Westgarthtown is a heritage registered precinct located within the
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
suburbs of
Thomastown
Thomastown (), historically known as Grennan, is a town in County Kilkenny in the province of Leinster in the south-east of Ireland. It is a market town along a stretch of the River Nore which is known for its salmon and trout, with a number of ...
and
Lalor
Lalor is an Irish surname derived from the Irish ''Ó Leathlobhair'', from ''leath-'' “leper; weak, ailing person”. Notable people with the surname include:
* Denis Lalor, athlete
* Francis Ramsey Lalor (1856–1929), politician
* John Lalor ...
, in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
History
The town was originally known as Neu Mecklenburg, and was established around 1850.
[, ''...It might be mentioned that the settlement at Neu Mecklenburg was established by immigrants from Mecklenburg, Saxony, and Silesia, and the assertion is made that the choice ; of the name “Neu Mecklenburg” -- did not meet with unanimous hence some; named it “Westgarthtown,” after a Mr. : Westgarth, who had rendered considerable assistance to German immigrants, and 1848 had actually visited Germany in order to induce German prospective emigrants to settle in Victoria. Later, as already stated, the. place was called Thomastown...''] The name was changed to Westgarthtown in honour of
William Westgarth
William Westgarth (15 June 1815 – 28 October 1889) was a Scottish-born merchant, historian, statistician and politician in Australia. Westgarth was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, and, later, the Victorian Legislative Coun ...
, who sponsored German immigration.
The name was still in use up until the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, when it became officially regarded as part of Thomastown.
Modern day
In the 1970s, urban sprawl caught up with the village, and though it is now surrounded by suburban housing, the village is protected by the Victorian Heritage Act.
Significant remaining buildings include:
* The
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Church (1856)
* Westgarthtown Cemetery (1850)
*Ziebell's Farmhouse
[
]
*Graff's Farmhouse (1873)
* Siebel's Farmhouse (1860)
* Maltzahn's Farmhouse
*Wuchatsch's Farmhouse
[
]
The four farmhouses
[
][
]are listed on the
Victorian Heritage Register
The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...
.
In 2018, Friends of Westgarthtown successfully completed the Museum Accreditation Program. This is a gold-standard program which promotes best practice across all areas of museum management in line with the National Standards for Museums and Galleries.
Books on Westgarthtown
Jones, Michael ''Nature's Plenty: a history of the City of Whittlesea'', Sydney, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 1992
Wuchatsch, Robert ''Westgarthtown, the German settlement at Thomastown'', 1985
See also
*
Germantown, Victoria - located near Geelong
*
Australian place names changed from German names
During World War I, many German or German-sounding place names in Australia were changed due to anti-German sentiment. The presence of German-derived place names was seen as an affront to the war effort at the time.
The names were often change ...
References
Heritage sites in Melbourne
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