Goroke ( ) is a town in the

Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Aust ...

region of

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 ...

. The town is located in the

Shire of West Wimmera The Shire of West Wimmera is a local government area in the western part of the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 3,862. It includes the to ...

local government area, north west of the state capital,

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 met ...

. At the 2016 census, Goroke recorded a population of 299.

History

Named after the Aboriginal term for the

Australian magpie The Australian magpie (''Gymnorhina tibicen'') is a black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. Although once considered to be three separate species, it is now considered to be one, with nine recognised su ...

, the town was established in 1882 as a supply centre for local selectors and by 1884 had a population of 50. Goroke Post Office opened on 1 July 1884. Three years later, facilities in Goroke included a flour mill, two stores, a school, a mechanics' hall, a hotel and a blacksmith's. Originally connected to

Kaniva Kaniva is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Western Highway, north of Little Desert National Park, in the Shire of West Wimmera local government area. It is located roughly east of the South Australian border and east of Bo ...

and

Nhill Nhill is a town in the Wimmera, in western Victoria, Australia. Nhill is located on the Western Highway, halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne. At the , Nhill had a population of 1,749. "Nhill" is believed to be a Wergaia word meaning "early ...

by a track through the Little Desert, in 1894, the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

reached Goroke from Natimuk until it closed in 1986.

Description

The town is based around primary production, including

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

growing, fat

lamb and mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

production, beef cattle, cropping, forestry, wine grape production and yabby cultivation. Education is provided by a P-12 college. The local newspaper, the ''Goroke Free Press'' is published weekly. Nearby Lake Charlegrark is the venue for an annual

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

festival, held on the third weekend in February.

Education

The Goroke School was first opened on 28 September 1885 with only 10 boys and 10 girls; Henry H. Pearson being in charge of the 20 students. The school is now known as Goroke P-12 College with an enrolment of 108 students from prep through to year 12.

Sports

The Goroke bowling club was formed in 1952 and the clubhouse was built in 1953. In football, one of the earliest games recorded was between Natimuk and Goroke, played at Spring Hill on 13 February 1890. Goroke has played in various leagues over the years; it merged with Border Districts in 1999 to play in the

Kowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara Football League The Kowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, Australia. It is an affiliated member of the South Australian National Football League. One unusu ...

. Goroke has had many tennis teams over the years hosting its own league. The tennis club now has a senior and a junior team which play in the Kowree Tennis Association. The Goroke Gun Club conducts several shoots each year. The main events are the Goroke show day shoot and the pre-Christmas one. The Golf course was first laid out at the Recreation Reserve and showgrounds in the 1920s. Golf was played on the course until the war, the club was reformed in the late 1950s on the Compston property on the Natimuk Road. After a period of recess it moved to its current location on the Goroke Nhill Road in 1978, the final of the 18 sandscrape holes being officially opened in 1988. A cycling club existed during the 1930s in Goroke but there are no records that remain. There was a swimming club that was formed during the thirties when concrete work for a pool was undertaken. Due to earth movement the concrete cracked and was not safe for public use. The existing pool was opened in 1973 and has had several improvements including the addition of solar heating in 2008. Cricket in Goroke was played from 1934 to 1940 in a competition between Miga Lake, Karnak, Gymbowen and two teams from Goroke. Goroke now fields one senior team in the Horsham Cricket Association.

Environment

There are many small wetlands in the district, and the town lies close to the Natimuk-Douglas Wetlands Important Bird Area, so identified by BirdLife International because of its importance for a variety of

waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

Notable residents

Gerald Murnane Gerald Murnane (born 25 February 1939) is an Australian writer, perhaps best known for his novel ''The Plains'' (1982). ''The New York Times'', in a big feature published on 27 March 2018, called him "the greatest living English-language writer ...

, Australian writer, moved to Goroke in December 2009

Images

Image:Goroke_Town_hall.jpg, Memorial Hall Image:Goroke_memorial.jpg, Memorial Square

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Wimmera