Thanks so much everyone for solving this mystery - I always thought it would be Australia but to narrow it right down a a particular place in the late 1870s is fantastic
This photograph belonged to my great grandmother; she had a brother who emigrated to Australia but I've always thought this would be too early to pertain to him and his family as he didn't go out until the early 1880s and that seems to have been borne out. She had an aunt, her father's sister, who emigrated in 1852 though and who ended up in Melbourne specifically North Melbourne (Hotham). I think it must be descendants of hers in the photo; she had a number of children and by the late 1870s several of them had children of their own so I suspect the women are either my great great grand aunt's daughters or daughters-in-law and three of her grandchildren. I'll probably never know for sure but it seems the best explanation.
Thanks also for the restore Yvonne