Murchison Victoria | |
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Main street | |
Coordinates | 36°37′S145°13′E / 36.617°S 145.217°E |
Population | 925 (2016 census) [1] |
Postcode(s) | 3610 |
Elevation | 125 m (410 ft) |
Location |
|
LGA(s) | City of Greater Shepparton |
State electorate(s) | Euroa |
Federal division(s) | Nicholls |
Murchison is a small riverside rural village located on the Goulburn River in Victoria, Australia. Murchison is located 167 kilometres from Melbourne and is just to the west of the Goulburn Valley Highway between Shepparton and Nagambie. The surrounding countryside contains orchards, vineyards and dairy farms and also HM Prison Dhurringile. At the 2016 census, Murchison had a population of 925. [1]
The Ngooraialum tribe were the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area. The first explorer to enter the Goulburn Valley was Thomas Mitchell who crossed the Goulburn River at Mitchellstown. The first Europeans to visit what would become the site where the drovers Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney who drove cattle between Mitchellstown and Adelaide.
Squatters started settling the area in 1840 with a school being established that year and a police station in 1841. The aboriginal protectorate was also transferred from Mitchellstown to Murchison in 1840 and closed in 1850.
French vigneron Ludovic Marie settled in Murchison in 1850 and established vineyards. He also set up a hotel and punt service over the Goulburn for gold miners travelling between Bendigo and Beechworth. A township was established in 1854 with the town being named after Captain John Murchison, an early settler. [2]
The town grew rapidly, with a post office opening on 19 January 1855 (replacing an earlier office at Warranga), [3] a flour mill in 1858 and a Presbyterian church and school in 1859. Small selectors started settling the area after 1870. A bridge was built over the Goulburn to replace the punt service in 1871, with a newspaper, courthouse and mechanics' institute being established in 1870.
The town grew further in 1875 with the arrival of the first paddle steamer. At that time, Murchison had six hotels, a number of general stores, two flour mills including the highly intact Days Mill and Farm at Murchison South, and numerous stores and services. In 1878, Murchison became the base for operations against Ned Kelly and his gang. The railway reached Murchison East in 1880 and a second station named Murchison was opened on the line to Rushworth in 1890. [4]
The building of the Goulburn Weir for irrigation in 1887-90 meant that the Goulburn River was no longer navigable by paddle steamer, which led to Murchison declining in importance. The development of irrigation led to the growth of nearby towns, notably Shepparton. The Waranga Basin was developed in the early part of the twentieth century approximately 15 kilometres from the town.
Approximately 4,000 Italian, Japanese and German prisoners of war (POWs) were interned near the town between 1941 and 1947. Dhurringile Homestead, 11 kilometres to the north, was used as a POW camp for German officers while the Italians and Japanese were kept at an internment camp in the town. The prisoner of war camp employed 675 people with the Italians and Japanese prisoners working as fruitpickers. The German POWs were not used. After the camps closed in 1947, the internment camp became an Italian war memorial while Dhurringhile Homestead became a minimum security prison, HM Prison Dhurringile.
The Italian National Ossario is located at Murchison cemetery and holds the remains of 130 Italian soldiers and civilians who died while interned in Australia. [5]
On 28 September 1969 a meteorite shower fell 2 kilometres south of Murchison. Many local residents collected samples of these meteorites reducing the chance of contamination. [6] The rocks were analysed at the NASA Ames Research Center where they were discovered to contain the first convincing evidence of amino acids of extraterrestrial origin, supporting the Miller–Urey experiment. The Murchison meteorite samples contained 90 different amino acids, only 19 of which are found on earth. The meteorite has been found to contain the oldest materials known to have reached earth. The Meteorite Park in the centre of Murchison celebrates this discovery.
Murchison East station is serviced by V/Line passenger trains on the Shepparton Line.
Marion (Bill) Edwards, a transsexual barman, was born here on 19 March 1874. [7]
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Kyabram & District Football League. [8] The first grade team won the 2013 league premiership.
Golfers play at the course of the Murchison Golf Club on Goulburn Valley Highway, Murchison East. [9]
World Headbutting Champion Gianni Vazzoler resides in Murchison since winning his title in nearby Shepparton in 2013 against Captain Redbeard. [10]
Shepparton is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately 181 kilometres (112 mi) north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, including the adjacent town of Mooroopna, was 53,841.
The City of Greater Shepparton is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of 2,422 square kilometres (935 sq mi) and, in June 2018, had a population of 66,007. It includes the city of Shepparton and the towns of Arcadia, Ardmona, Congupna, Dookie, Grahamvale, Kialla, Lemnos, Merrigum, Mooroopna, Murchison, Tallygaroopna, Tatura, Toolamba and Undera. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Shepparton, Shire of Shepparton, and parts of the Shire of Rodney, Shire of Euroa, Shire of Goulburn, Shire of Tungamah, Shire of Violet Town and Shire of Waranga.
Hay is a town in the western Riverina region of south western New South Wales, Australia. It is the administrative centre of Hay Shire local government area and the centre of a prosperous and productive agricultural district on the wide Hay Plains.
Seymour is a town located in the Southern end of the Goulburn Valley in the Shire of Mitchell, Victoria, Australia and is located 104 kilometres (65 mi) north of Melbourne. At the 2021 census, Seymour had a population of 6,569. The township services the surrounding agricultural industries as well as the nearby military base of Puckapunyal, which is an important training centre for the Australian Army. Other important sectors of employment in Seymour include retail, light engineering, agricultural services support, medical services, and education.
Mooroopna is a town located 181 kilometres (112 mi) north of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is on the banks of the Goulburn River opposite the larger town of Shepparton. The Midland Highway crosses the river between the two towns. At the 2016 census, Mooroopna had a population of 7,942.
Goulburn Valley Highway is a highway located in Victoria, Australia. The section north of the Hume Freeway is part of the Melbourne to Brisbane National Highway and is the main link between these two cities as well as a major link between Victoria and inland New South Wales. It is also the most direct route between Melbourne and the major regional centre of Shepparton in Victoria.
Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia, and is situated within the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, 167 kilometres (104 mi) north of the state capital (Melbourne) and 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the regional centre of Shepparton. At the 2021 census, Tatura had a population of 4,955.
The Goulburn Valley is a sub-region, part of the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The sub-region consists of those areas in the catchment of the Goulburn River and other nearby streams, and is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The Goulburn Valley is bordered on the south by the Great Dividing Range and to the north by the Murray River, the state border with New South Wales. The sub-region is one of Australia's most productive and intensively farmed areas and is predominantly irrigated.
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed. Usually, the countries are in a state of declared war.
Nagambie is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia. The city is on the Goulburn Valley Freeway north of Seymour and in the Shire of Strathbogie. As of 2021 census, Nagambie had a population of 2,254.
Barham is a town in the western Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located 823 kilometres south west of the state capital, Sydney and 303 kilometres north west of Melbourne. Situated on the banks of the Murray River across from Koondrook in the neighbouring state of Victoria, Barham had a population of 1,159 at the 2016 census. The town is in the Murray River Council local government area.
The Shire of Rodney was a local government area in the Goulburn Valley region, about 170 kilometres (106 mi) north of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, located between Kyabram and Shepparton. The shire covered an area of 1,009.92 square kilometres (389.9 sq mi), and existed from 1886 until 1994.
Taiwanese Australians are Australian citizens or permanent residents who carry full or partial ancestry from the East Asian island country of Taiwan or from preceding Taiwanese regimes.
The Hay Internment and POW camps at Hay, New South Wales, Australia were established during World War II as prisoner-of-war and internment centres, due in no small measure to the isolated location of the town. Three high-security camps were constructed in 1940. The first arrivals were over two thousand refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria, most of whom were Jewish; they had been interned in the United Kingdom when fears of an armed invasion of Britain were at their peak.
Days Mill and Farm comprises an historic steam-driven flour mill, farm and homestead at Murchison South, Victoria, Australia constructed in 1865 by William and Anne Day. The mill is the best preserved 19th century flour mill in Victoria and a remarkably intact heritage site.
Ngooraialum were an indigenous Australian tribal subgroup, one of 3 comprising the Ngurai-illam Wurrung, though Norman Tindale placed them among the Taungurung. They inhabited land along the Goulburn River in central Victoria, north of Mitchellstown, at Murchison, above Toolamba, within 40 miles (64 km) of the Murray-Goldburn junction. The heart of their land was Noorillim, which they called Waaring.
Italian prisoners of war in Australia were Italian soldiers captured by the British and Allied Forces in World War II and taken to Australia.
The Italian National Ossario, also known as the Murchison Ossario, is an ossuary, war cemetery and war memorial in Murchison, a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia. The ossario holds the remains of 130 Italians interned during World War II.
Dhurringile is a heritage-listed mansion and former rural estate in northern Victoria, Australia. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register for its architectural significance as "one of Victoria's grandest homesteads", for its associations with the Winter-Irving pastoral family, and for its later uses as an internment and prisoner of war camp, boys' training home and most recently, as part of HM Prison Dhurringile.