Goldfields Getaway
31 March, 2023
Avoca adventure
Named after a village and river in County Wicklow, Ireland, the town of Avoca is popular with tourists eager to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Explorer and surveyor Thomas Mitchell was the first European known to have travelled through...
Named after a village and river in County Wicklow, Ireland, the town of Avoca is popular with tourists eager to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.
Explorer and surveyor Thomas Mitchell was the first European known to have travelled through the Avoca district. Mitchell found the area more temperate in climate and better watered than inland New South Wales and encouraged settlers to take up land.
Like many of the region’s town, the discovery of gold in the 1850s led to a massive increase in population as hopeful miners flocked to the area. In the two years from 1853 to 1855, the population increased from 100 people to more than 16,000.
Today, although prospectors are still attracted to the town, Avoca is best known as a wine producing region. Other attractions include the boutique stores and antique shops that line the main street, The Chinese Gardens, the monthly market by the banks of the river, Pyrenees Unearthed wine festival and Art Gallery 127 at the old Avoca railway station with its glow-in-the-dark Owl silo art.
