Hepburn Springs: Why Did Mineral Water First Become a Public Reserve?

Hepburn Springs lies in Victoria’s Central Highlands, about 110 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Gold mining in the 1850s reshaped creeks, roads and settlement, while Swiss–Italian migrants also built lives in the district. The town later became known for bathhouses and recuperation, but mineral water did not simply turn itself into a visitor economy once it was discovered.

The decisive step came in 1865, when the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve was established as Australia’s first mineral springs reserve. It kept the land around the springs for public use and provided enduring space for bathhouses, pavilions, pumps and walking tracks. The water was therefore not only a resource to extract or sell. It became a place requiring management, maintenance and shared access.

That institutional choice helps explain the town’s structure today. Bathhouses and accommodation provide work, while the public reserve, creek valley and paths keep local identity from belonging entirely to one business. Hepburn Regional Park is on Dja Dja Wurrung Country and is jointly managed with DJAARA; recent track repairs have also involved Dja Dja Wurrung organisations. The “spa town” is thus not a natural label but a way of life formed by water, public rules, migrant enterprise and an ongoing relationship with Country. What matters most is not simply a cup drawn from a pump, but more than a century of public decisions about who may use the water and who cares for it.

https://www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/Places-activities/Venues/Hepburn-Springs-Mineral-Reserve
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/news/2025/03/27/02/43/hepburn-regional-park-walking-tracks-reopened