Swan Hill. Heartbeat of the Murray laser show. Water is sprayed up from the Murray River.The show tells the story of the Murray creation Aboriginal myths and occupation to paddle steamers and white settlement
Swan Hill.
It has been estimated that the largest group of Aborigines (about 600) in what was to become Victoria lived in the Swan Hill district prior to white settlement. The first white men to see this area were the crew of Captain Charles Sturt’s exploration of the Murray River system in 1830. Sturt’s published report in 1832 excited others to see this district. The next to do so was Major Thomas Mitchell on his 1836 Australia Felix explorations of the Murray and the Western Districts of Victoria. In fact it was Mitchell who named the location Swan Hill. Three years later in 1839 illegal squatters moved into the Swan Hill area. They had been encouraged by the success of Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney (January-April 1838) and Edward John Eyre (October-November 1838) who had all overlanded the first cattle and sheep from the Albury district of NSW along the River Murray into South Australia and down to the sale yards of Adelaide. One of the first official leaseholds was granted in 1847 for the Murray Downs property across the river from Swan Hill. NSW was reluctant to allow squatters along the River Murray but they could not resist once illegal squatters moved along the Murray. Murray Downs and its grand homestead (built in 1870) still stand and the property had a major influence on the later development of the town of Swan Hill. It covered 150,000 acres and most development occurred under the ownership of Suetonius and Charles Officer from 1862 to 1883 and then Charles Campbell took over from 1884. The other early property near Swan Hill was Tyntyndyer station of about 30,000 acres. It was occupied from 1846 with a formal leasehold later in 1848. The Beveridge brothers especially Black Beveridge ran the property. Black Beveridge was known for his good relations with the local Aboriginal people when others did not have a good relationship. Despite this Aboriginal and white deaths still occurred on Tyntyndyer station in the early years. The early timber homestead is now heritage listed. Tyntyndyer station ran up to Piangil and inland. It was owned by the Beveridge brothers until 1876. It is now owned by the local Aboriginal community and sometimes opened as a museum of Aboriginal experience on a white pastoral estate. Another important property was the Swan Hill run itself taken out by Curlewis and Campbell in 1848. Their leasehold covered 60,000 acres in the Swan Hill district.
Swan Hill was a town that emerged rather than a town that was surveyed and created. The crossing of the River Murray at Swan Hill was the best and easiest for a 100 mile stretch of the river so naturally travellers and stockmen gravitated to that spot. A kind of ferry/punt service began at the spot in 1847 and around the same time Gideon Rutherford and John McCrae opened the Lower Murray Inn. They were still the licensees in 1853. Others settled near the river crossing and the hotel. The punt service was taken over by John Gray in 1860 and he and his family operated it for 30 years until the first pontoon bridge was built across the River Murray in 1891. Back in 1849 the NSW government began a mail service to Swan Hill from Mount Macedon and opened the first Swan Hill Post Office with John McCrae of the Lower Murray Inn (then the Swan Hill Inn) as the first Post Master. There were settlers in the district but no town as such existed at that time. The NSW government also employed Native Troopers at Swan Hill from 1850 to quell any violence. In 1851 the Swan Hill district became part of the new colony of Victoria and the first elections were held and a Police Constable was stationed there from 1851 and court sessions were held there from 1852. Then the discovery of gold late in 1851 at Bendigo was to transform the district as failed gold diggers moved north to the River Murray to start a new life. This was followed by the arrival of the first two River Murray steamers from South Australia in 1853 – The Lady Augusta captained by Cadell of Goolwa and the Mary Ann captained by William Randell of Mannum. From 1853 onwards Swan Hill was a different place with goods coming and going to South Australia and up the Darling River on the paddle steamers and overland traffic of goods to and from the major centre of gold mining at Bendigo and Mt Alexander. To commemorate the importance of the river trade both Captains Cadell and Randell are listed as men of influence in the town on the Explorers Obelisk in McCallum Street. Before the railway reached Swan Hill in 1890 there were 222 registered paddle steamers on the River Murray in Victoria.
The first survey of Swan Hill was undertaken in 1851 by Surveyor Pritchard and the streets were marked out. But the town was tiny and had few stone or brick buildings before 1858. The government appointed a doctor for Swan Hill in 1857. The first brick general store was built in 1858. The first butcher shop opened in 1858. There were few buildings in the early town except for two hotels, the general store, the pine log courthouse and a few houses. In 1860 the population of Swan Hill was 142. The first bakery opened in 1860. The first church was a weatherboard Anglican erected in 1865. As late as 1876 Swan Hill only less than 200 residents. Burke and Wills on their famous and ill-fated expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria camped on the river banks at Swan Hill for several weeks. It was not a great town at that time. The first school in Swan Hill opened in 1862 with 21 students but closed for lack of funds several months later. A small private school opened and the state school did not open until 1871! The government used other premises until 1874 when they erected a wooden classroom. The first brick building was built in 1876 and is now part of the Catholic School. The first Methodist church services were held in Swan Hill in 1881 and the first weatherboard church was erected in 1886. A new brick Methodist church was built in 1918. Presbyterian Church services began in Swan Hill in 1871 at Murray Downs homestead. Mrs Suetonius Officer laid the foundation stone of the Presbyterian Church in 1872 with it opening in in that same year. This church was moved to a new site in 1910 and some materials were used in building a new church which opened in 1913. This Presbyterian Church was again moved and rebuilt in 1944 in Curlewis Street.
The 1880s saw great growth and change in Swan Hill. The population jumped from 250 people in 1880 to 820 people by 1887. Two new banks opened in this period, with the National Bank opening in 1888. The first brick water tower was erected in 1885 to provide reticulated town water. At the end of the decade the railway reached Swan Hill and the railway station was built followed by many residences in the 1890s. The flour mill was built in this decade too and the first steel bridge across the Murray opened in 1896. The 1890s was also the decade in which irrigation pumps were installed along the River Murray for irrigated crops and land use. This increased the rural population surrounding the town and then after World War One soldier settler blocks were established near Swan Hill at Woorinen with vines and fruit trees and near Tyntynder with dairying. Vines and dairying became major rural industries. So in many respects Swan Hill is a 20th century town. A second water tower, the butter factory and many other industrial structures all were built in the 20th century. Today Swan Hill has around 10,000 residents and it is known for the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement which is a recreation of the town and district in the 19th and early 20th century. In the evening they hold a spectacular Heartbeat of the Murray Laser Show.
Swan Hill. Heartbeat of the Murray laser show. Water is sprayed up from the Murray River.The show tells the story of the Murray creation Aboriginal myths and occupation to paddle steamers and white settlement
Swan Hill.
It has been estimated that the largest group of Aborigines (about 600) in what was to become Victoria lived in the Swan Hill district prior to white settlement. The first white men to see this area were the crew of Captain Charles Sturt’s exploration of the Murray River system in 1830. Sturt’s published report in 1832 excited others to see this district. The next to do so was Major Thomas Mitchell on his 1836 Australia Felix explorations of the Murray and the Western Districts of Victoria. In fact it was Mitchell who named the location Swan Hill. Three years later in 1839 illegal squatters moved into the Swan Hill area. They had been encouraged by the success of Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney (January-April 1838) and Edward John Eyre (October-November 1838) who had all overlanded the first cattle and sheep from the Albury district of NSW along the River Murray into South Australia and down to the sale yards of Adelaide. One of the first official leaseholds was granted in 1847 for the Murray Downs property across the river from Swan Hill. NSW was reluctant to allow squatters along the River Murray but they could not resist once illegal squatters moved along the Murray. Murray Downs and its grand homestead (built in 1870) still stand and the property had a major influence on the later development of the town of Swan Hill. It covered 150,000 acres and most development occurred under the ownership of Suetonius and Charles Officer from 1862 to 1883 and then Charles Campbell took over from 1884. The other early property near Swan Hill was Tyntyndyer station of about 30,000 acres. It was occupied from 1846 with a formal leasehold later in 1848. The Beveridge brothers especially Black Beveridge ran the property. Black Beveridge was known for his good relations with the local Aboriginal people when others did not have a good relationship. Despite this Aboriginal and white deaths still occurred on Tyntyndyer station in the early years. The early timber homestead is now heritage listed. Tyntyndyer station ran up to Piangil and inland. It was owned by the Beveridge brothers until 1876. It is now owned by the local Aboriginal community and sometimes opened as a museum of Aboriginal experience on a white pastoral estate. Another important property was the Swan Hill run itself taken out by Curlewis and Campbell in 1848. Their leasehold covered 60,000 acres in the Swan Hill district.
Swan Hill was a town that emerged rather than a town that was surveyed and created. The crossing of the River Murray at Swan Hill was the best and easiest for a 100 mile stretch of the river so naturally travellers and stockmen gravitated to that spot. A kind of ferry/punt service began at the spot in 1847 and around the same time Gideon Rutherford and John McCrae opened the Lower Murray Inn. They were still the licensees in 1853. Others settled near the river crossing and the hotel. The punt service was taken over by John Gray in 1860 and he and his family operated it for 30 years until the first pontoon bridge was built across the River Murray in 1891. Back in 1849 the NSW government began a mail service to Swan Hill from Mount Macedon and opened the first Swan Hill Post Office with John McCrae of the Lower Murray Inn (then the Swan Hill Inn) as the first Post Master. There were settlers in the district but no town as such existed at that time. The NSW government also employed Native Troopers at Swan Hill from 1850 to quell any violence. In 1851 the Swan Hill district became part of the new colony of Victoria and the first elections were held and a Police Constable was stationed there from 1851 and court sessions were held there from 1852. Then the discovery of gold late in 1851 at Bendigo was to transform the district as failed gold diggers moved north to the River Murray to start a new life. This was followed by the arrival of the first two River Murray steamers from South Australia in 1853 – The Lady Augusta captained by Cadell of Goolwa and the Mary Ann captained by William Randell of Mannum. From 1853 onwards Swan Hill was a different place with goods coming and going to South Australia and up the Darling River on the paddle steamers and overland traffic of goods to and from the major centre of gold mining at Bendigo and Mt Alexander. To commemorate the importance of the river trade both Captains Cadell and Randell are listed as men of influence in the town on the Explorers Obelisk in McCallum Street. Before the railway reached Swan Hill in 1890 there were 222 registered paddle steamers on the River Murray in Victoria.
The first survey of Swan Hill was undertaken in 1851 by Surveyor Pritchard and the streets were marked out. But the town was tiny and had few stone or brick buildings before 1858. The government appointed a doctor for Swan Hill in 1857. The first brick general store was built in 1858. The first butcher shop opened in 1858. There were few buildings in the early town except for two hotels, the general store, the pine log courthouse and a few houses. In 1860 the population of Swan Hill was 142. The first bakery opened in 1860. The first church was a weatherboard Anglican erected in 1865. As late as 1876 Swan Hill only less than 200 residents. Burke and Wills on their famous and ill-fated expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria camped on the river banks at Swan Hill for several weeks. It was not a great town at that time. The first school in Swan Hill opened in 1862 with 21 students but closed for lack of funds several months later. A small private school opened and the state school did not open until 1871! The government used other premises until 1874 when they erected a wooden classroom. The first brick building was built in 1876 and is now part of the Catholic School. The first Methodist church services were held in Swan Hill in 1881 and the first weatherboard church was erected in 1886. A new brick Methodist church was built in 1918. Presbyterian Church services began in Swan Hill in 1871 at Murray Downs homestead. Mrs Suetonius Officer laid the foundation stone of the Presbyterian Church in 1872 with it opening in in that same year. This church was moved to a new site in 1910 and some materials were used in building a new church which opened in 1913. This Presbyterian Church was again moved and rebuilt in 1944 in Curlewis Street.
The 1880s saw great growth and change in Swan Hill. The population jumped from 250 people in 1880 to 820 people by 1887. Two new banks opened in this period, with the National Bank opening in 1888. The first brick water tower was erected in 1885 to provide reticulated town water. At the end of the decade the railway reached Swan Hill and the railway station was built followed by many residences in the 1890s. The flour mill was built in this decade too and the first steel bridge across the Murray opened in 1896. The 1890s was also the decade in which irrigation pumps were installed along the River Murray for irrigated crops and land use. This increased the rural population surrounding the town and then after World War One soldier settler blocks were established near Swan Hill at Woorinen with vines and fruit trees and near Tyntynder with dairying. Vines and dairying became major rural industries. So in many respects Swan Hill is a 20th century town. A second water tower, the butter factory and many other industrial structures all were built in the 20th century. Today Swan Hill has around 10,000 residents and it is known for the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement which is a recreation of the town and district in the 19th and early 20th century. In the evening they hold a spectacular Heartbeat of the Murray Laser Show.