Derrinallum
Derrinallum is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Hamilton Highway, in the Corangamite Shire. The town is the centre for the surrounding farming community and lies at the foot of Mount Elephant. Mount Elephant is a 380 m-high conical breached scoria cone formed by an dormant volcano.
At the 2001 census, Derrinallum had a population of 266. At the 2016 census, Derrinallum had a population of 557.
The Djargurd Wurrong people are the traditional Aboriginal owners of the Derrinallum district. The Djargurd Wurrong people consist of twelve clans that traditionally shared a common language and family ties, but each clan had its own territory. For tens of thousands of years they successfully occupied the area as a semi-nomadic hunter gatherer society. During European colonisation in the 1830s, Mount Elephant was located within the territory of the clan Teerinyillum Gundidj. One known Aborigonal man from the Derrinallum clan (or Teerinyillum Gundidj) was known as "King Tom of the Mount Elephant tribe". He was painted by Robert Hawker Dowling in 1856 (National Library of Australia). King Tom was later photographed at Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission in 1877 by the photograger Fred Kruger (1831-1888).
Colonial exploration of the Derrinallum district began in 1837 by the "Derwent Company". The company comprised Messers, Learmonth, Fisher, Mercer, and Swanston. They headed north from Lake Corangamite, climbed the volcanic cone of Mount Elephant, and named the mountain "Elephant Hill". The first official overland trip from Geelong to Portland was led by Fyans and Smythe in 1839, where Fyans recorded "we bend our steps across to Teron Allum Hill or elpephant". On the same trip Smythe recorded that June 2 they "started early for Lake Colac... and the native pointed out a hill to which we travelled, the name of the Mount is Terrinallum" Derrinallum was also known as The Swamp by early colonial settlers. The local indigenous tribe called the locality Djerrinallum meaning sea swallow or tern, a species that used to flock to the area in abundance.
An application to build a general store set the ball rolling with the townsite being surveyed in 1866. In 1867 the village of Tooliorook was proclaimed and the first land sales were held in the nearby town of Camperdown. The Post Office opened on 7 December 1868 but was named Tooliorook until 1873. Unhappy with the name of the budding township the residents applied for a name change. The options were Derrinallum, Tarrinallum, Dunwall or Dunstone.. The post office changed its name to Derrinallum in 1873 to match the new name of the town. Growth of the town was slow, by the time of Federation there were only seven dwellings in the town. The town's war memorial doesn't have any names from WW1. The arrival of the railway in 1913 preceded the soldier settlements of the 1920s. The arrival of the return soldiers lead to the formation of the RSL and the placement of the war memorial. Prior to WW2 the population of the town jumped from 69 to 155 residents.
On 14 January 1944, a bushfire that started in Vite Vite aided by strong northerly winds destroyed the town. Only 12 buildings remained standing after the fire. The devastation and subsequent rebuilding the town is notable for all the post war style architecture.
More land was available for soldiers returning from WW2, these soldiers with their families help swell the numbers in the district and aided the growth in the town and the services it could provide..
At the 2001 census, Derrinallum had a population of 266. At the 2016 census, Derrinallum had a population of 557.
The Djargurd Wurrong people are the traditional Aboriginal owners of the Derrinallum district. The Djargurd Wurrong people consist of twelve clans that traditionally shared a common language and family ties, but each clan had its own territory. For tens of thousands of years they successfully occupied the area as a semi-nomadic hunter gatherer society. During European colonisation in the 1830s, Mount Elephant was located within the territory of the clan Teerinyillum Gundidj. One known Aborigonal man from the Derrinallum clan (or Teerinyillum Gundidj) was known as "King Tom of the Mount Elephant tribe". He was painted by Robert Hawker Dowling in 1856 (National Library of Australia). King Tom was later photographed at Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission in 1877 by the photograger Fred Kruger (1831-1888).
Colonial exploration of the Derrinallum district began in 1837 by the "Derwent Company". The company comprised Messers, Learmonth, Fisher, Mercer, and Swanston. They headed north from Lake Corangamite, climbed the volcanic cone of Mount Elephant, and named the mountain "Elephant Hill". The first official overland trip from Geelong to Portland was led by Fyans and Smythe in 1839, where Fyans recorded "we bend our steps across to Teron Allum Hill or elpephant". On the same trip Smythe recorded that June 2 they "started early for Lake Colac... and the native pointed out a hill to which we travelled, the name of the Mount is Terrinallum" Derrinallum was also known as The Swamp by early colonial settlers. The local indigenous tribe called the locality Djerrinallum meaning sea swallow or tern, a species that used to flock to the area in abundance.
An application to build a general store set the ball rolling with the townsite being surveyed in 1866. In 1867 the village of Tooliorook was proclaimed and the first land sales were held in the nearby town of Camperdown. The Post Office opened on 7 December 1868 but was named Tooliorook until 1873. Unhappy with the name of the budding township the residents applied for a name change. The options were Derrinallum, Tarrinallum, Dunwall or Dunstone.. The post office changed its name to Derrinallum in 1873 to match the new name of the town. Growth of the town was slow, by the time of Federation there were only seven dwellings in the town. The town's war memorial doesn't have any names from WW1. The arrival of the railway in 1913 preceded the soldier settlements of the 1920s. The arrival of the return soldiers lead to the formation of the RSL and the placement of the war memorial. Prior to WW2 the population of the town jumped from 69 to 155 residents.
On 14 January 1944, a bushfire that started in Vite Vite aided by strong northerly winds destroyed the town. Only 12 buildings remained standing after the fire. The devastation and subsequent rebuilding the town is notable for all the post war style architecture.
More land was available for soldiers returning from WW2, these soldiers with their families help swell the numbers in the district and aided the growth in the town and the services it could provide..
Map - Derrinallum
Map
Country - Australia
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| Flag of Australia | |
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUD | Australian dollar | $ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
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| EN | English language |