General News
28 September, 2025
Jeparit’s quest to be an Ideal Town
Many towns do what they can to promote their liveability, whether this be through 'Tidy Town’ competitions or, currently, the Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards.
newspaper sponsored the Ideal Town Quest, and Jeparit was one of the towns to seize the opportunity to promote itself.
The Quest enabled towns to register for one of three categories: A, B and C, Category C being for smaller towns.
sponsored the Quest to the tune of £1000.
Judging the winning entry involved assessing a town’s facilities, the environment, including its natural scenery, its tidiness, sporting fields, streetscapes, tree plantations and gardens, water and electricity services, local industries, roads and footpaths, along with cultural activities such as galleries, museums, libraries and musical bands and even civic spirit.
In 1927, Jeparit entered itself as a Category C Ideal Town.
This involved initial voting by the public, with five finalists being determined.
Once the finalists had been announced, a panel of judges would visit the town to inspect its situation and amenities.
In December 1927, the five Category C finalists were Yackandandah, Alexandra, Woodend, Yea and Jeparit.
After the final judging, Yea was judged the Ideal Town Category C winner with Jeparit coming a close second, but only by one point.
Alexandra and Woodend were judged in equal third place.
Jeparit lost points in the judging because of its lack of hotel accommodation.
So keen was the competition between towns that when the winners were announced, the residents of Woodend demanded to know why Yea and Jeparit should win over it.
As second-place getter, Jeparit received £75.
This prize money was used by Jeparit’s citizens to erect a new Tennis Pavilion in Broadway, which wasopened late in 1928.
In 1931, Jeparit, then with a population of 800, again entered the Ideal Town Quest.
The six Category C finalists in 1931 were Yackandandah, Alexandra, Sorrento, Apollo Bay, Bright and Jeparit.
So Jeparit must have been swelling with pride that for the second time in three years it had reached the list of finalists.
On October 21, the Hindmarsh Hotel hosted a lavish dinner prior to the judging panel descending on the town.
The committee overseeing Jeparit’s entry in the Quest included Dr Gawne, J. Anderson, Cr C. Leyonhjelm, H. Hamdorf, H. Strauss, L. Lamonde, W. Gorman, A. Hill and T. Livingston.
Even though Jeparit was described as being generally ‘spic and span’,a number of unemployed people were given the job–for–pay by townsfolk to ‘spruce up’ the town even more.
Alas, Jeparit lost out to Bright and Yackandandah, with Alexandra and Sorrento coming equal third.
on 21 November 1931: “The people of Jeparit have a town to be proud of and they are proud of it because almost every attraction it has has been provided by their own efforts.
By its progressive effort, Jeparit sets an example which might well be followed by many larger towns.
“By their voluntary effort, citizens have provided a swimming pool which gives all the facilities of city baths.
In spite of difficulties with shifting sand, Lake Hindmarsh is being made into a centre of attraction for people for miles around, and the social life of the town has been developed to a remarkable extent.
Jeparit, in my opinion, is a shining example of what can be achieved by a live community spirit.”
A number of other features of Jeparit had resulted in it being a finalist, including the layout of Broadway with its Memorial Avenue, Sands Avenue being dominated by churches, its sporting venues, its new two-storey hotel, the proximity of Lake Hindmarsh and its beaches and its industry, including concrete and metal works.