The much-anticipated opening of Porcupine Village in Maldon remains on the horizon, as managers Doug and Deborah Baird await the green light to fling open the gates of the replica gold mining town.
In the meantime, visitors can dine in style in the new Golden Nugget Restaurant, open for dinner Fridays and Saturdays, and a carvery lunch and live music on Sundays.
The replica gold-miners village, which sat abandoned for 20 years, has had new life breathed into it since Melbourne businessman, Frank Hutchinson, bought the property for $1.7 million in 2020. And with the assistance of a $1.7 million government grant in June the village is looking fantastic.
The tourist attraction is a great way to step back in time to the 1850s and get a glimpse of what it was like to live during the gold rush, walking among the 40 ramshackle buildings complete with a bar, blacksmith’s shed, general store and undertaker’s office.
There will be a range of accommodation options available including motel rooms, glamping and a caravan park. Visitors will be able to get up close with native animals at the wildlife sanctuary, buy produce grown onsite at the greengrocer, or buy some unique metalworks made by the onsite blacksmith.
The village caters for birthdays and weddings and includes a specially designed function marque, which has proven to be a controversial addition, with objections from local residents that the marque is not keeping with the heritage of the town.
Manager Deborah Baird told the Express that functions were booking fast and the restaurant hosted a beautiful wedding over the weekend.
“Sundays have been incredibly popular, we have different local musicians perform and happy hour from 3pm-4pm,” she said.
Head chef Sonya McCarthy said Deborah and Doug were the best managers, and the owner Frank was lovely and incredibly supportive of new ideas.
“We’re having our first themed night this Friday,” Sonya said. “We’ll have a Chinese menu for a few weeks and then we’ll try Indian and Spanish. On Saturday we have fine dining.
“One of the most popular dishes has been the eye fillet steak with a Panacea Estate red wine jus and the Warral Honey Creme Brulee.
“We use a lot of local produce including buying our meat from the Maldon Butchers, cheeses, olives, oil, and preserves as well as a huge selection of local wines and cider. Plus we grow a lot of the fresh produce ourselves.”