Eagle Point is a small town in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, within the

Shire of East Gippsland The Shire of East Gippsland is a local government area in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 46,818. It includes the towns of Bairnsdale, Benambra ...

, by Lake King. The area encompasses the red limestone cliffs by the Mitchell River and

Mitchell River silt jetties The Mitchell River silt jetties are an unusually long, thin landform in the Gippsland Lakes region in Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, prov ...

. It is a popular tourist destination.

History

The Gunai name for Eagle Point is ''Nurrung'', which translates to ''moon''. Eagle Point is a place associated with the Bushy Park massacres of local Gunai Aboriginal people. In 1840-41, Angus McMillan and his men killed an unknown number of Gunai people in skirmishes during "the defense of Bushy Park". In the mid to late 1840s, Eagle Point was the headquarters for the Border Police under Commissioner Tyers. In conjunction with the

Native Police Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentie ...

force based at nearby Boisdale, this force conducted regular punitive raids upon Gunai camps across the region.

Demographics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 Census found the town has a ratio of 51 males to 49 females. The median age is 56 years of age, 18 years above the Australian average. At 79.2%, the majority of people living in Eagle Point were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. In Eagle Point, 90.1% of people only spoke English at home. Italian speakers number 0.8%, 0.7% speak German, while Afrikaans, Finnish and Malay speakers each number 0.3%. 63.1%, of the town is religious, with 19.4% identifying as Anglican, 15.8% as

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and 4.8% as belonging to the

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Unio ...

. 36.9% of the population were reported as having no religion. 59.1% of the population are married, 19.4% have never married, 11.9% are divorced, 6.0% are widowed and 3.6% are separated. 51.0% of people living in Eagle Point are employed full-time, and 35.3% are working part-time. Eagle Point has an unemployment rate of 4.0%.

Education

Eagle Point is served by a primary school, Eagle Point Primary School, founded in 1894. It is situated on School Road and Eagle Point Rd. In 2010 it completed a redevelopment which included 2 new buildings.

Tourism

Eagle Point is known for its tourism. It has two caravan parks, Eagle Point Caravan Park and Lake King Caravan Park. In fact, some people refer to Eagle Point Caravan Park as just Eagle Point. Eagle Point's main attraction is the reserve. There are also kangaroos regularly in sight on silt jetties. The other attraction is Lake King or The Mitchell River but Lake King is sometimes closed off to the public due to algae blooms. There are also beachfront apartments available for rent. Bairnsdale Riviera Triathlon Club hosts an annual event in Eagle Point each summer.

Arts & Culture

Although there are no art galleries in Eagle Point, the town has a small number of professional artists living and working in the area.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of East Gippsland