Minyip 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 Austral ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
, 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 met ...
. It is in the
Shire of Yarriambiack
The Shire of Yarriambiack is a local government area of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-western part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 6,658, having fallen from 7,438 in 2008. It includes the tow ...
local government area. At the , Minyip had a population of 524.
The name "Minyip" is derived from an Aboriginal word for "ashes" or "camping place".
The town is known as the "Heart of the Wheat Belt". Dryland agriculture especially grain production and handling is one of the region's major industries.
History
The area was first settled by European
selectors in about 1872. The town became a rail-head when the railway arrived from Murtoa in 1886. A grain shed was used to store local wheat until silos were built in 1939–40.
The town's courthouse dates from 1886 and the old office of the local newspaper ''The Guardian'' (1885) has been converted into an historical research centre by the local historical society. The Club Hotel (1907) and the Commercial Hotel (1908) are Edwardian buildings with wrought-iron lacework and leadlight windows. Violet's General Store dates from 1897.
Minyip Post Office opened on 1 May 1875.
There was a branch of the
Commercial Bank of Australia
The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited (CBA) was an Australian and New Zealand retail bank which operated from 1866 until being amalgamated with the Bank of New South Wales, that was established in 1817, to form the Westpac Banking Corporati ...
in Minyip by 1891. The
Colonial Bank of Australasia
The Colonial Bank of Australasia was a bank operating primarily in the Australian colony and then state of Victoria from 1856 to 1918.
It commenced operation on 14 April 1856, following its incorporation by the Parliament of Victoria through t ...
had a branch in the town by 1902.
Scots-born
Aboriginal rights activist and medical doctor
Charles Duguid
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and his first wife, Irene, lived in Minyip for about 2 years after their marriage in 1912. He practised as a
general practitioner during this time.
The Minyip Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1983.
An agricultural show was held in Minyip between 1887 and 2018, but was ceased due to an inability to gather a committee to run it.
St John's Lutheran Church
The German
Lutherans
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
, fleeing religious persecution, came to the area around Minyip in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. One group formed at the tiny village of Kirchheim, south-west of Minyip. They built a weatherboard church there in 1875 but it was destroyed by a violent storm in 1889. This led to the construction, in that same year, of the present timber building. In 1935 this building, which had an estimated weight of 50 tons, was moved by steam traction engine to its present site on the corner of Church and Carrol Streets. It took three days to move the structure the from its original foundations. On the way it very nearly toppled over when it reached a rabbit warren and the weight caused the warren to collapse.
St John's is a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
design which retains its fine octagonal
steeple
In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...
with
belfry, 19th-century
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
, stained-glass lancet windows and pews, although the men no longer sit on the opposite side of the aisle to the women.
Today
Minyip was the filming location for exterior scenes in the
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
The Flying Doctors
''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. T ...
'', representing the fictional
outback
The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
town of Coopers Crossing. The Flying Doctors' headquarters, Cooper's Crossing Garage, and Majestic Hotel are all located on the main street of the town and still visit-able. However, they now have alternative uses as the Minyip Senior Citizen's Centre, Emma's Cafe and The Club Hotel respectively and a Men's Shed.
As of 2021, the Club Hotel no longer operates as a hotel, and is instead home to Shammy's Cafe. In the Club Hotel, there is a room filled with Flying Doctors' memorabilia including signed scripts and props from the shows.
The town has an
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
team, The Minyip/Murtoa Kookaburras, competing in the
Wimmera Football League
The Wimmera Football League is a major Australian rules country league based in Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns in the Wimmera region: the regional centres along the Western Highway from Ararat to Nhill as well as Minyip-Murtoa ...
.
Main Street currently boasts an IGA supermarket, post office/pharmacy, cafe & takeaway, butcher, a second hand/op shop, Plants Artz, a caravan park, art and craft groups and one operating hotel – the Commercial Hotel, now known as the Minyip Hotel. The Club Hotel is currently closed.
The children of Minyip attend a local kindergarten and primary school. There is a branch of WWHS on Church Street with a doctor from Tristar in attendance once a week and a nurse on full-time. Minyip is also the home of the Dunmunkle Lodge Retirement Village.
Golfers play at the course of the Minyip Golf Club on Ubergangs Road each Sunday & Wednesday.
There is also a bowling green, and an outdoor swimming pool.
The Minyip Lions Club is very active, as is the Historical Society. There are numerous plaques displaying the history of the town, with the biggest concentration being in the town square and outside the Senior Citizen's Centre.
Minyip hosts an annual car and motorcycle show, the Minyip Show and Shine, which has been held in the town since 2018.
Gallery
Image:cooperscrossinggarage.jpg, The Cooper's Crossing Garage
Image:flyingdoctorbuilding.jpg, Headquarters of the Flying Doctors
Image:magestichotel_cooperscrossing.jpg, The Majestic Hotel
References
External links
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Towns in Victoria (Australia)
Wimmera