Hamilton Victoria. Giant model of an Ansett Airlines aircaft promoting the Sydney Olympics 2000. In the Ansett Transport Museum in Hamilton. Ansett Airlines had last flight in 2002.
Hamilton.
Formerly known as the Grange Hamilton is as Scottish as it comes in heritage terms. It sits astride Burn Grange a creek that flows into the Wannon River. It is surrounded by a rich volcanic basalt plain. It claims to be the Wool Capital of the world, the source of its early wealth, but today the economy is very mixed with beef cattle being important. Thomas Mitchell in 1836 said of the Hamilton town site “A finer country could scarcely be imagined: enormous trees of the mimosa or wattle, of which the bark is so valuable, grew almost everywhere”. This was the Australia Felix that he so greatly praised. Mitchell named the creek Grange Burn. The Wedge family established a sheep run called the Grange near here in 1839. In November 1939 the government surveyor who later laid out Portland, recommended this spot for a town. Wedges moved on partly because of conflict with the local Aboriginal groups but other pastoralists replaced them. Sheep were killed, shepherds killed and of course whites retaliated with guns against the Aboriginal people. Some settlers fared better in their relations with Aborigines because they treated them better and freely gave out meat and flour rations. One of the infamous massacres of Aboriginal people in Victoria occurred near Hamilton on 8th March 1840. This occurred just north of Coleraine on Konongwootong station (57,000 acres) run by the Whyte brothers. They reported the massacre but no official was action taken. Around 40 Aboriginal men, women and children were surrounded and massacred after 127 sheep had been taken for meat. Various sources put the death toll at between 20 to 50 members of the Jardwadjali tribe but Aboriginal tradition estimates it at a higher figure. Governor La Trobe visited the Grange in 1841 and because of violence between blacks and whites he sent Acheson French as a police magistrate there with troopers for support. The violence had died out by 1842. A village emerged around 1848 and the town was gazetted in 1851. It was named after Hamilton near Glasgow as most settlers were Scottish. The government surveyor Charles Tyers, who had surveyed Portland, recommended a spot on the Grange River for the town.
After the violence with Aborigines, and before the offical town was gazetted, a rudimentary Courthouse, barracks and police station followed on the corner of Martin and Thompson streets. Thus began the city of Hamilton out of violence. The town’s first policeman also established the Grange Inn in 1843 and a blacksmith set up a workshop in 1844 as a tiny town began to emerge. Shanties, a few houses and a store opened in 1848 to serve the surrounding sheep stations and the government order a full town survey in 1849. It was gazetted as Hamilton in 1851. The 1854 census noted 230 people living in Hamilton and this grew to 1,197 in the 1861 census, 2,967 in 1881 and 4,024 in the 1901 census. By the 1860s the town had nine hotels, seven churches, two breweries, a tannery, a coach building works, flourmill and a Mechanics Institute. In the 1870s the town prospered more as the rail link to the port facilities at Portland was completed and the town was linked by rail to Melbourne via Ararat and Ballart.
Hamilton Victoria. Giant model of an Ansett Airlines aircaft promoting the Sydney Olympics 2000. In the Ansett Transport Museum in Hamilton. Ansett Airlines had last flight in 2002.
Hamilton.
Formerly known as the Grange Hamilton is as Scottish as it comes in heritage terms. It sits astride Burn Grange a creek that flows into the Wannon River. It is surrounded by a rich volcanic basalt plain. It claims to be the Wool Capital of the world, the source of its early wealth, but today the economy is very mixed with beef cattle being important. Thomas Mitchell in 1836 said of the Hamilton town site “A finer country could scarcely be imagined: enormous trees of the mimosa or wattle, of which the bark is so valuable, grew almost everywhere”. This was the Australia Felix that he so greatly praised. Mitchell named the creek Grange Burn. The Wedge family established a sheep run called the Grange near here in 1839. In November 1939 the government surveyor who later laid out Portland, recommended this spot for a town. Wedges moved on partly because of conflict with the local Aboriginal groups but other pastoralists replaced them. Sheep were killed, shepherds killed and of course whites retaliated with guns against the Aboriginal people. Some settlers fared better in their relations with Aborigines because they treated them better and freely gave out meat and flour rations. One of the infamous massacres of Aboriginal people in Victoria occurred near Hamilton on 8th March 1840. This occurred just north of Coleraine on Konongwootong station (57,000 acres) run by the Whyte brothers. They reported the massacre but no official was action taken. Around 40 Aboriginal men, women and children were surrounded and massacred after 127 sheep had been taken for meat. Various sources put the death toll at between 20 to 50 members of the Jardwadjali tribe but Aboriginal tradition estimates it at a higher figure. Governor La Trobe visited the Grange in 1841 and because of violence between blacks and whites he sent Acheson French as a police magistrate there with troopers for support. The violence had died out by 1842. A village emerged around 1848 and the town was gazetted in 1851. It was named after Hamilton near Glasgow as most settlers were Scottish. The government surveyor Charles Tyers, who had surveyed Portland, recommended a spot on the Grange River for the town.
After the violence with Aborigines, and before the offical town was gazetted, a rudimentary Courthouse, barracks and police station followed on the corner of Martin and Thompson streets. Thus began the city of Hamilton out of violence. The town’s first policeman also established the Grange Inn in 1843 and a blacksmith set up a workshop in 1844 as a tiny town began to emerge. Shanties, a few houses and a store opened in 1848 to serve the surrounding sheep stations and the government order a full town survey in 1849. It was gazetted as Hamilton in 1851. The 1854 census noted 230 people living in Hamilton and this grew to 1,197 in the 1861 census, 2,967 in 1881 and 4,024 in the 1901 census. By the 1860s the town had nine hotels, seven churches, two breweries, a tannery, a coach building works, flourmill and a Mechanics Institute. In the 1870s the town prospered more as the rail link to the port facilities at Portland was completed and the town was linked by rail to Melbourne via Ararat and Ballart.