Dimboola. Wall mural off the main street.
Dimboola.
Pastoral runs here were taken up quickly as they had frontage to the ever flowing Wimmera River and the first in this area was Horatio Ellerman’s Antwerp Station taken up in 1846. These stations attracted an itinerant salesman who set up a small store here in 1859 at Nine Creeks which was the original name for Dimboola. The town was surveyed along the Wimmera River in 1863 and named by the surveyor after a place that he had lived in Ceylon called Dimbula. A Post Office service was started near the general store in that year and Dimboola became the administrative centre for Lowan Shire in 1875. The old Shire Offices built in 1877 in Horsham brick which have been converted into the town library are one of the heritage listed buildings of Dimboola. Other significant old buildings include the quaint wooden Courthouse 1875, the railway station built around 1887 and the Victoria Hotel built in 1924(replacing the 1893 wooden hotel). The first settlers were mainly German Lutherans from SA who here came between 1871 and 1873 when most farm land was selected. The first flourmill opened in 1876. By 1879 Dimboola had three hotels, a newspaper, a bakery, several stores and a blacksmiths. In 1882 the railway line from Melbourne was extended to Dimboola and then in 1887 it was extended beyond Dimboola to Serviceton and the SA border. A few years later a line was built from Dimboola northwards to Jeparit and eventually Rainbow. This cemented the future of the town. Like SA the state of Victoria introduced communistic Village Settlement Schemes in 1893 as the 1891 great depression took hold. One scheme was set up along the Wimmera River just south of Dimboola. Like SA the blocks were too small to be viable but the Victorian Scheme was less communistic and landowners had their own individual plots to farm but they had community rules and regulations to follow. The scheme near Dimboola finally closed in 1915. By the 1890s Dimboola was well established with five churches, three schools, two hotels, stores, banks and an Oddfellows Hall etc. Once the gold mining era started to fade in the Central Goldfields Dimboola became home to some Chinese market gardeners who farmed along the Wimmera River. After Federation and the introduction of the White Australia Policy in 1903 conditions for the few Chinese men who remained around Dimboola worsened. They were not allowed to bring wives or women into Australia, even for a holiday, and unless their occupation as approved by the government they had to return to China. They were prevented from becoming naturalised and they had no social rights. After 1903 the Chinese population of Australia (mainly Victoria) fell from 29,600 to 9,100 by World War Two. Those that remained could usually “pass” for Europeans because of their mixed blood ancestry. The Moy family of market gardeners were one Chinese family group who stayed on at Dimboola until the repeal of the White Australia Policy in 1975. They survived because they could grow vegetables when European settlers could not as they tended each plant individually. The family pigs and poultry provided the manure for the vegetables. Later generations of the Moy family moved into footwear retailing, pig farming and school teaching. During World War Two a young soldier named Sidney Nolan was stationed at Dimboola in 1942 to guard Army supplies and stores. Whilst moving around between Dimboola Horsham and Nhill he developed a series of paintings of the Wimmera in a very abstract style. This led to a turning point in his painting career and Sidney Nolan went to become one of Australia’s great interpretive artists after the War.
Lutherans from SA moved to the Dimboola in 1871 and had their first church and a full time pastor from 1874. The current Lutheran is a very modern structure on the outskirts of the town towards Horsham. The Anglicans built their first slab log church in 1861 before the town was even surveyed. Their brick church was completed until 1885. It was extended in 1927 and again in 1957. Dimboola also has a Catholic and two Methodist (now Uniting) churches. The original Wesleyan Methodist church in wood was erected in 1883 and the fine red brick tower church was competed in 1939. The wooden Catholic Church was built on site in 1906. Apart from retail and farm services the major employer for Dimboola is the rail freight changeover facility which was constructed in 1991 near the highway bypass.
Dimboola. Wall mural off the main street.
Dimboola.
Pastoral runs here were taken up quickly as they had frontage to the ever flowing Wimmera River and the first in this area was Horatio Ellerman’s Antwerp Station taken up in 1846. These stations attracted an itinerant salesman who set up a small store here in 1859 at Nine Creeks which was the original name for Dimboola. The town was surveyed along the Wimmera River in 1863 and named by the surveyor after a place that he had lived in Ceylon called Dimbula. A Post Office service was started near the general store in that year and Dimboola became the administrative centre for Lowan Shire in 1875. The old Shire Offices built in 1877 in Horsham brick which have been converted into the town library are one of the heritage listed buildings of Dimboola. Other significant old buildings include the quaint wooden Courthouse 1875, the railway station built around 1887 and the Victoria Hotel built in 1924(replacing the 1893 wooden hotel). The first settlers were mainly German Lutherans from SA who here came between 1871 and 1873 when most farm land was selected. The first flourmill opened in 1876. By 1879 Dimboola had three hotels, a newspaper, a bakery, several stores and a blacksmiths. In 1882 the railway line from Melbourne was extended to Dimboola and then in 1887 it was extended beyond Dimboola to Serviceton and the SA border. A few years later a line was built from Dimboola northwards to Jeparit and eventually Rainbow. This cemented the future of the town. Like SA the state of Victoria introduced communistic Village Settlement Schemes in 1893 as the 1891 great depression took hold. One scheme was set up along the Wimmera River just south of Dimboola. Like SA the blocks were too small to be viable but the Victorian Scheme was less communistic and landowners had their own individual plots to farm but they had community rules and regulations to follow. The scheme near Dimboola finally closed in 1915. By the 1890s Dimboola was well established with five churches, three schools, two hotels, stores, banks and an Oddfellows Hall etc. Once the gold mining era started to fade in the Central Goldfields Dimboola became home to some Chinese market gardeners who farmed along the Wimmera River. After Federation and the introduction of the White Australia Policy in 1903 conditions for the few Chinese men who remained around Dimboola worsened. They were not allowed to bring wives or women into Australia, even for a holiday, and unless their occupation as approved by the government they had to return to China. They were prevented from becoming naturalised and they had no social rights. After 1903 the Chinese population of Australia (mainly Victoria) fell from 29,600 to 9,100 by World War Two. Those that remained could usually “pass” for Europeans because of their mixed blood ancestry. The Moy family of market gardeners were one Chinese family group who stayed on at Dimboola until the repeal of the White Australia Policy in 1975. They survived because they could grow vegetables when European settlers could not as they tended each plant individually. The family pigs and poultry provided the manure for the vegetables. Later generations of the Moy family moved into footwear retailing, pig farming and school teaching. During World War Two a young soldier named Sidney Nolan was stationed at Dimboola in 1942 to guard Army supplies and stores. Whilst moving around between Dimboola Horsham and Nhill he developed a series of paintings of the Wimmera in a very abstract style. This led to a turning point in his painting career and Sidney Nolan went to become one of Australia’s great interpretive artists after the War.
Lutherans from SA moved to the Dimboola in 1871 and had their first church and a full time pastor from 1874. The current Lutheran is a very modern structure on the outskirts of the town towards Horsham. The Anglicans built their first slab log church in 1861 before the town was even surveyed. Their brick church was completed until 1885. It was extended in 1927 and again in 1957. Dimboola also has a Catholic and two Methodist (now Uniting) churches. The original Wesleyan Methodist church in wood was erected in 1883 and the fine red brick tower church was competed in 1939. The wooden Catholic Church was built on site in 1906. Apart from retail and farm services the major employer for Dimboola is the rail freight changeover facility which was constructed in 1991 near the highway bypass.