| Type: | town |
| Rathscar | |
| State: | Vic |
| Use Lga Map: | yes |
| Coordinates: | -36.9742°N 143.5212°W |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| Lga2: | Shire of Central Goldfields |
| Lga: | Pyrenees Shire |
| Postcode: | 3465 |
| Stategov: | Ripon |
| Fedgov: | Mallee |
| Dist1: | 188 |
| Dir1: | NE |
| Location1: | Melbourne |
| Dist2: | 83 |
| Dir2: | N |
| Location2: | Ballarat |
| Dist3: | 19 |
| Dir3: | W |
| Location3: | Maryborough |
| Dist4: | 17 |
| Dir4: | N |
| Location4: | Avoca |
Rathscar is a locality in Pyrenees Shire and the Shire of Central Goldfields. The area to the east of the Avoca River known as Rathscar West was surveyed in 1899.[1]
The Melbourne newspaper The Argus reported in 1903 that a new gold-bearing reef had been discovered in Rathscar.[2]
The "largest landholder and possibly the wealthiest" in the area was Charles Wilson from Sunny Park[3] (Coordinates -36.9813°N 143.6079°W). Wilson's daughter Maude Wilson married John Miller in 1901 at Sunny Park and they then lived in the Rathscar district where their four children were born.
There was a Primary School (Numbered 1535) at Rathscar West.[4]
Rathscar West had a Methodist church, initially constructed in timber and built around 1870. As well as the Sunday services, the church hosted a number of activities including concerts,[5] harvest festivals[6] and Sunday School picnics.[7]
The timber building was replaced by brick church (recycled from the former Methodist Church / Wesleyan Chapel Homebush - 6 km away) in 1928.[8] In 2018, this former Rathcar West church building is now privately owned.[9] [10]
The Pyrenees Shire Council has documented a number of buildings in Rathscar including the Methodist Church, the Avonlea Farm House and the Elliot farm complex, in the Avoca Heritage Study: 1864 - 1994 - Volume 3.[11]