Kyneton

see also:

• Daylesford and surrounds

• Kyneton is situated at an elevation of 514 metres above sea level and is located on the Calder Highway,85 kilometres from Melbourne.
• train station is 91km from Melbourne on the Bendigo line
• historic township - home to one of the best collections of bluestone buildings in Victoria

• Kyneton Botanic Gardens
• Kyneton bluestone buildings from the 1850's
• Bringalbit Country Retreat - 1895 stone house, accommodation, and also gardens open weekends 10am-4pm $5 fee
• mineral springs - some in Kyneton but the best ones are towards Daylesford
• Kyneton Golf Club
• Black Hill Reserve to the north (but this was burnt down c2014 and the forest is slowly growing back)
  • rock climbing - see here
• Turpins Falls - a very neglected waterfall to the north-west
• Mitchell Falls
• Trentham Falls to the south-west on the Woodend to Daylesford road
• Kyneton Quarry
  • rock climbing - see here
• Upper Coliban, Lauriston and Malmsbury Reservoirs are also worth a visit, including the railway viaduct at Malmsbury. The viaduct is 152 metres long and has five spans each of 18 metres.
• Hanging Rock is south-east back towards Mt Macedon

• prior to the arrival of Europeans the area was occupied by the Thagungwurung Aborigines although their population in this region was small
• 1836: the explorer, Major Thomas Mitchell, crossed and named the Campaspe River (after one of Alexander the Great's courtesans) near present day Kyneton, heralding in the 1st British settlers
• 1837: the 1st squatter, Charles Ebden establishes the 'Karlsruhe' / Carlsruhe Run sheep station
  • Ebden drove his sheep and horses from Nagambie to Carlsruhe in 1837, decided to settle there and built a hut on the eastern side of the Campaspe River.
• 1839: Wedge Brothers squatted and formed Wedge's Station which later became the site of Kyneton
• 1841: some squatters grew corn, and a corn mill was established
• 1842: police kill 6 local Kooris after two shepherds were killed
• 1843: first 'permanent' building in Kyneton was erected
• 1846: Kyneton was surveyed as a camping place for teamsters headed to Bendigo
• 1849: township of Kyneton was surveyed to serve as a centre of law and administration in place of the earlier Carlsruhe settlement to the immediate south, and named after the English village of Kineton (now Kington) on the suggestion of Mrs Jeffreys (who was born in Kineton) of Jeffrey's Station
• 1850:
  • township of Kyneton was gazetted 1 year before the gold rush at Mt Alexander and Bendigo, and Crown town allotments were sold while sites for the Anglican, Catholic and Methodist Churches were reserved
  • the single-storey bluestone former Anglican rectory on the corner of Piper and Ebden streets was built making it the oldest standing building
• 1850's:
  • William Degraves acquired the Carlsruhe Run
    • Degraves was the son of Peter Degraves, who had migrated to Van Diemens Land in 1824 and later established the Cascade Brewery.
    • William Degraves had crossed over Bass Strait in 1849 and built his first steam flourmill in Flinders Lane in the early 1850s.
• 1852: 1st census put population at 300 in March 1852 and by December it was 2000
• 1852: Royal George Hotel built (at one stage there were over 30 hotels in Kyneton, now there are 5)
• 1853: the original Congregational Church, now the Kyneton Arts Centre was built
• 1853: the first Catholic primary school was opened
• 1854: Kyneton Mechanics Institute built
• 1855: Kyneton primary school built
• 1855: Kyneton District Hospital built (it is probably Victoria's oldest hospital)
• 1855: St. Mary's Catholic Church and the original Methodist Church, now the Baptist Church was built
• 1856: St. Paul's Anglican Church built
• 1856: Bank of New South Wales building built (now Kyneton Museum)
• 1856: first record of horse racing held in Kyneton
• 1857: the Gothic bluestone St. Andrew's Uniting Church built
• 1857: courthouse built
• 1857: Kyneton was proclaimed a municipality and, thanks to the gold rush and through traffic, Kyneton became the state's major agricultural town and the general prosperity and development resulted in a building boom which saw bluestone quarrying become a substantial industry.
• 1857: Degraves built the large bluestone 20mx10m steam powered four mill “Degraves Mill”
  • The mill ceased operating c1870. The adjoining engine room and chimneystack were demolished c1890.
• 1857: the humanitarian Caroline Chisholm moved her family to Kyneton
• 1859: Degraves builds a 2nd steam powered flour mill in Kyneton district - at Riverview.
• 1859: Kyneton Mounted Rifle Corps was formed as one of the volunteer brigades set up when Britain was involved in wars in Afghanistan, Crimea and India.
• late 1850's: gold was discovered at nearby Malmsbury and Lauriston and furnished reasonable returns into the 1870s.
• 1860: the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition camped just to the north of the township and the only survivor, John King was regaled at a local hotel on his return trip.
• 1862: rail link built which provided further impetus to its growth while Cobb & Co. Coaches changed three times a day
• 1862: Steam Mill in Piper Street was built (worked until 1956)
• 1862: Gas lighting was installed in several buildings
• late 1860's: Kyneton Botanical Gardens were laid out in the late 1860's and early 1870's and many species were provided by Baron von Mueller
• 1866: Kyneton Fire Brigade was formed
• 1870: Kyneton Courthouse tried bushranger Ned Kelly for robbery under arms
• 1889: The Sisters of Mercy opened St Joseph's school
• 1890: the Boggy Creek mineral springs were discovered