Middle Gully, as Macedon was called back then, became a hub of activity and provided inns, beer houses, coffee tents, blacksmiths’ forges and stores for the crowds of gold miners.

[10] The gold rush of the 1850s-1870s ensured that the area continued to flourish, and the construction of the railway between Melbourne and Bendigo from 1858 to 1862 brought many new residents to the region.

[12][13] By 1893, the settlement had taken on the name Macedon and was growing through a co-operative association model with shared labour clearing land and building dwellings and fencing.

Local industry sprung up, including a butter factory, said by a Melbourne newspaper at the time as "situated about one mile from the station, on the road to the mount.

"[14][15] Throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, Melbourne's wealthy social elite began to settle the area in earnest due to large blocks of land on the south side of Mount Macedon being released to them by the government.

1,660), Anglican, Wesleyan and Roman Catholic churches, Jubilee hall, library and a State nursery in the neighbourhood, also several eucalyptus oil works.

[20] The autumn colours of the Avenue of Honour attract a large influx of visitors annually, prompting the local council to introduce temporary traffic and parking restrictions in recent years.

[23] Witnesses reported that during the ordeal the hotel's windows were "red-hot" and "sparks continuously sprayed the room each time the door was opened".

Australian Defence Force members were deployed to assist the town in the aftermath, such as disposing of dead livestock,[23] after the Victorian Minister for Police and Emergency Services requested help from the Federal Government.

[29] Locals, worried about the environmental and cultural impacts of this growing popularity, successfully campaigned for new planning controls to protect the character of the region.

[42] As of the 2016 census, the main industries employing people in the Macedon area is Education & Training (13.1%), Healthcare and Social Assistance (10.5%), Construction (10%), Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (9.4%), Public Administration and Safety (7.3%), Retail (6.4%) and Manufacturing (6%).

Facilities include 15 classrooms, science laboratories, gymnasium, 10 metre indoor heated pool, tennis and basketball courts and a five-hole golf course.

[50] Newspaper articles from the late 19th and early 20th century describe the wide variety of plants that flourished at the State Nursery in spite of its poor topsoil and craggy terrain.

[51] One description of a visit to the nursery by the Minister of Mines and Forests in 1909 was of "many fine specimens of Oregon, American spruce, Californian redwood, yellow pine, and Himalayan cedar".

[52] Cool-climate trees like cypress, larch, cedar and pine thrived at the high altitude; deciduous species of oak, ash and birch grew well, as did native eucalypts and casuarinas.

[53] The majority of the trees that were propagated at the nursery were of European and English varieties with which the landowners were familiar, hence the unique character of many of the early avenues in nearby towns such as Gisborne and in the grand gardens of Mount Macedon.