Discover Whittlesea

Whittlesea offers several ways to discover its local history and events: a heritage-listed courthouse, a weekly market, an annual show and a history walk. If you’re looking for accommodation, you can start by considering whether you want your stay to be shaped by market day, the November weekend or the town’s history.

Courthouse: court history and visitor information

Whittlesea Courthouse dates from around 1864 and served as Whittlesea Court of Petty Sessions until 1989. The restored, heritage-listed building is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the area. It reopened to the public in 1996, this time as a tourism and visitor information centre. The volunteer-run Whittlesea Courthouse Visitor Information Centre provides visitors with tourism information about the City of Whittlesea and surrounding districts.

The courthouse’s history therefore covers several clearly distinct phases: its former role as a court, the end of that use and its later reopening as an information centre. If you’re interested in local history, you’ll find a specific historical topic here that encompasses not only the building’s former role as a court but also its subsequent use.

Explore local history on foot

Another way to explore Whittlesea’s history is the Whittlesea Township Local History Walk. The route is a short, flat loop that can be extended. This gives you two options when planning: the short circuit or a longer version if you’d like to allow more time for the walk.

The courthouse and the walk offer different ways to explore local history: at the courthouse, the focus is on the historic building and its former use, while the loop offers a chance to explore on foot. You can include both in your travel plans without needing to tie the walk to a particular event date.

Show: agriculture, demonstrations and animals

The Whittlesea Show is held annually on the first full weekend in November; the exact calendar dates vary from year to year. Agriculture and farming history are the focus of the Heritage Pavilion, where historic machinery is demonstrated in operation alongside early farming practices. An official announcement also listed historic farm machinery and cars, blacksmithing demonstrations and sheep shearing in the Pavilion for the 2025 Whittlesea Show.

The Animal Nursery is also part of the show. Visitors can pat young animals there, including miniature ponies, alpacas, lambs, goats and chickens. This means the show covers a range of themes: historic machinery and farming practices on one hand, and the chance to meet young animals on the other.

Monday Market and accommodation planning

The Whittlesea Monday Market is held on Mondays at Whittlesea Showgrounds and features more than 120 stalls. Eggs are among the products on offer. The market is a regular weekly event, while the show is tied to a specific weekend in November. If the market is important to your trip, plan your stay for a Monday and check the latest operating information before your visit.

If the show is your main reason for visiting, plan around the first full weekend in November and check the exact dates for the relevant year. For a visit to the Monday Market, Monday is the key day.

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For the main travel overview: Victoria.