwiches, pies, coffee and cake.
GETTING THERE: Terang is 215km west of Melbourne on the Princes Hwy, two and a half hours drive. Alternative longer route via the Great Ocean Road, six hours.
THINGS TO SEE:
Terang Cottage craft in restored courthouse
Walking track, football or golf on Terang (dry) Lake
War memorial in centre of town, 30m high granite obelisk
Terang Historical Museum in primary school grounds, 3rd Sunday each month.
rose gardens and band rotunda in High Street.
Lake Keilambete, nearly as salty as the Dead Sea
Stone walls of Noorat and Kolora
Alan Marshall walking track to lookout.
Beehive store, Noorat, where Alan Marshall was born
Glenormiston Agricultural College, house dating from the 1850s.
