Lawrence

Lawrence is a former gold mining village 13 km north of Creswick. It was north of Birchs Creek where the creek was crossed by Lawrence Road and Wheeler Bridge. There are numerous mullock heaps in the vicinity, from the Berry deep leads.

Lawrence was in the middle of four villages which grew from the deep lead mining north of Creswick. Furtherest north was Ullina, then Lawrence, Jerusalem and Clementson. All except Ullina were near Birchs Creek.

The Berry deep leads were named after the wife of the Victorian premier, Graham Berry (1875, 1877-80, 1880-81). There were four Madam Berry mines. Lawrence was named after Lawrence Laurenson, one of the early discoverers of gold at Creswick in 1851.

A school, named Jerusalem, was opened in 1896, because local children had difficulty crossing the creeks to get to the schools at Clementson or Ullina. The Victorian municipal directory in 1898 described Lawrence as having two hotels and a post office, and adjoining Jerusalem as being a small mining settlement. In 1903 Lawrence was described briefly in the Australian handbook:

Within ten years one of the hotels had gone, and by 1916 Lawrence was described as an old mining town.

In 1932 the school's name was changed from Jerusalem to Lawrence, by when Jerusalem was described as being just 'a heap of bricks' in a school inspector's report. Lawrence school finally closed in 1950. Wheeler's Bridge on Lawrence Road is an early reinforced concrete structure, built by Monash and Anderson in 1900.

Lawrence's census populations were: