Late last month, on Sunday, 21 May 2017, we celebrated 25 years of our volunteers keeping the memory of the Blacksmith alive at our site in Bacchus Marsh.  A very enjoyable afternoon tea followed our special guest, Barbara Manly, a direct descendant of Thomas Manly, one of the blacksmiths who, in 1850, continued the business set up by Vere Quaile.  Members of the original Committee of Management were on hand to plant a tree to commemorate the...

  Once again, we are part of the Australian Heritage Festival.  Come and visit the Blacksmith’s Cottage and Forge – step back into the past when the ‘smithy was a going concern and the ‘smithy’s family lived in the adjoining Cottage.  In 2009 our Committee undertook an Oral History project, recording the voices of some of the district’s farming pioneers of the early 20th century, when the horse was the main...

The Australian Gliding Museum at the Bacchus Marsh airfield is one of the area’s little-known treasures.  As part of the National Trust Heritage Month, 16th April-29th May, the Museum is mounting a display of model gliders and the history of gliding in Australia in the buildings and grounds of the historic Cottage and Forge. Come and see large scale models of early gliders, including the ‘Lasco Lark’, ‘Grunau Baby’, and ‘Merlin’, and more...

PUMPKINS, POMEGRANATES AND PENSTEMONS  Harvest Festival time at the cottage was a time of produce, people and flowers.  Veggie patches and gardens yielded a splash of colour to the 1850s cottage.  Pumpkins bedecked the hay bales in the yard and tomatoes and pomegranates spoke of autumn and winter dishes to come.  Double Delight roses and penstemons added their own delightful colours and scents. Autumn is a good time to visit Bacchus Marsh. ...