Swan Hill Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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Coordinates | 35°20′0″S143°33′0″E / 35.33333°S 143.55000°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 11,508 (2021 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
Established | 1846 | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 3585 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation | 70 m (230 ft) | ||||||||||||||
Location | |||||||||||||||
LGA(s) | Rural City of Swan Hill | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Murray Plains | ||||||||||||||
Federal division(s) | Mallee | ||||||||||||||
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Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At 2021 census, Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. [1]
The area is inhabited by the Wemba-Wemba (or Wamba-Wamba), Latji Latji, Tatti Tatti, Waddi Waddi and Barapa Barapa people. [2] Swan Hill was called "Matakupaat" or "place of the Platypus" by the Wemba Wamba people. Their language is the Wemba Wemba language, and the sub dialect is Bura Bura. [3] At the time of the 2021 census, 4.5% of people in Swan Hill were indigenous. This is much higher than the average for Victoria (1%) and Australia overall (3.2%). [4]
In the Dreamtime, Totyerguil (from the area now known as Swan Hill) ran out of spears while chasing Otchtout the cod. This chase is part of the mythology of the creation of the Murray River. Based on evidence from Coobool Creek and Kow Swamp, it appears that Aboriginal people have lived in the area for the last 13,000–9,000 years. [5] [6]
The area was given its current name by explorer Thomas Mitchell, while camping beside a hill on 21 June 1836.
Among the reeds on the point of ground between the two rivers was a shallow lagoon where swans and other wild fowl so abounded that, although half a mile from our camp, their noise disturbed us through the night. I therefore named this somewhat remarkable and isolated feature Swan Hill, a point which may probably be found to mark the junction of two fine streams.
— Thomas Mitchell [7]
The European community grew up around a punt river crossing, which was established as early as 1846. This crossing serviced the growing agricultural area, and was the only river crossing for 100 km. The Post Office opened here on 1 February 1849. [8]
In 1853 Francis Cadell navigated the Murray river from its mouth in South Australia to Swan Hill in his paddle steamer, Lady Augusta. He arrived on 17 September 1853, narrowly beating William Randell of Mannum, who arrived 4 hours later in the PS Mary Ann. This demonstrated the feasibility of river traffic, which flourished until the introduction of the railway.
In 1876 Swan Hill was described in the following terms:
Swan-hill is a small, and, notwithstanding its 20 or 25 years of existence, not very flourishing, township… The population does not exceed 100 persons, but the township can boast of a substantial post and telegraph office, which is the principal building in the place. There is a church built of brick, belonging to the Church of England, and a small wooden chapel owned by some other denomination. The hospital, for Swan-hill can also boast of a hospital, is prettily situated at the junction of the Little Murray with the main stream. The district around the town is principally pastoral. About 10 or 12 miles distant there is a salt lake, from which a coarse salt is obtained and exported to Riverina and the Upper Murray. There is a mail three times a week, and the township is already connected with the metropolis by telegraph.
— The Argus [9]
In 1883 the first of several red brick water towers was built to supply the growing town with water. Water was pumped out of the river and into the top of the tower by a wood-fired steam engine, and then flowed by gravitation to surrounding businesses and private residences. Many of these towers can still be seen around town.
The railway from Bendigo was extended from Kerang to Swan Hill station in May 1890, being extended to Piangil in 1915. [10]
The punt river crossing was replaced by a timber truss, steel lift span bridge in 1896. [11]
The first six telephones were connected in Swan Hill on 2 October 1911. The National Bank was phone number 1. [12]
In 1914, Isaburo (Jo) Takasuka produced the first commercial rice crop in Australia. He grew Japanese (Japonica) varieties on 200 acres (81 ha) of flood prone land on the Murray River near Swan Hill. The Chinese had been growing rice in Australia since at least 1877. [13]
Swan Hill became a city in 1965.
The Burke and Wills expedition reached Swan Hill on Thursday, 6 September 1860 on their journey across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They made Camp XV (their fifteenth camp out of Melbourne) in the police paddock on the banks of the Murray River in an area that is now Riverside Park. [14] The expedition stayed in Swan Hill until Monday, 10 September while they reorganised the stores. Burke dismissed four men; Essau Khan, Brooks, Lane and John Polongeaux. He then hired Alexander McPherson, a saddler from Epsom and Charlie Gray, a former sailor from Scotland who had worked as an ostler for Cobb and Co between Bendigo and Swan Hill and who was now employed at the Lower Murray Inn in Swan Hill. The party was strengthened further by the arrival from Melbourne of journalist, William Hodgkinson, and scientist Georg von Neumayer. The local inhabitants gave the expedition a rousing farewell as they crossed into New South Wales. Folklore alleges Burke and Wills planted a Moreton Bay Fig tree in the garden of the local doctor, Dr B W Gummow. The tree is now approximately 27 metres high and has a branch spread of approximately 44 metres and can be seen in Curlewis Street.
The Murray River road bridge over the Murray River connects McCallum Street in Swan Hill to the Swan Hill Road in Murray Downs in New South Wales. The bridge is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register. [15]
The town is situated on the Northern Plains Grassland.
Swan Hill gives its name to a wine region straddling the Murray River. [16] The vines are predominantly irrigated from the river.
Swan Hill has a semi-arid climate with hot summers and cool to mild winters.
Climate data for Swan Hill Aerodrome (1996–2023) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 47.5 (117.5) | 46.9 (116.4) | 42.0 (107.6) | 39.0 (102.2) | 29.0 (84.2) | 25.0 (77.0) | 25.7 (78.3) | 27.8 (82.0) | 36.3 (97.3) | 38.4 (101.1) | 45.2 (113.4) | 46.9 (116.4) | 47.5 (117.5) |
Average high °C (°F) | 33.3 (91.9) | 32.2 (90.0) | 28.6 (83.5) | 23.8 (74.8) | 18.7 (65.7) | 15.3 (59.5) | 14.8 (58.6) | 16.7 (62.1) | 20.4 (68.7) | 24.2 (75.6) | 28.1 (82.6) | 30.7 (87.3) | 23.9 (75.0) |
Average low °C (°F) | 16.3 (61.3) | 15.9 (60.6) | 13.0 (55.4) | 9.3 (48.7) | 6.4 (43.5) | 4.4 (39.9) | 3.6 (38.5) | 4.0 (39.2) | 5.8 (42.4) | 8.1 (46.6) | 11.7 (53.1) | 13.8 (56.8) | 9.4 (48.9) |
Record low °C (°F) | 6.0 (42.8) | 5.5 (41.9) | 4.1 (39.4) | −0.3 (31.5) | −2.2 (28.0) | −5.0 (23.0) | −5.2 (22.6) | −3.7 (25.3) | −2.0 (28.4) | −1.0 (30.2) | 1.0 (33.8) | 5.0 (41.0) | −5.2 (22.6) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 25.6 (1.01) | 18.4 (0.72) | 16.6 (0.65) | 24.3 (0.96) | 25.5 (1.00) | 26.1 (1.03) | 25.7 (1.01) | 27.4 (1.08) | 27.8 (1.09) | 28.0 (1.10) | 43.5 (1.71) | 21.3 (0.84) | 310.3 (12.22) |
Average precipitation days | 4.3 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 8.0 | 10.9 | 13.2 | 10.9 | 7.9 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 4.9 | 85.0 |
Source: [17] |
Largest ancestries (2011) | Percent |
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Australians | 31.3% |
English | 30.1% |
Irish | 9.9% |
Scottish | 7.7% |
Italian | 4.4% |
Around 88% of the people living in Swan Hill were born in Australia. Migrants account for around 12 per cent, these include Italy (1.4%); England (1.0%); New Zealand (0.4%); Scotland (0.3%) and Afghanistan (0.3%). 3.2% of the population are Indigenous. [18]
In Swan Hill there are four primary schools, two secondary schools and three schools which run both primary and secondary syllabuses. These are Swan Hill College, MacKillop College, St Mary's Primary School, Swan Hill Primary School, Swan Hill North Primary School, Son Centre Christian School, Victorian P-12 College of Koorie Education - Payika Campus and Swan Hill Specialist School. Swan Hill College is well known for its anti-drug program.
Tertiary education is delivered by Sunraysia Institute of TAFE. Its main campus is at Tower Hill, and it runs a farm north of the city. As well as its own courses, it offers a Deakin University program.
The Victoria P-12 College of Koorie Education—Payika Campus is now actually a Flo Program, linked to Swan Hill College.
Swan Hill is the heart of the Central Murray Football League. It is also the home to two football clubs, the Swan Hill "Swans" and the Tyntynder "Bulldogs".
Swan Hill also has Futsal Swan Hill providing senior futsal in Swan Hill, both men's and women's leagues, 2 men's divisions and 1 women's division. Established in 1995 the competition regularly features over 30 teams each season. The Swan Hill Junior Soccer League that consists of over 500 children. They also field 3 teams in the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League [19] where their Senior Men's Division 2 Team won the Knock-Out Cup in 2006. The Youth Team has come runner up in the Knock-Out Cup competition in both 2006 and 2008. The Senior Women's team came runner up in 2008.
Swan Hill has a horse racing club, the Swan Hill Jockey Club, which schedules around ten race meetings a year including the Swan Hill Cup meeting in June. [20] The Swan Hill St Patricks Race Club also holds a meeting at the racecourse in October.
Golfers play at the course of the Murray Downs Golf Club on Moulamein Road. [21]
Swan Hill also has Junior and Senior badminton games in Winter at the Stadium every Tuesday night. Juniors from 6pm till completed matches. Then Seniors not long afterwards.
The city is located on the Murray Valley Highway (B400), which links it to Echuca and Albury-Wodonga to the east and Mildura in the west, the Loddon Valley Highway (B260) links Swan Hill to Bendigo to the south. V/Line operates passenger rail services on the Swan Hill line, with the local railway station being the terminus. The Swan Hill Airport is also nearby. Swan Hill also has its own public bus network.
Swan Hill has one locally produced newspaper, The Swan Hill Guardian, [22] which has been circulating Swan Hill and surrounding regions for almost 120 years. In addition to this, there are four local radio stations: 99.1 Smart FM [23] (3SFM); ABC Mildura Swan Hill (3MIL); 107.7 Mixx FM (3SHI) [24] and AM station 1332 3SH. Swan Hill's television stations are identical to Bendigo's: ABC, Prime, WIN, Southern Cross Ten and SBS.
The Murray River is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at 2,508 km (1,558 mi) extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia. Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray–Darling basin, which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region.
Bendigo is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west.
Robinvale is a town on the south bank of the Murray River in north western Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Euston on the other side of the river in New South Wales. At the 2021 census, Robinvale had a population of 3,740, however a population study conducted by the Rural City of Swan Hill that was undertaken in 2019 identified Robinvale had an estimated population of between 7,000 in November and 8,800 in March each year.
The Loddon River, an inland river of the north–central catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Loddon Mallee regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters of the Loddon River rise on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range east of Daylesford and descend to flow north into the Little Murray River, near Swan Hill. The river is impounded by the Cairn Curran and Laanecoorie reservoirs.
Kerang is a town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located 279 kilometres (173 mi) north-west of Melbourne on the Murray Valley Highway a few kilometres north of its intersection with the Loddon Valley Highway, elevation 78 metres (256 ft). At the 2016 census, Kerang had a population of 3,893. Kerang is believed to be an Aboriginal word for Cockatoo. It is home to the largest solar and battery farm in the country which was opened in June 2019. The 50-megawatt battery system is located outside of Kerang and stores 100 per cent renewable energy. The 2,000 solar panels have become a tourist attraction and are drawing many businesses to the town.
Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. It is the largest town in the Federation Council and was the administrative centre of the former Corowa Shire. The name could have derived from an Aboriginal word referring to the curra pine which yielded gum used by Aboriginal people to fasten the heads of spears to the shafts. Another translation is "rocky river".
The Mallee is a sub-region of Loddon Mallee covering the most north-westerly part of Victoria, Australia and is bounded by the South Australian and New South Wales borders. Definitions of the south-eastern boundary vary, however, all are based on the historic Victorian distribution of mallee eucalypts. These trees dominate the surviving vegetation through most of Mallee,. Its biggest settlements are Mildura and Swan Hill.
Ultima is a town and district in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Rural City of Swan Hill local government area, 353 kilometres (219 mi) north-west of the state capital, Melbourne and 35 kilometres (22 mi) south-west of Swan Hill. At the 2021 Census Ultima had a population of 173, down from 333 in 2011.
The Piangil railway line is a 5 ft 3 in gauge (1600 mm) railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. It branches off the Deniliquin line just north of Bendigo, and runs in a north-westerly direction through Pyramid Hill and Kerang to the border town of Swan Hill, then roughly parallels the New South Wales border to Piangil and Yungera. The line is now open only as far as Piangil, and passenger services only operate to Swan Hill.
The Deniliquin railway line is a broad-gauge railway line serving northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from the New South Wales town of Deniliquin into Bendigo, before turning south-southeast towards Melbourne, terminating in Docklands near the central business district. It is a major trunk line both for passenger and freight trains, with many railway lines branching off from it.
Lake Boga is a town in Victoria, Australia, located next to the lake of the same name. It is situated within the Rural City of Swan Hill within the Mallee region of north-west Victoria. At the 2016 census, Lake Boga had a population of 985. The town is located 325 kilometres (202 mi) north west of Melbourne and 17 kilometres (11 mi) south east of the regional centre Swan Hill.
The Wemba-Wemba are an Aboriginal Australian people in north-Western Victoria and south-western New South Wales, Australia, including in the Mallee and the Riverina regions. They are also known as the Wamba-Wamba.
The Robinvale railway line is a freight only country railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. The line branches from the Mildura line at Dunolly, and at Inglewood the Eaglehawk – Inglewood line connects with the Piangil line outside Bendigo. The parallel Kulwin line junctions from the Robinvale line at Korong Vale then continues northward.
Pental Island is an island and rural locality in Victoria, Australia, bordering Swan Hill, Victoria in the north. The island is bounded by the Murray River in the north and the Little Murray River in the south; the Little Murray diverging from the Murray at Fish Point and converging at Swan Hill. Pental Island is also a parish of the County of Tatchera and the boundaries of the three entities are identical. At the 2016 census, Pental Island had a population of 135, down from 380 ten years earlier. The indigenous Wemba Wemba name for the island is Pakaruk.
The Little Murray River, an anabranch of the Murray River and part of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Mallee district of north western Victoria, in eastern Australia.
The Barababaraba people are an indigenous Australian people whose territory covered parts of southern New South Wales and northern Victoria. They had close connections with the Wemba Wemba.
Jillian Gallagher AO is a Gunditjmara from Australia who has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) since 2001. As a single mother in her twenties Gallagher was accepted into a training scheme for young Aboriginal people at the Museum of Victoria. She worked on the return of the Murray Black Collection and served as manager of the heritage branch of Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (Victoria) before taking up a position at VACCHO in 1998. In 2017 Gallagher was appointed Commissioner of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission until the voting period ended in October 2019. Gallagher was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2009 and the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll in 2015. She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2013.
Jana Naretha Anne Stewart is an Australian politician and former public servant. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was appointed as a Senator for Victoria in April 2022, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Kimberley Kitching.
The 2023 Victorian First Peoples' Assembly election, advertised as the 2023 Treaty election, was held June 2023 to elect 22 members to the First Peoples' Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. The election filled 22 of 32 seats to the body, which was charged with the responsibility of negotiating a treaty between the state's government and its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.