Imagine owning your own little town, complete with a hotel, mortuary, bath house, General Store, blacksmith and there’s even a jail.

Welcome to Porcupine Village, a town recreated to look like it did back in the 1850s with about 40 buildings containing relics from the Goldfields era. 

It sits on 15 acres of land on the outskirts of Maldon and it’s up for sale for around $1.7 million.

The town was built by Paul Mitz in 1991-92, who once said learning about Victoria’s early history inspired him to build the town.

A couple of decades ago, Porcupine Village (then known as Porcupine Township) was a hive of activity with musicians playing inside and outside the dance hall, employees dressed in period costumes playing shopkeepers, gold diggers and undertakers all waiting to greet busloads of tourists who came to visit this little town of yesteryear.

Today the streets are empty, barren. The stores are closed with their front doors bolted shut and there’s not a soul to be seen inside or outside the buildings. Ironically, it’s not dissimilar to the streets of a lot of regional Victorian towns and indeed Melbourne itself during this year’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

But the silence and emptiness of Porcupine Village is interrupted for a short spell as Ed Carthew of Ed Carthew Real Estate in Bendigo takes the TT on a guided tour.

Mr Carthew highlights the main selling points: two three-bedroom residences, a six-unit motel (with potential to expand to eight units) and a 60-seat restaurant complete with a cool room and a laundry.

“They’re all in good condition but they could do with freshening up a bit,” he said.

“But for whoever buys it, the motel could be the source of immediate income.” 

As we wander into the main street of the recreated Goldfields town, Mr Carthew points to the dance hall, which was once called Charlotte’s Barn and originally it sat on the Richards’ family property in the Moolort Plains.

Further down the street is the undertaker’s residence which apparently still has ‘a couple of coffins upstairs’, hopefully empty.

Then there is the fantastic old bowling alley and wine bar combined and the The Surgery where ‘amputations can be done at short notice’.

Mr Carthew says former Tourism Minister Pat McNamara opened Porcupine Township in 1992 and it operated as a tourist attraction until about 2005, when Mr Mitz sold it.

“The current owner (who does not want to be named) bought is as a residence so he could tinker around and keep himself busy.”

The replica township hasn’t operated for the past 15 years but it has been used for feature films and the occasional wedding in that time.

“The owner just wants to retire completely and downsize to a smaller property.

“He wants someone else to open it up again and create a tourist facility and jobs for Maldon.”   

Porcupine Village went on the market last Thursday 29 October and Mr Carthew had received about 15 enquiries in the first five days. 

“It could be ideal for a consortium of three families to buy it.” Check out our photo gallery at www.tarrangowertimes.com.au.

Jeff Jones