ABOUT US

Welcome to Winchelsea and District Historical Society.  We were established in 1981, for the preservation of local history.  Our Society is a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers whose aim is to research and preserve the history of  our area.  

The Society’s  rooms in the former Shire Office are open every Wednesday afternoon  1:30 – 5:00 pm  or by appointment.           Phone (03) 52672379.

District Background

Winchelsea is a pleasant rural town by the banks of the picturesque Barwon River.  The area  (some 37 kms south west of Geelong)  is serviced by the important Princes Highway.   Significant homesteads and woolsheds such as ‘Barwon Park,’ 
‘Wormbete’ and ‘Ingleby’ reflecting status and success from early squatting days, are in the vicinity. 
The township was at first called ‘Austin’s Ford,’  then  ‘The Barwon’ and finally officially named after an old English port. When a bridge was constructed over the river, our town was established as the gateway to the Western districts.