Koroit
Koroit Federal division(s) | Wannon |
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Koroit
History
Prior to British colonisation the Koroit area was a rich source of foods for the
The first European knowledge of the area is the confirmed sighting of Tower Hill by French explorers sailing with Captain
What became the
Koroit was originally part of the Shire of Belfast (Belfast being the prior name of today's Port Fairy). In the latter part of the 19th century, the township of Koroit separated from the Shire of Belfast and formed the Borough of Koroit. In November 1870, after the proclamation of the Borough of Koroit on 7 October 1870, nine new councillors were elected from fourteen candidates. On 10 December 1870, the new Borough of Koroit elected its first mayor. In 1985, the Borough of Koroit merged with the Shire of Warrnambool and was incorporated into the Shire of Moyne in 1994.
The Koroit Magistrates' Court closed on 15 June 1977, not having been visited by a Magistrate since 1972.[6]
The author Henry Handel Richardson lived in the Koroit Post Office as a child after her family moved to Koroit in 1878. Remembering Koroit from her youth, the third volume in her The Fortunes of Richard Mahony trilogy is set in the town. When the author was six, her father Walter died in Koroit on 1 August 1879 and was buried at the Koroit cemetery.
Traditional ownership
The formally recognised
Tower Hill
Tower Hill has always been a part of Koroit and in the town's earliest days the lake within the Tower Hill crater was the source of the town's drinking water. Tower Hill is an
Tower Hill has always been public land, initially reserved as an Acclimatization Zone in 1866 it was declared a State Forest in 1872. An Act of Parliament on 5 December 1892 declared Tower Hill to be a
The vegetation of Tower Hill was originally a diverse collection of
The local cemetery is the Tower Hill Cemetery located on the South Eastern slopes of Tower Hill. The first recorded burials at the Tower Hill cemetery began in 1859. Charles Pye, an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, died in Kirkstall on 12 July 1876 and is buried at Tower Hill.
Within the cemetery, there is a marble column over the grave of William McLean. The epitaph, believed to have been written by Henry Lawson, reads: "Erected by his fellow unionists and admirers in memory of their comrade, William John McLean who was shot by a non-unionist at Grassmere, New South Wales, during the bush struggle in 1894 and who died 22 March, aged 26 years. A good son and faithful mate and a devoted unionist, Union is strength". The related events are known as the 1894 shearers' strike.
Nobel Prize-winning Australian biologist Sir
Amenities
The Koroit police station was established on Commercial Road on 30 May 1867. The Koroit railway station began operations in 1889, with a brick building replacing an original timber structure in 1907. However, train services to Koroit ceased in September 1977 when the lines west from Dennington and north from Koroit were closed. The Koroit and District Memorial Health Services facility is on Mill Street providing health services including nursing home, adult day centre, district nursing service, and attached medical centre and incorporating child and adolescent mental health services. The facility began as a full service hospital in 1954 and was converted to the current use in 1994. The Koroit Library is located within the original Koroit Borough Chambers on High Street and is open for limited periods on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Within the town, the Koroit Botanic Gardens form part of a large, central recreational area, and were designed by notable landscape architect, William Guilfoyle. The gardens were established in 1862 with an area of approximately three hectares in High Street. Koroit's War Memorial is located on the edge of the Botanic Gardens. In addition to The Olde Courthouse Inn, Koroit hosts two hotels in the main street, Commercial Road, the Commercial Hotel and Mickey Bourke's Koroit Hotel.
The Koroit and Tower Hill Butter and Cheese Factory Company Ltd was established in Koroit in the 1890s. An expanded facility continues today on the same site as part of the Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited. The facility is Australia's largest milk processing plant in terms of milk volume with an annual milk processing capacity of 800 million litres. From a three-hectare site on Commercial Road, the company runs a fleet of tankers collecting milk from suppliers throughout Western Victoria and South Australia. The site produces cream, buttermilk, anhydrous milk fat (AMF) and a wide variety of milk powders, for both local and international markets.
The former Tower Hill Lake National School in High Street near the Koroit Oval is the least altered of three surviving substantially intact examples of schools of the National School era existing in Victoria. Its design is unusual in that it is built to an H-shaped plan with the classrooms flanking the teacher's residence. It is significant to the Koroit community as its oldest building, having been constructed in the same year that the township was surveyed (1857), and was the venue for the first election and the early meetings of the Koroit Borough Council following a break away from the Belfast Shire in 1870.
Recreation
The annual Lake School of Celtic Music, Song and Dance by the Lake School Committee subcommittee of the Koroit Community Association takes place in January.
Koroit is at the centre of a recreational trail along a decommissioned railway line that ran between Warrnambool, Koroit and Port Fairy. The 30 km recreational trail starts at Lake Pertobe in Warrnambool, passes through fertile farmland to Koroit (with a connection to Tower Hill) and finishes at the fishing village of Port Fairy.[12]
The town has an
References
- ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Koroit (SSC)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-876429-66-9.
- ^ "Victorian Heritage Database". VHD. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ Phoenix Auctions History. "Post Office List". Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Sid Brown (March 1990). "Tracks Across the State". Newsrail. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). pp. 71–76.
- ^ "Special Report No. 4 - Court Closures in Victoria" (PDF). Auditor-General of Victoria. 1986. p. 78. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "Map of formally recognised traditional owners". Aboriginal Victoria. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- ^ "Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation". Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- ^ "Lake School of Celtic Music, Song & Dance". Lake School. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ "Koroit Annual Show". VicAgShows. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ "Koroit Irish Festival". Koroit Irish Festival. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ "Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail". Rail Trails. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ Full Point Footy. "Koroit". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
Bibliography
- Harry Alan McCorkell (1970). A Green and Pleasant Land or The Story of Koroit, 1836–1970. The Koroit Sentinel. For a long period, Harry McCorkell was the Town Clerk for the Koroit Borough Council. There is a memorial tree to Harry McCorkell in the Koroit Botanic Gardens reading "This Medlar Tree Was Planted On 8th April 1984 As A Memorial To The Late Harry A McCorkell Who Has Kept The History Of Koroit Alive Through His Book A Green And Pleasant Land".
- Anita Brady (1992). A Centenary History of Tower Hill. Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Victoria.
- Henry Handel Richardson (1998). The Fortunes of Richard Mahony. Penguin Books.
- Henry Handel Richardson (2005). Myself When Young. Kessinger Publishing.
External links
Media related to Koroit, Victoria at Wikimedia Commons