Moyston is a town in the Western District 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 ...

, near the

Grampians The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...

mountain range. The town is located in the

Rural City of Ararat Ararat Rural City is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 11,795. It includes the towns of Ararat, Armstrong, Dunneworthy, Lake Bo ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

, 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 2021 census, Moyston and the surrounding area had a population of 403. Moyston is the self-proclaimed "Birthplace of

Australian 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modifie ...

", based on its connection to the sport's founder,

Tom Wills Thomas Wentworth Wills (19 August 1835 – 2 May 1880) was an Australian sportsman who is credited with being Australia's first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football. Born in the British penal colony of New ...

, who grew up in the area in the 1840s, and, according to some, played Marn Grook with the Indigenous people of the area.Harris, Amelia (22 March 2008)
"Moyston where footy dreams lie"
''The Herald Sun''. Retrieved 4 January 2015.

History

The first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

to see the Moyston area was the explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836.

Squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

and their flocks of sheep followed soon after, among them

Horatio Wills Horatio Spencer Howe Wills (5 October 1811 – 17 October 1861) was an Australian pastoralist, politician and newspaper owner. Biography Born in Sydney in the British penal colony of New South Wales, Wills grew up on George Street with hi ...

. His son,

, was Australia's first great

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 striki ...

er and a pioneer of

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 ...

. It has been claimed that, while living in the Moyston area, Wills witnessed or played Marn Grook, an Aboriginal football game that inspired his laws for Australian football. The discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in 1857 started a small

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

and the establishment of a township. The Post Office opened on 19 March 1860 as Campbell's Reef and was renamed Moyston in 1866. In 1861, a formal survey of the township was made and blocks offered for sale. By then, the town included two churches, three

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and a police station. By 1880, mining in the area had declined and

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s and orchards were established along with

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

ing and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

on newly developed selections. The last mine in the area, the "Golden Gate", ceased operation by around 1910.

The Town today

Today, Moyston is an historic town surrounded by farming properties and where workers employed in the nearby towns of Great Western, Ararat, Stawell, and

Halls Gap Halls Gap is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on Grampians Road, adjacent to the Grampians National Park, in the Shire of Northern Grampians local government area. The town is set in the Fyans Valley at the foot of the Wonderland an ...

, reside. Several public businesses operate in and near the town which included the post office, the general store and Clayfield Winery. The town shares an Australian rules football team with nearby

Willaura Willaura is a town in western Victoria, Australia in the Rural City of Ararat local government area, west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Willaura and surrounding area had a population of 439. According to tradition, the town's name i ...

, the Moyston-Willaura Pumas, competing in the

Mininera & District Football League The Mininera & District Football League is based in South-western Victoria, with clubs located east of Hamilton, south of Ararat and west of Colac. The league absorbed several teams from the defunct Ararat & District Football Association in 20 ...

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Mining towns in Victoria (Australia) Western District (Victoria)