Gisborne () is a town in the

Macedon Ranges The Macedon Ranges is a region in Central Victoria, known for its expansive native forests, vibrant arts scene, thriving food and wine industries (including weekly farmers' markets) and natural attractions such as Hanging Rock and Mount Macedon. ...

, located about north-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

. It is the largest town in the

Macedon Ranges Shire The Shire of Macedon Ranges is a region in Central Victoria, Australia, best known for its expansive native forests, iconic geographical attraction Hanging Rock, and thriving artisan food and wine industries. The region covers an area of . It is ...

, with a population of 13,963 as of June 2018. Gisborne is known for its country homesteads, tree-lined streets, restaurants and cafes. The town has become a popular ' tree change' destination for Melbourne residents seeking large leafy blocks and a quiet lifestyle within easy commuting distance from the city. As such, the town has grown substantially over the past 5–10 years, with an increase of almost 2,600 residents since 2011, although planning controls have been implemented to protect the character and "outstanding natural beauty" of the region.

History

The original inhabitants of Gisborne were the

Dja Dja Wurrung Dja Dja Wurrung (Pronounced Ja-Ja-war-rung), also known as the Djaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people who are the Traditional owners of lands including the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca riv ...

and

Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm ( Melbo ...

Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people have lived in the Macedon Ranges area for at least 26,000 years. The Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrrung and Taungurung communities are still active. The Gisborne town site was first settled by Europeans on 24 March 1837 by

George Hamilton (Australian police officer) George Hamilton (12 March 1812 – 2 August 1883), was a pioneer overlander, artist, settler, and police officer in the Colony of South Australia, serving as Commissioner of Police for fifteen years. Origins Hamilton came from an old Herefor ...

. The area further south of Gisborne had been settled earlier by John Aitken, who squatted on the land having shipped his merino sheep from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. In 1840,

Henry Fyshe Gisborne Henry Fyshe Gisborne (1813–1841) was the first Commissioner for Crown Lands of the Port Phillip District, founder of Flemington Racecourse and petitioner for Victoria's separation from New South Wales. Early career Henry Fyshe Gisborne was th ...

, Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Port Phillip District, set up an outpost for his

Border Police A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

troopers to assist colonialists with the suppression of Aboriginal resistance. A hotel named the Bush Inn was built near the barracks in the same year. Gisborne Post Office opened on 22 March 1850, and the Bush Inn was renamed the Gisborne Hotel ten days later, in honour of Henry Fyshe Gisborne.

Today

Gisborne is the largest township in the

and the closest to Melbourne's city centre, which can be accessed easily via a 45-minute drive along the

Calder Freeway Calder Highway is a rural highway in Australia, linking Mildura and the Victoria/New South Wales border to Bendigo, in North Central Victoria. South of Bendigo, where the former highway has been upgraded to freeway-standard, Calder Freeway li ...

or a 50 minute train ride on the

Bendigo Line The Deniliquin railway line (also known as the Echuca railway line) is a broad-gauge railway line serving northwestern Victoria, Australia. The line runs from the border settlement of Deniliquin into Bendigo, before turning south-southeast tow ...

. The population in June 2018 was 13,963 having grown on average 2.93% year-on-year for the five years preceding 2018. The town centre has many cafes and wine bars, as well a theatre, restaurants and galleries, monthly farmers' market, an organic butcher and four supermarkets

FoodWorks FoodWorks is an Australian supermarket chain run by independent retail group Australian United Retailers Limited (AURL). The AURL was created in November 2004 from the merger of the FoodWorks Supermarket Group Ltd (FSG) and Australian United R ...

IGA (supermarkets) IGA, Inc., is an American chain of grocery stores that operates in more than 41 countries. Unlike the chain store business model, IGA operates as a franchise through stores that are owned separately from the brand. Many of these stores operate i ...

Coles Supermarkets Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Coles, is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of the Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in Collingwood by George Coles, Coles operates ...

and

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...

stocking local produce, as well as organic, vegan and gluten-free foods. Gisborne has a full-time

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, a ...

in conjunction with the CFA station, State Emergency Service and medical-ambulance facilities. The most popular place to visit in Gisborne is Swinburne Avenue during sun set. The long established community members of the western residential pocket of Gisborne gather along the street to watch the sun go down and celebrate to beauty of the region. Unofficially this is called the Celebration of Skyline, a play on the adjacent street name Skyline Drive. Sporting facilities cater for AFL football,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

, and

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

as well as a heated indoor pool. The popular golf course is located within the township and regularly features as one of the top 100 public access courses in Australia. The Gisborne Soccer Club captain is ex-

Socceroo The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated wi ...

and Melbourne Victory captain

Carl Valeri Carl may refer to: * Carl, Georgia, city in USA * Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name * Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of ...

. A number of media reports have made reference to the influx of young professionals, artists and ' hipsters' to the region, drawn by the region's natural beauty, proximity to Melbourne and access to city-style cafes and restaurants. The large numbers of new residents is making the local population growth rate among the fastest in regional Victoria. Locals, worried about the environmental and cultural impacts of this growing popularity, successfully campaigned for new planning controls to protect the character of the region.

Population

In the 2016 census, Gisborne had a population count of 9,822 people. At the time, 82.1% of the town's residents were born in Australia, with the most common foreign countries of birth being England (4.0%) and New Zealand (1.3%). The most common responses for religion were "No Religion" (35.3%),

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 ...

(28.3%) and

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

(13.0%).

Public Transport

The town's railway station is on the

, serviced by

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

. Trains take twenty minutes between Gisborne and Sunbury, where customers can connect directly to Metro services, otherwise V/Line can take customers directly into Melbourne's CBD terminating at

Southern Cross Station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, Melbourne, Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins ...

. When the railway line was being built, it was too difficult to get the trains down into Gisborne's township due to terrain, instead the Gisborne railway station was built just outside of the township, forming a new suburb of

New Gisborne New Gisborne is a suburb of Gisborne in Victoria, Australia, in the foothills of Mount Macedon in the Shire of Macedon Ranges. The Gisborne railway station on the Bendigo line The Deniliquin railway line (also known as the Echuca railwa ...

. The town has its own dedicated bus service called ''GisBus'', which runs looped shuttle services around the township as well as on-demand pick-up and drop-off services connecting townsfolk to the railway station, as part of PTV.

Media

The town receives all of Melbourne's metropolitan digital television channels, including Channel 31. The town also receives television from Mount Alexander but signals from Melbourne are much stronger. The town is largely serviced by major publication newspapers such as ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', but Gisborne also receives free weekly regional news from the ''

Midland Express The ''Midland Express'' is a free weekly newspaper circulating in the Macedon Ranges and Mount Alexander regions of Victoria, Australia. The paper has a circulation of over 22,000 every week (out of a coverage population of 60,000). The paper's of ...

'' as well as a monthly Gisborne dedicated publication the ''GREAT Gisborne Gazette''. Gisborne features as a backdrop for many TV and movies including Stephen Kings 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes'. Gisborne South was chosen as the location for filming of Channel 9's 'The Block' in 2022

Education

The town has two public primary schools and one public

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, Gisborne Secondary College. The Gisborne Montessori School and Candlebark (alternative school) provide additional options. A third public primary school, Willowbank Primary School, is set to open in 2022 in Gisborne South.

Sister cities

* Gisborne, New Zealand

Image gallery

File:Mount Gisborne Road, Gisborne Vic.jpg, View from Mount Gisborne Road in Gisborne South File:Gisborne Fountain.jpg, Gisborne Fountain - Hamilton St and Aitken St Gisborne File:GisborneCourtHouse.JPG, Gisborne Court House File:GisborneTelegraphOffice.JPG, Gisborne Telegraph Office

References

External links

A Brief History of Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts

Gisborne Tourism Guide

Gisborne Region Events and Tourism

Gisborne CFA
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Loddon Campaspe Shire of Macedon Ranges