Mount Egerton is a historic

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

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 on the mountain by the same name in the

Shire of Moorabool The Shire of Moorabool 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 34,158. It includes the towns of Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Balliang, ...

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 , Mount Egerton had a population of 582. It was named after settler George Egerton. The town's main street is Main Road which consists of the historic gold mine and battery, general store (now closed), and hall. The town also contains a primary school and recreational reserve.

History

George Egerton held approximately 35,000 acres of

stock farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

land in 1838 which to outsiders was known simply as "Egerton's run". 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 1853 by Alexander Russell and George Grell saw a

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 ...

in 1854 as

placer mining Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (Alluvium, alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining, open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer minin ...

took place along All Nations Gully and West Gully. A rich reef was found at the hill crest in 1856 and an

underground mine Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

was established. The Post Office opened on 1 February 1856. The town population swelled to 600, several companies had established mines including the Black Horse and the town was home to banks and several hotels. The main mine was sold to Thomas and Somerville Learmonth in 1863 and became known as "Learmonth's Claim". Montage of Mount Egerton and mine in 1892

Montage of Mount Egerton and mine in 1892

St Francis Xavier was built in 1868 by settler Thomas Thyne. Mt Egerton Primary School began taking enrolments on 6 November 1877. Although sustained mining occurred through the 19th Century, a decline in gold output caused a general decline in the town and it gradually decreased in size while many of the district's buildings and homes were abandoned until mining operations finally ceased in 1910 having produced a total gold output valued at around 2 million pounds. The post office closed in 1993. In 1996 the general store was redeveloped into a

fish and chip Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

shop,

liquor store A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

and

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

, with the old bank being removed to make way. The shop closed in May 2010, and the premises are now used as a private residence. In 2011, proposals were submitted for a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

and telecommunications towers both of which have met some community opposition.

WestWind Energy WestWind Energy is an Australian company involved in development and operation of wind farms. Its origins were in Germany in the renewable energy sector. It is part of the WestWind Group of companies which has its headquarters in Kirchdorf, Low ...

has proposed the Moorabool Wind Farm, a 330MW, 107 turbine facility in the vicinity of the town.

Geography and climate

Mount Egerton is situated in gently sloping but highly elevated hills ranging from 518 m (highlight point) to 634 m (highlight point) above sea level. This results in a cold and windy climate and it is not unusual for

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

to fall on the town during the winter months. The town is surrounded by bushland and is situated close to a State Forest to the east, presenting a high bushfire risk in the summer months.

Transport

Mount Egerton is an automobile dependent community. The town is situated at the junction of three main roads. The Gordon-Egerton Road provides a direct connection to

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

to the north and ongoing connections to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

and

while the Ballan-Egerton Road provides a direct connection to Ballan to the east and the Yendon-Egerton Road provides a link west to Yendon, beyond to Ballarat and smaller towns to the south. The town has 2 public transport

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

links with one connecting to both Ballarat and Gordon operating Monday to Friday and Saturday once a day in the morning to Ballarat and returning in the afternoon. The other bus service is the connecting service to the Ballan train station to meet with the morning express train to Melbourne. This operates Monday to Friday only. The high school students and private school students have dedicated bus services provided by the Govt on all school days. Since the success of the Regional fast rail project, the local community lobbied for the reopening of nearby Gordon station or improved access to Ballan Station, however to date have been unsuccessful.

Culture and sport

The Mount Egerton Recreation Reserve is the hub of sporting activity in the town, although the town's small population makes organised sports a challenge.

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 ...

is popular, however the local club is dormant and the oval has instead been used for other sports mostly by teams from nearby towns.

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 ...

is also popular. A local cricket association existed until 1951 after which the local team joined the Ballarat Cricket Association. The club has since disbanded and the Gordon Cricket Club instead makes use of its venue.

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 ...

was also popular, however the local club dissolved.

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 ...

has a presence in the town with a local team existing for a short time before disbanding. Instead The Ballan United Soccer Club and the Moorabool Panthers Soccer Club use the reserve as a venue.

Notable people

Captain Moonlite Andrew George Scott (5 July 1842 – 20 January 1880), also known as Captain Moonlite, though also referred to as Alexander Charles Scott and Captain Moonlight, was an Irish-born New Zealand immigrant to the Colony of Victoria, a bushranger the ...

- notorious

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

lived in the town and known for robbing the local bank *

Ernest Wetherell Ernest "Ern" Wetherell (26 March 1893 – 31 March 1969) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1949 until 1965. He was a member of the Labor Party and held numerous ministerial positions betw ...

- minister in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

References

External links

Visit Moorabool: Mount Egerton
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia)