Nhill Heritage Street Walk

Follow the blue numbers 1 - 35 starting at the Nhill Visitor Information Centre.

Nhill (Pop. 2100) was surveyed in 1879 and some buildings from the 1880s are still features of the town. The divided road separated by a wide park was designed to allow access for bullock wagons. Census in 1881 -14 dwellings, 111 people. 1891 - 214 homes, 1002 people. In 1892 Nhill was the first town outside Melbourne to have electric street lighting.

The railway arrived in 1886. Fire Brigade established in May 1888 then six months later the largest fire in Nhill's history destroyed the west side of Victoria St from Brougham St to the Farmers Arms Hotel.

A severe cyclone in Nov. 1897 destroyed or damaged a wide area from Bordertown to Horsham and Warracknabeal. Many houses, churches and shops in Nhill were damaged or destroyed. Damage in town estimated at 40,000 pounds. Many of the brick buildings in the main street date from the fire of 1888 or the cyclone of 1897.

Nhill Heritage Street Walk Map

1. Information Centre opened 2003.
2. Band Rotunda built 1909.
3. Union Hotel. Nhill's first hotel was moved from Kiata in 1882. Current Hotel built in 1911 by pioneering Rintoule family.
4. Site of 1st Doctor's Surgery.
5. Pharmacy: site of Bounds Fruit & Veg shop then Central cafe. Stained glass installed 1927.
6. Bank of Victoria 1890.
7. Site of Kozminski's General Store. First shop in Nhill 1881.
8. Commercial Hotel built 1886 burnt down and rebuilt 1916.
9. Present Fire Station opened 2004, originally Treasury Hotel. Pre 1920.
10. Post Office built 1887. Oldest existing building in Nhill.
11. Site of 1st Fire Station built 1888 destroyed by fire 1930, rebuilt and used till 2004.
12. Shire Offices and Mallee Fowl Statue built 1962. Rebuilt and extended in 2015.
13. Noske's Flour Mill built 1919. Largest single concrete silo in the southern hemisphere.
14. IGA. Site of Williams' motor garage and car sales.
15. Hotel Royal burnt down in 1919, then Moran & Cato Grocery Store.
16. Nhill Community Centre built by H V Schulz in 1928.
17. Morrows Car Sales. - Formerly Theatre Royal.
18. Masonic Lodge. Formed in 1892, this building 1924.
19. Presbyterian Church built 1889. Only wooden church building existing in Nhill.
20. First Lowan Shire Office built 1888. Home of Nhill Historical Society.
21. Court House built 1888.
22. Anglican Church dedicated 1899. Rebuilt after 1897. Formerly Chinese Market Gardens.
23. National Australia Bank built in 1890s.
24. Wesley Hall: Site of Mechanics Institute built 1883 and used as 1st Public Hall.
25. Uniting Church: formerly Methodist. A Salvation Army hall was once in the car park area.
26. CWA. Built 1938 as CWA Rest Rooms
27. Lowana Cottage Crafts established 1967
28. Snappy Seconds. Site of 1st Post Office, Ada Oliver 1st postmistress.
29. Olivers Cafe. Site of Olivers' Flour Mill built 1879, the 1st business in Nhill.
30. Private residence. Site of the Oriental Bank.
31. Jennifer Meek's- formerly General Store built 1909.
32. Cafe - formerly T F Blackburn Chemist, later Macaulay's Pharmacy for many years.
33. Farmers Arms Hotel rebuilt after 1919 fire.
34. Goldsworthy Park with memorials to early pioneers and war veterans.
35. Draught Horse statue built 1968.

Location

39 Victoria Street, Nhill 3418 Map

Web Links

→ Nhill Heritage Street Walk Brochure (PDF)

→ Nhill Heritage Walk (Walking Maps)