Gold rush era
The district has an important historic gold mining past and produced some colourful people during that heyday. Among them was John Scarlett (1824-?), a Scottish miner. Scarlett was involved in all things associated with writing to the newspapers, calling meetings and voicing his opinions. Originally a dry miner, he advocated rights for this type of operator, then on acquiring access to water he became an advocate for wet miners to the exclusion of the dry operators. He stood for mining board elections and then VictorianStanley today
The town centre includes the Old Store Cafe (Closed), Stanley Pub, Primary School (currently not used as a school), CFA Fire Shed, Uniting Church, Recreational Reserve, Town Hall and Athenaeum (library). A store was built by Syd Mathieson (circa 1852). The Post Office was officially recognised and opened on 1 October 1857 as Nine Mile Creek and was renamed Stanley the next year, but ceased trading in 2010. Stanley Primary School closed in 2012. There remain only two of the original buildings in Stanley, they being the store and powder magazine at the rear and the old police lock-up on Collins Road. The Indigo Shire planning scheme notes that the lack of a reticulated sewerage system in Stanley has contributed towards water pollution in the area, and resolves that the area is "unsuitable for further un-sewered urban development". It accordingly resolves to "restrict future development until such time as a reticulated sewerage system is developed."References
*Craig. G.F. ''The Chinese Miners at Stanley'', Beechworth, 1987, *O'Brien, Antony. ''Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields: the 1859 Election'', Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2005. *Williams, David. ''Gold and Granite Grandeur: Living History of Beechworth, Stanley and Eldorado'', 1994. (fine sketches of several pioneer Stanley buildings and surrounds) *Woods Carole. ''Beechworth: A Titan's Field'', Hargreen, North Melbourne, 1985. {{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Indigo Mining towns in Victoria (state)