Long-time Creswick resident Neville Cartledge. PICTURE: LACHLAN BENCE
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NEVILLE Cartledge moved to Creswick as a one-year-old baby and 74 years later, is still yet to live anywhere else.
A fourth generation Creswickian, Mr Cartledge says the town he has known his entire life is the perfect place to live.
Close to Ballarat, while still boasting everything needed for everyday living, Mr Cartledge says Creswick has everything you will ever need.
Once a town of 25,000 people, many of Creswick’s grand old buildings were built during the lucrative gold rush period and serve as constant reminders of the wealth that once flooded the town.
However aside from the historic buildings, little evidence remains of gold mining days.
John La Gerch began re-planting forest areas ravaged by mining activity in 1882, making Creswick the forestry town it is today.
University of Melbourne currently runs its School of Forestry and Ecosystem in Creswick, with many of todays current foresters having learned the ropes in the town.
For Mr Cartledge, a veteran CFA volunteer and scout member, the best thing about Creswick is its aged health care.
And although many of the Creswick District Nursing Home residents found themselves in a moment of strife when the town was decimated by floods in 2010 and 2011, they have once again settled in the state-of-the-art facilities.
“The floods caused a fair amount of grief in the town but like any disaster, they did bring the community together,” said Mr Cartledge.
“It’s a pretty close knit community we have now. It’s a nice quiet town, its very close to Ballarat but it has got everything most people will ever need.”
The basics
Municipality: Hepburn Shire
Population: 2942
First settled: 1842
Main industries: Health care, education, forestry, agriculture, grazing
Claim to fame: Birthplace to John Curtin, the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Also home Australia's best known art family - the Lindsays - who were mostly born in the late 1800s.
Five fast facts:
1. Creswick started out as a large sheep station when brothers Henry, Charles and John Creswick first settled in the area in 1842.
2. Australia's worst ever mining disaster in occurred in Creswick in 1882. Twenty-two miners drowned at the New Australasian Gold Mine disaster on December 11, 1882.
3. The Creswick Woollen Mills is the last remaining coloured spinning mill of its kind in Australia. The mill is still in operation today.
4. Creswick suffered severe flooding three times in five months in 2010 and 2011, wreaking havoc in the city and damaging dozens of homes, businesses and sporting clubs.
5. Creswick's population reached a peak of 25,000 during the gold rush days in the 1850s. The population these days is about one-tenth of what it once was.
Five things to do:
1. Feel like hitting the links? Creswick's Novotel Forest Resort is one of the best golf courses in the Ballarat region. It will this year play host to the Victorian PGA Championships for the second year in a row.
2. Calembeen Park is home to Creswick's famed jumping towers. Rumour has it the towers are situated over an old mine that has since been filled with water. The top tower, which once saw people leap 10 metres into water, has been removed but two smaller jumping towers still remain.
3. St George's Lake also boasts a great chance for people to take a dip, but also a perfect spot to take the family. Nestled discreetly within Creswick's bush, free gas barbecues and a quaint foreshore make it the perfect spot for a relaxing afternoon.
4. If it's too cold for a swim, maybe you should rug up in wool from the Creswick Woollen Mills. The giant mill has outlasted more than 50 other mills of its sort in Australia and makes everything form socks to picnic rugs.
5. Take the kids to the Magic Pudding Playground, based around the characters and events of the Norman Lindsay book "The Magic Pudding". Stage one of the playground was completed this year and further works are planned.