Tarilta Victoria | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°10′39″S144°11′28″E / 37.17750°S 144.19111°E |
Population | 26 (2021 census) [1] |
Postcode(s) | 3451 [2] |
LGA(s) | |
State electorate(s) | Macedon [3] |
Federal division(s) |
Tarilta is locality in the Shire of Hepburn and the Shire of Mount Alexander, Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Tarilta had a population of 26. [1]
Tarilta, originally known as Kangaroo Flat, emerged following the discovery of gold near the junction of Kangaroo Creek and the Loddon River in 1853. [4] A school was established in 1860 within a Wesleyan chapel, and the township was officially surveyed and named Tarilta in 1864, a name believed to derive from a Djadjawurrung word meaning "kangaroo." [4] By 1865, Bailliere’s Victorian Gazetteer described Tarilta as a gold-mining town featuring both alluvial and quartz operations, with three quartz-crushing mills, three horse-puddling machines, and two hotels. Tarilta’s elevated location was accessible only by horse-drawn dray or horseback, including via the Cobb and Co mail service. [4]