Bolwarra and Allestree

Bolwarra is a rural locality 7 km north of Portland, on the Princes Highway. Allestree is 5 km east of Bolwarra.

Settlement appears to have begun in the late 1850s, as there is the former Forest Inn (1856) on the Princes Highway. Another 20 years passed, however, before there were a primary school and the railway line from Heywood to Portland. Bolwarra’s local railway point was the Gorae station about 3 km west where there were an apple cool store and a sawmill. Bolwarra also had orchards and timber cutting.

Bolwarra post office opened in 1902. Its named was changed to Allestree in 1907, remaining so until it closed in 1971. Bolwarra has a public hall, a Uniting church and a primary school (108 pupils, 2014). Census populations have been: