It was the search for grazing land that brought explorers and settlers to the Western District in the 1830s. And they were not disappointed. Hamilton now boasts the slogan ‘Wool capital of the world’. A high proportion of the district’s citizens were wealthy, industrious and enterprising. They were dominated by pastoralism and were concerned with social status, moral tone and respectability. While these were the major ingredients of early Hamilton, today’s Hamilton is composed of townspeople living in an urban environment. They run the town’s affairs, lead its public life and make up the majority of the members of most clubs and organisations. But one expects that Hamilton will always have an aura of substance and respectability. It has provided most of its citizens with a high quality of life and, in return, has won back loyalty and a desire to serve the community. This desire to serve the community has often been demonstrated; some of the most notable examples being Hamilton’s record contributions to the War Loans, the 1951 working bee to build the community swimming pool and the generous donations that enabled the establishment of the Hamilton Art Gallery. The history of Hamilton and its rural surrounds begins with the exploration party of the New South Wales Surveyor-General, Major Thomas Mitchell, and examines the events, character and people of the district to the present day. The valley of the Grange is a far different place from when Mitchell’s carts splashed across the creek in 1836.

CONTENTS:
Illustrations vii. Acknowledgments ix. Introduction p1. Part 1: Pastoral settlement at the Grange: Discovery and first occupation p6. At the point of a gun p15. Pastoral settlement 1842-52 p23. Part 2: Police station to municipality 1841-59: The Grange p30. Hamilton townsite p36. Rural grange 1850s p45. Hamilton 1855-59 p57. Part 3: Enterprise 1860-80: Mudopolis or Chicago? p69. Urban Hamilton p80. Rural Hamilton p99. Life in Hamilton p112. Part 4: ‘Respectability, solidity’ 1880-1900: ‘No poor people here’ p117. Work, railways and politics p130. The district p140. Growing up in Hamilton p150. Part 5: Prosperity, Recreation and Commitment 1900-20: Closer settlement p159. Golden years 1900-14 p166. Quality of life p177. The Great War and its aftermath p185. 6: Good Times and Bad Times 1920-45: World events p198. Transport p205. Town and country p213. After work p219. Part 7: The City by the Grange: ‘Hamilton has been good to me’ p227. On the sheep’s back p236. Notes on sources p246. Bibliography p247. References p251. Index p272.

ILLUSTRATIONS:
Contemporary map of Hamilton x. Map: Main geographical features in the Hamilton region p2. Map: Aboriginal tribal boundaries in Western Victoria p4. Sheep grazing beside the Wannon River at Wannon p8. Map: Pastoral licence properties in the Hamilton region p13. The Wannon Falls p25. Sketch: Where settlement began in Hamilton p32. Map: Grange settlement and first subdivision of Hamilton p34. The Skene homestead p51. Map: Towns and villages in the Hamilton region p56. The Victoria Hotel p59. Map: Boundaries of the Hamilton municipality p67. Abraham Greed p72. Gray Street 1874 p84. St Ronan’s 1903 p86. Sketch: New State School 1876 p88. The Hamilton and Western District College p90. The Alexandra College p91. Map: The railway system in Western Victoria 1920 p94. The land sales at Hamilton 1865 p102. Monivae homestead p105. Warrayure homestead p106. John Thomson p121. W.H. Melville p122. Smallpox scare at Hamilton p124. Bewsall, home of R.S. Bree p128. Sketch: Skin-drying racks p133. The Clifton homestead p144. The Hamilton detachment of the Victorian Mounted Rifles p157. Map: Closer settlement estate in the Hamilton region: Strathkeller, Mooralla and Kenilworth p161. The Hamilton Academy [later Loreto Sisters; St Mary’s] p168. The Hamilton Hospital 1903 p171. View of Hamilton towards Church Hill from St Ronan’s, 1903 p176. The Market Square in Lonsdale Street, Melville Park / Oval p181. The Hamilton Club 1903 p186. World War One parade p195. Reginald M. Ansett beside his second-hand Studebaker p208. Reg Ansett beside his Airspeed Envoy aeroplane 1936 p210. St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church p217. Christ Church Anglican Co-Cathedral p222. Sketch: Gray Street in 1948 p228. St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church p230. Lake Hamilton p232. Swimming Pool working bee 1951 p234. Modern Hamilton seen from the south p242.

SURNAMES / FAMILY NAMES from the index:
Affleck. Ashworth. Austin. Balkin. Barber. Beath. Begg. Beggs. Bemrose. Bennett. Bergin. Blackley. Blastock. Bloomfield. Boldrewood. Bonwick. Bowden. Bowman. Brake. Brayshay. Bree. Bromell. Brown. Buckley. Butler. Cameron. Campbell. Carr. Carter. Carty. Chamberlain. Clarke. Codd. Cook. Cooke. Cox. Craig. Cresswell. Critten. Cussen. Cuthbertson. Darsow. Daymond. Dempster. Destree. Deutscher. Dew. Dickens. Dilnot. Dinwoodie. Dixie. Donald. Downes. Edgar. Ellis. Elms. Fenton. Fetherstonhaugh. Fitzpatrick. Forlonge. Foyster. Fraser. French. Friend. Fyans. Garton. Gaussen. Gilson. Govett. Gray. Greed. Green. Griffin. Gullett. Gummow. Habel. Haferkorn. Hamilton. Hammond. Harris. Hartwich. Hawker. Heath. Heazlewood. Heine. Heller. Henry. Henty. Heron. Hewett. Hiller. Hoddle. Holden. Horner. Horwitz. Huf. Hunter. Hutcheson. Innes. Jacoby. Jenkins. Jenner. Kenna. Kennan. Kennedy. Kippen. Kirkwood. Klug. Kriewaldt. Krummnow. Laidlaw. Lang. La Trobe. Law. Learmonth. Lew. Lindsay. Loats. Lonsdale. Loughnane. Love. Lowenstern. Lyall. MacDonald. McDonald. McDougall. McGennisken. McKellar. Mackinnon. McLellan. McLennan. McLeod. McLuckie. McLure. Macmillan. McNeill. Macpherson. McSheehy. Malcolm. Martin. Matheson. Melville. Menzel. Messer. Mitchell. Moffat. Molesworth. Mollison. Moodie. Moore. Morse. Mott. Moynan. Muller. Nagorcka. Neville. Nichterlein. Nixon. Noske. Nowlan. Nunn. Officer. O’Neill. Palmer. Patterson. Peck. Pedrina. Petschel. Philip. Pilven. Powell. Puckle. Quigley. Rasmussen. Reay. Reen. Reilly. Rentiers. Riley. Rippon. Rizzo. Robertson. Robinson. Rodgers. Roger (aborigine). Rogers. Routledge. Rowland. Russell. Sabelberg. Samuel. Savage. Schurmann. Scott. Sergeant. Shanahan. Shaw. Shevill. Shilcock. Silberberg. Simpson. Skene. Skeyhill. Slater. Sloane. Slorach. Slow. Smith. Somer. Soulsby. Spence. Stevenson. Stewart. Swaby. Tatlock. Thomas. Thomson. Thornley. Trangmar. Tulloch. Tyers. Uren. Vale. Wade. Wall. Wallace. Walls. Walpole. Walter. Walters. Walton. Waters. Wedge. Westacott. White. Wiggins. Wilson. Winter. Winter-Cooke. Woodbridge. Woods. Woodward. Worland. Wraith. Wylie. Young. Younger.

FULL INDEX available on library computers: Electronic resources \ Indexes \ Hamilton

FROM THE INDEX (Place names, institutions, etc.):
Abattoirs. Aboriginal protectorate. Aborigines. Aerodrome: Kanawalla; Pedrina. Agriculture – see Cropping; Pastoral industry. Alexandra College. Ansett Airways. Ansett Motors. Ararat. Argyle Arms Hotel. Arrandoovong. Art Gallery. Audley. Aviation. Ballarat. Bandicoots. Baptist Church. Basset. Bochara region. Bochara run. Boer War. Bongmire. Botanical Gardens. Braeside Weir. Branxholme. Breweries. Brisbane Hill. Buckleys Swamp. Bushfires. Bushman’s Home. Butter factories. Byaduk. Caledonian Hotel. Cape Wrath – see also Murroa. Casterton. Cavendish. Cemetery. Children. Church Hill. Church of England (Anglican). Clifton. Climate. Closer settlement. Clyde Engineering Works. Coach services. Coleraine. Commercial Hotel. Common – see also Hamilton Water Trust; Pedrina Aerodrome. Conscription. Convicts. Court. Criterion Hotel. Cropping. Croxton area. Croxton Park. Croxton region. Croxton run. Dairying. Depression, 1840s; 1890s; 1930s. Diphtheria epidemic. Doling Doling Swamp. Dramus Theatre. Dundas Hotel. Dundas Road District – see Dundas Shire. Dundas Shire Council. Dunkeld. Economic base. Electricity. Entertainments. Federation. Fire Brigade. Flax. Flour milling. Free Presbyterian Church. Freezing Works. Frost Engineering. Gas. Gazette. Geelong. George Hotel. George Street Primary School. German community. German Town – see Tarrington. Glenthomson. Gold rushes. Grampians. Grand Central Hotel. Grange Burn (creek). Grange Burn run. Grange Family Hotel. Grange Inn. Grange run. Grange settlement. Gray Street School (formerly National School and Hamilton Primary).

Hamilton: Academy; and Western District College; Borough Council; City Council; Club; ‘Courier’; Education Centre; ‘Free Press’; ‘Independent’; Inn; Municipality; Name; Sewerage Authority; ‘Spectator’; Town Council; Townsite; ‘Tribune’; Water Board; Water Trust.

Hensley Park property. Hensley Park settlement. Higher Elementary School – see also High School. High School. Hochkirch – see Tarrington. Horsham. Hospitals: Hamilton; Private. Kanawalla. Kenilworth. Kent Road Primary School. Knitting mills. Koornong. Kyabram Movement. Lake Hamilton. Lake Kennedy. Lake Linlithgow. Land Office building. Land sales, rural. Libraries. Loreto Convent. Lutheran churches (Hamilton). Lutheran College. Lutheran Primary School. Mail services. Manor House. Market Square – see Melville Oval. Meadowlands. Mechanics’ Institute. Melville Oval. Methodist Church. Mexico. Monivae. Monivae College. Monivae settlement. Mooralla. Morgiana. Motion pictures. Motor transport. Mount Bainbridge. Mount Napier. Mount Napier run. Mount Pierrepoint. Mount Rouse. Mount Rouse run and protectorate. Mount Sturgeon Plains. Mount Sturgeon run. Moutajup. Muddy Creek. Muddy Creek Methodist Church. Murndal. Murroa – see also Cape Wrath. Myrniong. Napier Club. Narrawong. Nigretta Falls. Nigretta run. North Hamilton. North Hamilton Primary School. Old Stockyard. Pastoral and Agricultural Society. Pastoral industry. Pastoral labour. Penshurst. Pierrepoint. Plains. Police. Police Magistrate. Political representation. Population. Port Fairy. Portland. Post Office. Presbyterian Church – see also Free Presbyterian Church. Presbyterian Primary School. Prestonholme. Primitive Methodists. Prince of Wales Hotel. ‘Punch in Hamilton’. Rabbit factory. Rabbits. Racecourse Hotel. Radio. Railway Hotel. Railways. Red Hill Farm. Redruth – see Wannon. Roads (district). Roman Catholic Church. St Mary’s Primary School (and predecessors). St Ronan’s. Saleyards. Salvation Army. Sanitation. Schools, District – see Hamilton schools by name. Scots. Secondary industry. Separation movement. Skene property – see also Plains. Spanish flu.

Sport: Athletics; Basketball; Bicycling; Bowling; Coursing; Cricket; Croquet; Football; Golf; Horse racing; Hunting; Polo; Roller skating; Shooting; Swimming; Tennis.

Springwood. Stawell. Strathkellar run. Strathkellar settlement. Swimming pools. Tabor. Tarrington (formerly German Town and Hochkirch). Tarrington property. Technical School. Technical School (private). Telegraph. Telephone. Thomson’s Store. Town Hall. Town Hall Hotel. Uniting Church. Victoria Hotel. Violet Creek. Violet Creek run. Volunteer forces. Wannon (formerly Redruth). Wannon Falls. Wannon Inn. Wannon River. Warrayure property. Warrayure settlement. Warrnambool. Warrumbeech – see Plains and Skene. Water supply. Weerangourt. Women. Wool – see Pastoral industry. World War One. World War Two. Yatchaw. Yulecart.