Imagine our surprise when we saw a lovely unexpected photo of our house. Not identified per se as a reason to visit Inglewood, but featured nonetheless and included within the "Architecture walk" as reason #6 to visit Inglewood
Below is the article....
Six reasons to visit Inglewood
Richard Cornish
1. Wildflowers
Central Victoria, north of Bendigo, is putting on a spectacular display of wildflowers this year. A cold, wet winter created perfect conditions for many species, with wattle now ablaze across the forests. Under the wattle can be found massive carpets of terrestrial orchids. If you have an interest in wildflowers, consider heading to Inglewood in a fortnight when the Friends of Kooyoora (State Park) hold their 10th annual wildflower show. Eucy Museum will host displays of local wildflowers, picked with permits, as well as plant and book sales. Locals provide bus tours into the forest areas where the wildflowers are at their most spectacular. Expect to see pincushions, sundews, chocolate lilies, leopard orchids and the endangered pink fingers orchid.
Kooyoora Wildflower Show, September 17-18, 10am-4pm, Inglewood Eucy Museum, Grant St North, call 0417 338 578,kooyoorafriends.org.au
Boulders in the Kooyoora State Park. Photo: Richard Cornish
2. Kooyoora State Park
Perched among giant granite boulders, just a 15-minute drive from Inglewood, is a lookout with views that take in the vast native forest of central Victoria. Visitors climb a rough track through Melville's Caves, the hideout of a Scottish-born bushranger known as the St Kilda Road highwayman and famed for his chivalry. He moved his thieving up north and evaded the law in the labyrinth of nooks and caves on this small mountain. The views are stunning and there is a campsite in the park.
Murray Baud at the Blue Eucy Museum, Inglewood. Photo: Richard Cornish
3. Eucy
Eucy is local argot for eucalyptus oil, an industry established in Victoria by a Yorkshireman named Bosisto by the banks of Dandenong Creek in 1852. The industry moved to central Victoria after the Gold Rush boom. A eucalyptus distillery operated on the edge of Inglewood until 1998, when the still was closed and turned into a museum. Come here to see how eucalyptus oil is extracted from leaves. A collection of black-and-white photos shows the back-breaking work of the cutters. As you learn, it takes five kilograms of leaves to make 50 millilitres of eucalyptus oil. The museum offers coffee and cake, barbecue facilities and a range of eucy-based cleaning products.
Inglewood Eucy Museum, Grant Street North, Thurs-Mon 10am-4pm, (or by appointment), 0457 633 742, adult $7, concession $4, children $2, inglewood.vic.au/eucy-museum
The mixed grill at the Empire State Hotel, Inglewood. Photo: Richard Cornish
4. Empire State Hotel
This classic double-storeyed pub was designed by W.C. Vahland (see below) and built in 1872. Inside, visitors will find the original bar with two fireplaces. The dining room serves a heart-stopping mixed grill of bacon, steak, chops, sausage and egg.
91 Brooke Street, (03) 5438 3050
5. Meat in Brooke Street
This small butcher shop supplies some of Victoria's best restaurants, such as Grossi Florentino, with dry-aged grass-fed beef. Order ahead and you can pick up eight-week dry-aged beef. The shop also stocks free-range pork from Murphy's Creek, including suckling pig.
65 Brooke Street, (03) 5438 3039, agedbeef.com.au, to orderfarmhousedirect.com.au
Jennings Store, Inglewood, is "usually open in the afternoon and Saturday morning".
6. Architecture Walk
Inglewood's main street is a series of kinks and doglegs. When surveyors came through soon after gold was discovered in 1859, they found a shanty town with 10,000 people. In 1862, a fire swept through the town. Much of it was rebuilt with modestly grand Victorian buildings, many designed by W.C. Vahland, architect of Bendigo's town hall and Alexander Fountain. A walk through Inglewood reveals majestic Victorian homes, miner's cottages, banks and hotels and St Augustine's Anglican church, with its beautiful stained-glass windows. In the main street is the original shed from which Ansett and Ogden, bicycle manufacturers, operated. Charles Ansett's son, Reginald, went on to found airline Ansett. Opposite is Jennings Store, a ramshackle hardware store with chooks on sale out front. "Usually open in the afternoon and Saturday morning," reads the sign.
