Jamieson 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is located at the junction of the

Goulburn River The Goulburn River, a major inland perennial river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine, Northern Country/North Central, and Southern Riverina regions of the Australian state of Victoria. ...

and

Jamieson River The Jamieson River is an inland river in Victoria, Australia. The river rises in Alpine National Park and flows into the Goulburn River at the town of Jamieson. Its tributaries are Jamieson River north branch and Jamieson River south branch. ...

, north-east 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 met ...

. The name is believed to have been derived from George Jamieson, a shepherd who grazed sheep in the area in the 1850s. At the time of the , Jamieson had a population of 301.

History

The area was first settled in 1860 and by 1861 there were approximately 300 people working the goldfields. According to the book Jamieson Founders and Families by Dr Brian Lloyd, the first Post Office in the upper Goulburn district was at Mansfield in 1858. The first Post and Telegraph Office at Jamieson was on the west side of Bank Street. When the Oriental Bank closed down in 1865, the Post Office was moved across the street to occupy the bank building. The Post Office at its current location in Perkins St was from about 1872. The town site was surveyed in 1862, and a borough council was established in 1864. By 1865 the town had a Catholic chapel, an Anglican church, a school, a court house and police station, two banks, two insurance offices, five hotels and several stores. Jamieson reached its peak in the 1870s, but a sharp decline soon followed. Most mining operations had ceased by the beginning of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and Black Friday bushfires destroyed many mine workings in 1939. By the 1990s, the town had become a popular tourist destination, boosted by

Lake Eildon The Eildon Dam or Eildon Weir, a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a controlled spillway across the Goulburn River, is located between the regional towns of and within Lake Eildon National Park, in the Alpine region of Victoria, Australi ...

(situated adjacent to the Jamieson township and formed by the damming of the

) reaching 100% capacity in 1996. However the tourism industry suffered in the early 2000s following a drought which affected Lake Eildon. In March 2007, the capacity of the lake reached a historic low of 7.9%. The Jamieson Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1983.

Jamieson today

Jamieson has a permanent population of around 250. It is a popular destination for

four wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

enthusiasts, fishers, and amateur gold diggers. It is close to

and the

Mount Buller Mount Buller is primarily a resort town on the slopes of Mount Buller in the Shire of Mansfield of the Australian state of Victoria. It is located approximately northeast of Melbourne. It is popular with snowsports enthusiasts in winter due t ...

snowfields. The town has two hotels, a caravan park, and several

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

establishments.

2006-07 Victorian Bushfires

In December 2006, Victoria's North-East was affected by many bushfires that threatened to merge into fewer, but bigger fire fronts. Jamieson was one town at the centre of attention during these times, used as a major post for firefighters and media (Free-to-Air, Pay TV and newspaper journalists were based in the town). Luckily for Jamieson, fire breaks helped the Mount Terrible fire stay away from the town centre. It was also helped by a late Southerly Change that brought rain. However a short distance, both East and South East ( Jamieson-Licola and Mansfield-Woods Point Roads) of the town were burnt in the blaze.

References

External links

Jamieson & District Historical SocietyJamieson Community Website
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Central Hume Shire of Mansfield Mining towns in Victoria (Australia) 1862 establishments in Australia