Westgarthtown Urban Walk, Thomastown

Walk along green reserves in Thomastown and explore the original German colonial village of Westgarthtown that includes the Ziebell Farmhouse, its colonial gardens, Lutheran cemetery and bluestone chapel, where the earliest German settlers established dairy farms. Walk where John Batman met with the local leaders of the Wurundjeri people and made a contentious treaty with them in 1835. Reflect on the impressive contribution of these settlers to the formation of Victoria's wealth and diversity, achieved however by the dispossession of the Indigenous first peoples' lands and hunting fields. 

GRADE | LENGTH | TYPE: Easy, approximately 7 km, circuit walk. 

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION:
From Thomastown Station, we will walk down Main Street, then turn into Edgars Reserve that follows the Edgars Creek and has been re-planted extensively with native vegetation. Within Edgars Reserve, historians believe John Batman "negotiated" a treaty with the Wurundjeri people. We will walk up a pathway to the simple bluestone Lutheran chapel - the oldest operating Lutheran church building in Australia, dedicated in 1856. From the chapel, we'll cross the paddock to the original Ziebell Farmhouse. Ziebell's Farmhouse is open to the public, built between 1851 and 1856 with 61cm walls and is a typical German farmhouse design. It is surrounded by the original, shady colonial garden that features still healthy 140 year old roses.

Entry fee is $3 per person.

PLEASE NOTE COVID 19 RESTRICTIONS IN PLACE AS AT 17TH FEB 2021:
Entry to the Museum and Gardens is limited to 4 people for a 45 minute time slot.

Two time slots have been booked to hopefully allow us sufficient time to inspect the house and gardens. The first time slot is 12:15pm. The second slot is 1pm. We will all get an opportunity to go in; another 4 people can enter once the first group of 4 exit the house -- SO it may be necessary for each group of 4 to limit their inspection time to say 20 minutes. How long each group of four gets will depend on the attendee numbers on the day.

It had been anticipated that we could have lunch in these gardens but that doesn't seem possible now. Either way, we will have lunch under some shady trees!

From the Farmhouse we will walk to the oldest Lutheran cemetery in Australia nearby, then on to a heritage walk to see the other German farmhouses that constituted the original village. We'll skirt a sports reserve and return to Edgars Reserve for our return to Thomastown Station. We can have an afternoon tea either at a covered outdoor cafe on the heritage walk or back at a reasonable kiosk with seating at Thomastown Station. We will catch the 3:35pm train to Flinders St. 

NOMADS COVIDSAFE CHECKLIST: Checklist 210314 Westgarthtown Urban Walk, Thomastown.

BOOKING: By Thursday 11th March | To register, click on Get Tickets.

MEETING TIME | LOCATION: 10am at Flinders St Station for the 10:08am Mernda train. We'll travel in the front carriage. Gathering time outside Thomastown Station 10:50am. 

MAP REFERENCE: Melway map 8 grid H5 | Google map goo.gl/maps/NnReL3xVAk84psyH9. 

DISTANCE | TIME FROM GPO: 16 km, approximately 40 minutes by train.

TRANSPORT: By train as described above or car parking available at Thomastown Station.

FOOD: Carry lunch, snacks and at least 1 litre of water.

APPAREL | FOOTWEAR: Comfortable walking boots/shoes and dress according to the weather forecast. Don't forget a face mask and hand sanitiser.

LEADER: Don V. | Email the Leader if you have any questions. Members can access leader contact details under Members | Leader Contacts when logged in to the website.

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