Australia's pioneering past goes to auction

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.

The auction will begin on site at 10am Sunday January 17 and will feature a rare Australia Post cast iron letterbox from the period.

Much of the antique furniture on offer fits the environment – sideboards, dressers, desks, cottage tables, chairs, miners couch and a four-poster bed.

There also is china, glass, old prints, signs, gold prospecting equipment, rustic trolleys, bellows, timber barrels, lamps, lanterns, a blacksmith anvil and barn and pub doors.

 For those auction goers who like to collect automobile memorabilia there are six petrol bowsers – including an Ampol Bullseye, a plume glass top and a Golden Fleece Activ 8 Wayne 605 – and several oil bottle and racks and oil tins.

Three horse drawn wagons should appeal to those collectors who love rustic memorabilia and there are several modern day vehicles including a 2004 Mitsubishi Canter four wheel drive Intercooler tipping tray with swinging gate, a 1980 International C1300 fire truck, a 1983 Toyota Landcruiser two-tonne tray,

a 1964 white cab chassis truck and a Ford 4000 three cylinder diesel tractor.