Rathscar, Victoria
# Rathscar, Victoria

Rathscar is a locality in Pyrenees Shire and the Shire of Central Goldfields. The area to the east of the Avoca River known as Rathscar West was surveyed in 1899.

## Gold mining

The Melbourne newspaper The Argus reported in 1903 that a new gold-bearing reef had been discovered in Rathscar.

## People

The "largest landholder and possibly the wealthiest" in the area was Charles Wilson from Sunny Park ( Coordinates 36°58′53″S 143°36′28″E﻿ / ﻿36.9813035°S 143.607879°E﻿ / -36.9813035; 143.607879 ). Wilson's daughter Maude Wilson married John Miller in 1901 at Sunny Park and they then lived in the Rathscar district where their four children were born.

## Property

There was a Primary School (Numbered 1535) at Rathscar West.

Rathscar West had a Methodist church, initially constructed in timber and built around 1870. As well as the Sunday services, the church hosted a number of activities including concerts, harvest festivals and Sunday School picnics.

The timber building was replaced by brick church (recycled from the former Methodist Church / Wesleyan Chapel Homebush - 6 km away) in 1928. In 2018, this former Rathcar West church building is now privately owned.

The Pyrenees Shire Council has documented a number of buildings in Rathscar including the Methodist Church, the Avonlea Farm House and the Elliot farm complex, in the Avoca Heritage Study: 1864 - 1994 - Volume 3.

