Thomas Marshall
Marshalltown, now called Marshall, located in the Geelong region has changed landscape over the years with significant development surrounding it.
Marshall, named after Thomas Marshall, included the area we now call Breakwater, had productive industries along the Barwon River such as tanneries, fellmongeries and animal by-product industries.
By the mid-1850s Thomas Marshall, a Geelong wool merchant, established a wool scouring works on the Barwon River near the breakwater built in 1837.
At the time the area was covered with wattle. The bark was used in the tanneries. The Australia Tannery (1852-1925) was near the sewerage aqueduct over the Barwon River (north of Sparrovale Road).
In 1877 the railway line from Colac to Geelong was opened and extended in 1879 to the Geelong racecourse before it was moved to Breakwater.
Employment was sourced through industries along the Barwon River. In the past Marshall had a school, hotel, post office and an Anglican church. The railway station closed in 1964 and was reopened in 2005 as the population grew in the area.
1886 Licensee Patrick Rice (from Geelong Hotels and their Licensees by Bill Morrow and Ian Wynn)
Barwon River Sewer Aqueduct
Marshall School
Until the Marshalltown Post Office was closed on 30 June 1979, it was reputed to be Victoria’s smallest post office. At 6 feet 6 inches square it had stood on the Marshall station platform since 1873 until the station closed in 1953. It was then shifted across the road to the front yard of a former Victorian Railways residence that was once the station master’s home.
Marshall Bluestone Cottage 