BACCHUS MARSH Bacchus Marsh is the next of the trifecta of the ‘by-gone’ era nuisance towns when traveling the Ballarat/ Melbourne highway. Bacchus Marsh is now a by-pass town. Bacchus Marsh is increasingly a dormitory suburb of Melbourne, but that said the locals will tell you Bacchus Marsh will never be an invisible suburb. Heritage is clearly a factor with the future development of the community assets. One of the first white men to reach the Bacchus Marsh valley was pastoralist Kenneth Scobie Clarke (c. 1806–79), a native of Sutherland in Scotland. Clarke was a manager for the Great Lake Company of Van Diemen’s Land.The locality was named after one of its original inhabitants, Captain William Henry Bacchus, who saw the great value of this locality as it was situated on two rivers — the Lerderderg and Werribee. In 1838, Englishman Captain William Henry Bacchus (1782–1849) and his son William Henry Bacchus junior (1820–87) also brought sheep from Tasmania and came to the district. Bacchus Marsh is a rich food bowl region servicing the Melbourne basin and beyond. When entering the town from the east the war memorial, represented by the 282 elm trees that make the Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour is an acknowledgement of substance. These trees were saplings just 90 years ago. And, each tree represents a soldier that paid the ultimate price for OZ. Bacchus March has a beaut main street. The small tenancies add to the character of the town. The hotels of Bacchus March have character and are set to be lasting ‘old buildings’ and appreciated within the town. All of the main church denominations practice within 100 year plus buildings. Bacchus Marsh also has the traditional war memorial cenotaphs. Bacchus Marsh is not a suburb, and so how a town can survive the encroachment makes this town a case study. Be sure to visit or better still make it a stopover