Kyneton
Kyneton is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of West Central Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east. Kyneton is on Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country.
The town has four main streets: Mollison Street, Main street, Piper Street and High Street. Piper Street has the oldest streetscape of these, and still has many of its original buildings. The railway station, about 91 km from Melbourne on the Bendigo railway line, is a terminus for two weekday peak-hour trains. The town is the council seat of the Shire of Macedon Ranges. At the 2021 census, Kyneton recorded a population of 7,513.
Major Thomas Mitchell, New South Wales Surveyor-General crossed and named the Campaspe River near present-day Kyneton on his 1836 expedition. Charles Ebden was the first European occupier of the region that includes the site of Kyneton. He set up a head station for his sheep run at Carlsruhe, Victoria 6 km south of Kyneton on 26 May 1837.
In 1837 Thomas Walker, a Sydney businessman, walked from Sydney to Melbourne, following much of the route taken by Thomas Mitchell the year before, and recorded the trip in a journal "A month in the Bush of Australia" which is now in the British Library. Thomas Walker met Ebden in May 1837 on the journey south.
In June 1838 the Waterloo Plains massacre of 8 - 23 Djadjawurrung people occurred on the newly established Barfold sheep run north of Kyneton.
Unlike a majority of towns in the area, Kyneton predates the separation of the Port Phillip District from the Colony of New South Wales and the Victorian gold rushes, having been established in 1850, whereas separation occurred and the gold rushes started the year after. Construction of Kyneton’s oldest surviving stone building, the Church of England Rectory, located at 61 Ebden Street, commenced in 1850 and is a rare surviving example of a pre-gold rush and pre-separation dwelling.
At this time, Kyneton was a growing rural centre, and served as a major stop for those heading to the gold rushes at Mount Alexander and Bendigo. The post office opened on 1 July 1843 as Mount Macedon and was renamed Kyneton on 1 January 1854.
Local government came to Kyneton with the proclamation of the Kyneton Municipal District in 1857. This body was short-lived, as it was amalgamated with the Carlsruhe, the Lauriston & Edgecombe, and the Tylden & Trentham Road Districts in December 1864 to form the Kyneton United Road District. The Kyneton United Road District was almost immediately redesignated as Kyneton Shire in January 1865. It absorbed part of Glenlyon Shire in 1873, Malmsbury Borough in 1915 and part of Ballan Shire in 1921. In 1995 Kyneton Shire was abolished by part being amalgamated with Creswick Shire, part of Daylesford & Glenlyon Shire and part of Talbot & Clunes Shire to form Hepburn Shire, and the remainder being amalgamated with Gisborne Shire, Newham & Woodend Shire and Romsey Shire to form Macedon Ranges Shire.
Joseph Furphy (aka Tom Collins) attended Kyneton primary school in the mid-1850s.
In November 1857, the humanitarian Caroline Chisholm moved her family to Kyneton, where her husband Archibald sat on the magistrates' bench and their two elder sons ran a store.
The town has four main streets: Mollison Street, Main street, Piper Street and High Street. Piper Street has the oldest streetscape of these, and still has many of its original buildings. The railway station, about 91 km from Melbourne on the Bendigo railway line, is a terminus for two weekday peak-hour trains. The town is the council seat of the Shire of Macedon Ranges. At the 2021 census, Kyneton recorded a population of 7,513.
Major Thomas Mitchell, New South Wales Surveyor-General crossed and named the Campaspe River near present-day Kyneton on his 1836 expedition. Charles Ebden was the first European occupier of the region that includes the site of Kyneton. He set up a head station for his sheep run at Carlsruhe, Victoria 6 km south of Kyneton on 26 May 1837.
In 1837 Thomas Walker, a Sydney businessman, walked from Sydney to Melbourne, following much of the route taken by Thomas Mitchell the year before, and recorded the trip in a journal "A month in the Bush of Australia" which is now in the British Library. Thomas Walker met Ebden in May 1837 on the journey south.
In June 1838 the Waterloo Plains massacre of 8 - 23 Djadjawurrung people occurred on the newly established Barfold sheep run north of Kyneton.
Unlike a majority of towns in the area, Kyneton predates the separation of the Port Phillip District from the Colony of New South Wales and the Victorian gold rushes, having been established in 1850, whereas separation occurred and the gold rushes started the year after. Construction of Kyneton’s oldest surviving stone building, the Church of England Rectory, located at 61 Ebden Street, commenced in 1850 and is a rare surviving example of a pre-gold rush and pre-separation dwelling.
At this time, Kyneton was a growing rural centre, and served as a major stop for those heading to the gold rushes at Mount Alexander and Bendigo. The post office opened on 1 July 1843 as Mount Macedon and was renamed Kyneton on 1 January 1854.
Local government came to Kyneton with the proclamation of the Kyneton Municipal District in 1857. This body was short-lived, as it was amalgamated with the Carlsruhe, the Lauriston & Edgecombe, and the Tylden & Trentham Road Districts in December 1864 to form the Kyneton United Road District. The Kyneton United Road District was almost immediately redesignated as Kyneton Shire in January 1865. It absorbed part of Glenlyon Shire in 1873, Malmsbury Borough in 1915 and part of Ballan Shire in 1921. In 1995 Kyneton Shire was abolished by part being amalgamated with Creswick Shire, part of Daylesford & Glenlyon Shire and part of Talbot & Clunes Shire to form Hepburn Shire, and the remainder being amalgamated with Gisborne Shire, Newham & Woodend Shire and Romsey Shire to form Macedon Ranges Shire.
Joseph Furphy (aka Tom Collins) attended Kyneton primary school in the mid-1850s.
In November 1857, the humanitarian Caroline Chisholm moved her family to Kyneton, where her husband Archibald sat on the magistrates' bench and their two elder sons ran a store.
Map - Kyneton
Map
Country - Australia
 |
 |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| EN | English language |