'The Big Tree'

Guildford (including Yapeen)
Tiny settlement with a superb "Big Tree"
Guildford is a tiny settlement of about 200 people located amidst low hills on the banks of the Loddon River. It has an attractive avenue of Plane trees planted in 1919 in honour of locals who fought in the First World War. Guildford is 130 km north-west of Melbourne between Castlemaine and Daylesford.

Prior to European occupation the area was occupied by the Jajowarrung tribe who called the area 'Yarrayne'. The first known white men were the party of Major Mitchell during their 'Australia Felix' expedition of 1836. Mitchell named the Loddon River after an English waterway associated with his birthplace in Hampshire. Guildford was probably named after a city in Surrey, England, which is none too distant from the aforesaid river.

Pastoral runs were established in the district in the 1840s but the settlement emerged in the 1850s when goldminers flooded into the area. The most substantial Chinese settlement of the Mt Alexander goldfields (estimated at over 3000 though some sources say 6000) gathered together for safety along Campbells Creek. Hostility to the Chinese was overt and overwhelming and there were numerous local conflicts, some of considerable proportions.

The largest encampment was near the junction of Campbells Creek and the Loddon River at Guildford, though no evidence remains today. There they lived largely in calico tents along narrow thoroughfares dotted with Joss Houses, tea-houses, boarding houses, tailors, apothecaries, gambling establishments, opium dens, herbalists, barbers, theatres, a circus etc. All along Campbells Creek the Chinese worked, not as individuals, but in a type of co-operative, utilising a system of open-cut alluvial mining.

The Guildford Arms (the town's first hotel) opened in 1854 although it was destroyed by fire in 1857. However, by that time, the Guildford Family Hotel (still standing) had been erected. A candle factory was established in 1855 and soap was manufactured from 1857. The town's first race meeting was held in 1856. By that time miners had extracted much of the alluvial gold and they began to sink shafts into the Guildford plateaux and other local hills with excellent results.

A school opened at Pennyweight Flat in 1858 and another at Guildford in 1860. An Anglican Church was built in 1861. However, the population fell dramatically as the alluvial gold declined and, when Guildford borough was proclaimed in 1866, there were just 250 ratepayers. By 1888 there were 200 people and three hotels.

Guildford also served as a coach depot for the likes of Cobb & Co for many years. Italian families later took up residence in the area. It is today something of a dormitory town for those who work at Castlemaine.

Things to see:  

The Big Tree
The main reason for visiting this town is 'The Big Tree' at the intersection of Fryers St and Ballaarat St (it is suitably signposted off the highway).

This truly remarkable and beautifully preserved red gum is thought to be the largest of its species in Victoria. The girth at the base is 12.8 metres and the height is 25.9 metres.

A plaque suggests that Burke and Wills camped beneath its generous umbrage on their journey from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Although this is apocraphyl Burke may well have been acquainted with the tree as he was superintendent of police in the Castlemaine district from 1858 to 1860 and would have been familiar with the terrain.

Historic Buildings
The building on the corner of the highway and Ballaraat St is the former Farmers Arms Hotel

The former Commercial Hotel (1865) is located at the corner of Fryers and Templeton Sts and it now serves as the town's general store. On its northern side are the stables and outbuildings of a large department store that burned down in 1916.

On the other side of the road is the Guildford Family Hotel (1856). The ruins of an old assembly hall stand nearby on its northern side. Next door is London House (1856) which originally served as a store and post office.

To the rear of the modern public hall is the old lock-up. The Catholic Church on the corner is now private property, as is the Wesleyan Chapel. The present post office in Templeton St dates from 1901.

Yapeen
2 km north of Guildford along the Midland Highway is the locality of Yapeen which was known as the Pennyweight Diggings in 1852. It later became Strathloddon, after William Campbell's 'Strathloddon' station, then Yapeen which is thought to be an Aboriginal place-name meaning 'green valley'.

Chinese miners once camped in this valley where the Munro apple was later developed. The ruins of an 1887 waterwheel can still be seen in Mopoke Gully.

Marsh House is a prefabricated two-storey building which was imported from England and erected in 1854 for William Mein, the son of a pioneer European settler. Mein Sr is said to have performed the first Presbyterian service in NSW.

	Hotels
	Guildford Family Hotel Midland Hwy Guildford VIC 3451 Telephone: (03) 5473 4215
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	The Loddon Restaurant & Tearooms Bed & Breakfast Cnr Midland Hwy & Fryers St Guildford VIC 3451 Telephone: (03) 5473 4232 Rating: ****
	Restaurants
	The Loddon Restaurant & Tearooms Cnr Midland Hwy & Fryers St Guildford VIC 3451 Telephone: (03) 5473 4232