November 4th, 2025Our history at Trentham

In the last edition of The Local, historian Natalie Poole wrote about the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Trentham Primary School.

Student Jack Watson Sleeman, 10, wrote his own history of the region, edited here for space, which appeared in the Kyneton Guardian on May 14, 1918.
“In 1856 wood splitters and pit sawyers, who were the first settlers in the Trentham district, commenced their work among the timber in the ranges, where they lived in huts. These men cut the timber (and) sent it to Kyneton to be sold.
The forest known as ‘Clowes’ Forest’ proved to have immense quantities of valuable timber in it. This forest kept many sawmills working continuously for over 40 years. The timber was very useful for building houses and bridges, making fences, and was also good fuel.
The first steam sawmill in the district was erected by Mr. J. B. Enders in 1857. Subsequently followed by sawmills erected by Messrs. McPherson Bros., Mr Lyons, Laver Bros., Christian Bros. and others.
Gold was first discovered in March 1859, at the site of the Trentham township, and although considerable quantities have been obtained over several miles of country no rich finds have been discovered. Newbury, Garlick’s Lead, Barry’s Reef, and Blackwood are mining districts adjoining Trentham.
The township is situated on the River Trent, a tributary of the Coliban, on which are the Trentham Falls. The water going over the falls has a descent of 100 feet. The scenery at the Falls is very fine, it being a place of much natural beauty.
The district contains a considerable quantity of rich volcanic soil suitable for agricultural purposes, which has been the chief industry since 1860; the principal crops being potatoes, wheat, oats, rye, maize, and hay. The first farmers to come to Trentham were Messrs. Ogden, Bickley, Middlemiss, Glenn, Pearson and Watson. Sheep raising and dairying are also carried on.
The Carlsruhe to Daylesford railway, which goes through Trentham, was completed in 1880 and the first passenger train passed through Trentham on the 17th of March 1880.”
Jack was awarded a scholarship at a district high school in early 1919. He went into banking after he left school and eventually returned to Trentham in his later life.