A rush began to New Year's Flat on Fryers Creek on New Year's Day, 1853. The rush was described by a digger as "the most animated sight of those stirring times that I ever witnessed".[5] The settlement arose nearby, and the Shamrock Hotel, an establishment reportedly frequented by "wild men," was subsequently built on the Vaughan Road.[6] A Catholic church was consecrated in 1865, the building existing until 1956 when it was demolished.[6]