Porcupine Township at Maldon is your typical Australian pioneer village of the 1850s – a la Sovereign Hill at Ballarat.

Established in the early 1990s, it was a popular tourist attraction among those interested in seeing life in a gold mining community in colonial times first hand until purchased about five years ago by the current owners and closed down.

The township itself is now up for sale and auctioneer Steve Graham has been asked to dispose of those contents that will not affect the running of the village should the new owners decide to reopen it.

Home handymen and professional tradesmen will have a field day at Abbeys Auctions last sale for 2015 choosing from a large country collection of woodworking and metalworking tools.

The auction, from 9am Friday December 18 at 480-482a Station Street, Box Hill, will feature a water pump, table planer, McMillan horizontal band saw, 10cfm compressor, Bishamon 500-kilogram manual forklift, Mig and Arc welders and hand tools.

Also on the agenda is a range of general household furniture.

E.J. Ainger’s final auction for 2015 is notable for the residual contents of several estates from Hawthorn, Toorak, Malvern, Brighton and Reservoir along with several private consignments.

The auction will begin at 9.30 on Tuesday December 15 at 433 Bridge Road, Richmond and includes antique English, French and Australian furniture along with contemporary pieces such as Tessa leather chairs oriental offerings.

There also is an interesting range of industrial furniture and gilded antique and contemporary mirrors and prints.

A monster two-day auction of art, antiques, English porcelain, alcohol, glassware, garden items and collectables will be held from 11am Saturday December 12 and Sunday December 13 at Ballarat Mill Markets 9367 Western Highway Warrenheip, Ballarat.