May 4th, 2020The unofficial history of…
THE series continues in May featuring the Daylesford Court House (now the Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre).
In collaboration with The Local, Alice’s Journeys Walking Tours will take you on a virtual unofficial history tour of the Daylesford Court House.
To do this we need your help. If you’re cooped up at home during the COVID-19 crisis, when would be a better time to share some of your local memories with the community?
In your own words, tell us about an interesting story or memory you have of an event you experienced at the Daylesford Court House. Events might include a fungi workshop with Alison Pouliot, or a court proceeding before the mid-1980s when the court was officially decommissioned. Tell us the year, how old you were and what this experience meant to you. We’ll publish selected stories here in TL and on our website www.alicesjourneys.com
Thanks to Les Pitt’s Mud Blood & Gold…Daylesford the early years first published in 2016, here’s a court house story of note from the mid-1800s.
Magistrate ‘court’ out
According to Ann Baker, “all sorts” visited her in the local 1850s diggings – even the very magistrate across the bench formally asking if men called on her.
Ann was a feisty character, one of the regular defendants at the local 1850s Daylesford courthouse.
As a sex worker charged with prostitution she was not unlike many of the goldfields women moonlighting to earn a living.
Back then a woman could not obtain a miner’s licence so she’d have to be resourceful and find other ways to work. According to historian Claire Wright women quietly become the bedrock of gold-mining towns like Daylesford.
What happened to Ann Baker? It’s a history mystery as to whether her client Magistrate Daly let her go that day.
Did you also know William Stanbridge, the first Mayor of Daylesford was also a local magistrate, JP and state member of Parliament? No conflict of interest there?
Do you know about the rare architectural significance of the smiley-face design of the Court House built on the 1860s?
Do you have a memory of the Daylesford Courthouse?
Email: Lynda Poke at info@alicesjourneys.com
Words: Lynda Poke
Image: Contributed
Pictured: Lynda Poke in front of historic Daylesford Court House
