australia:vic:swanhill
Table of Contents
Swan Hill and surrounding areas
- North:
- South:
- South-East:
- West:
- see also:
- maps:
Swan Hill
- a major regional town in NW Victoria where the Little Murray River rejoins the Murray River
Getting there
- 3.5hrs (316km) from NW suburbs of Melbourne via Ravenwood, Marong, Bridgewater-on-Loddon, Kerang
- 42min (60km) NW of Kerang
- 105min (159km) N of St Arnaud
- 110min (155km) NW of Echuca
- 2hrs 7min N of Melville Caves campground, Kooyoora State Park
- 2hrs 12min NW of Bendigo
- 2.5hrs SE of Mildura
Attractions
-
- Pental Island
- to the north:
- historic Tyntynder homestead
- Speewa, Beveridge Island on the Murray
- Lake Mungo (2hr 51min, 242km)
- to the NW:
- Hattah-Kulkyne NP (104min, 157km)
- Mildura 2.5hrs 224km
- to the east in NSW:
- Murray Downs
- to the SE:
- Lake Boga
- Loddon River joins the Little Murray River SE of Lake Boga near Winlaton
- Tutchewop wildlife reserve
- Lake Charm
- sunset viewing at Kangaroo Lake
- Koorangie wildlife reserve
- NB. the Avoca River drains into Little Lake Bael Bael, NW of Kerang
- to the W:
- Sea Lake and Lake Tyrrell and Lake Wahpool
- Hopetoun
- to the SW:
- Warracknabeal (2hrs, 175km)
- Jeparit (2hrs 20min 210km) and Lake Hindmarsh
- Dimboola (2hrs 20min 213km) and Little Desert NP
- Horsham (2.5hrs, 229km) and Mt Arapiles rock climbing (3hrs, 266km)
- Plantation campground, Mt Zero, northern Grampians (2hr 50min 250km via Donald and Dadswells Bridge)
History
- 1836: Swan Hill was named when explorer Thomas Mitchell camped on a hill and was kept awake with the sounds of swans
- 1845 Tyntynder established by the Beveridge family
- 1849 post office opened and a hospital and churches followed
- 1853 river race: Francis Cadell navigated the Murray River on the PS Lady Augusta, from the river’s mouth in South Australia to Swan Hill, narrowly beating William Randell of Mannum, who arrived just four hours later in the PS Mary Ann. The ‘race’ demonstrated the feasibility of river traffic, which then flourished and Swan Hill became one of the region’s major inland river trading ports along with Echuca
- 1883 the first of several red brick water towers were built to supply the growing town with water
- 1887: 1st farming irrigations
- 1890: railway was extended to Swan Hill then to Piangil in 1915 resulting in decline in river trade
- 1896: timber truss, steel lift span bridge built
- 1910: the Nyah irrigation area was established
Tyntynder station
- “‘Peter Beveridge (1829-1885), Presbyterian, squatter and author, was born on 24 June 1829 at Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the third son of Andrew Beveridge, baker, and his wife Margaret, née Spratt. In 1839 the family arrived in Port Phillip and settled at Mercer’s Vale (Beveridge). Later Andrew took up Dean station at Wandong. In 1845, inspired by Robert McDougall’s description of the Swan Hill district and guided by him, Peter and his older brother Andrew (M.A., Edinburgh) drove 1000 cattle by way of Kilmore and Mount Alexander to the Loddon River, crossed it at Tragowel and continued on to Curlewis & Campbell’s Reedy Lake station. They formed Tyntynder station, ten miles (16 km) down the Murray from the site of Swan Hill. Another brother, George, joined them with flocks of sheep and in 1846 they took up Piangil, about fifteen miles (24 km) beyond Tyntynder. There in September Andrew was speared to death by Aboriginals in an argument over stolen sheep. In 1847 the rest of the family moved to Tyntynder, Mrs Beveridge being the first white woman in that region. They stayed for six years before returning to Kilmore; Peter and two brothers remained on the stations until 1868.”
- Peter Beveridge estimated the Aboriginal population of New South Wales and Port Phillip in 1845 as 5410 and in 1853 as 2405. He observed and recorded their remedies for such things as ‘pulmonary affections, rheumatic fevers’, headache, sore eyes and inflammation of the bowels. In June 1883 in another of his papers read to the Royal Society of New South Wales Beveridge described at some length such subjects as chieftainship, marriage relations, games, poetry and philology. This paper formed the basis for The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina as Seen by Peter Beveridge, published posthumously in Melbourne in 1889.
- Beveridge’s last years were spent at Green Hills, French Island. After a painful illness he died on 4 October 1885 at his mother’s home, Woodburn, near Kilmore.
australia/vic/swanhill.txt · Last modified: 2024/01/18 15:54 by gary1