May 6th, 2026Our region’s history with Natalie Poole

Johann (John) Konrad Vorbach was born on November 28, 1826 in Nieder-Wiesel, Germany, the illegitimate child of Katharina Lander.

The father was Wilhelm Vorbach from Holzhausen, Germany. Wilhelm was present at the baptism of his child and gave the boy his family name. Katharina later married Nikolaus Winter.
John moved to England in 1842 to begin a new chapter of his life. Being an illegitimate child in those times would have been difficult and getting a fresh start may have been the reason for leaving his homeland.
He met a German immigrant Elisabetha Margaretha Schild, above, and they married on October 24, 1845 at St Michael’s Church in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. Johann’s occupation on the marriage certificate was a farmer.
Gold fever had hit Australia and Johann wanted to try his luck. On February 26, 1857, the family left Liverpool on board the Pomona heading to the goldfields in Ballarat.
The ship reached Australia on May 30, 1857 and the family made their way to Ballarat. Later the Vorbachs moved to Smythesdale where other German immigrants were gathered, continuing mining for the next four years.
In 1865, John was the manager of the Derby Gold Mine at Hepburn and he was also a farmer and dairyman at Italian Hill, Daylesford. He then bought land at Bullarto and opened the eventually well-known Vorbach’s Hotel and Store.
John was the publican of Vorbach’s Railway Hotel in 1880. He was also contracted to provide prisoner rations to lock-ups during his time at the hotel.
The Argus newspaper dated February 22, 1886 talks of a disastrous house fire: “Early yesterday morning a fire occurred in Bullarto, by which Vorbach’s homestead, consisting of nine rooms and an outhouse, with the contents, was completely destroyed. Vorbach was awakened by a crackling noise, and found the kitchen in flames, and the whole of the building was speedily destroyed before assistance could be rendered.”
John was not insured but he rebuilt and continued on in his endeavours as a hotel owner. At this time, hotels numbered four or five in the Bullarto area and business must have been worthwhile for him to start again.
Having a general store would have helped trade. He was also farming at this time too. Life would have seemed pretty good.
Tragedy ensued when his wife Elisabetha secured a passage on the maiden voyage of the ill-fated Wairarapa to Auckland. It left Sydney on October 24, 1894 and just after midnight on October 29, 1894, the ship hit the steep cliffs near Miners Head on the northern tip of Great Barrier Island, off the coast of Auckland and was wrecked.
Sadly, Elisabetha drowned, with her body located sometime later in a shallow grave and returned to Victoria to be buried at the Daylesford Cemetery.
Vorbach’s Railway Hotel changed hands after the tragedy and John retired and remained living in the area. In early 1901, John was diagnosed with cancer of the liver, and he died on August 6, 1901 at Musk, aged 74. He is buried in the Daylesford Cemetery, alongside his wife.

Images: Daylesford Historical Society