Coleraine is a 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 country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

on the

Glenelg Highway Glenelg Highway is a rural highway in south-eastern Australia, linking Mount Gambier with Ballarat. Most of the highway is located within the Western part of the state of Victoria, though a short, 15 km stretch from the South Australia/Vic ...

, 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 metro ...

and north-west of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

in the Shire of Southern Grampians local government area. It was named after the town in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. At the 2006 census, the urban area of Coleraine had a population of 991.

History

The area was first settled by Europeans in 1838 for pastoral grazing. The town was surveyed later on Bryan Creek, a tributary of the

Wannon River The Wannon River, a perennial river of the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, is located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. Name The name of the river "is believed to have been obtained by Major Mitchell from the local Jardwadjali peop ...

. In April 1840 the

Fighting Waterholes massacre In April 1840 the Fighting Waterholes massacre of up to 60 Jardwadjali Aboriginal people of the Konongwootong Gundidj clan occurred near the current day Konongwootong reservoir (then known as Den Hills creek), near present-day Coleraine, Victoria, ...

of up to 60

Jardwadjali The Jardwadjali (Yartwatjali), also known as the Jaadwa, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria, whose traditional lands occupy the lands in the upper Wimmera River watershed east to Gariwerd ( Grampians) and west to Lake B ...

people of the Konongwootong Gundidj clan occurred near the current day Konongwootong reservoir. The Post Office opened on 16 November 1854. The Coleraine Magistrates' Court closed on 1 November 1981, not having been visited by a Magistrate since 1971. Today, Coleraine's primary industries are

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

and

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. ...

. The town hosts an Agricultural Show in November and an art show in August. Notable past residents of Coleraine include

Helena Rubenstein Helena Rubinstein (born Chaja Rubinstein; December 25, 1870 – April 1, 1965) was a Polish and American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorpora ...

- cosmetics manufacturer and expert synthetics phonics teacher Katelyn McCann.

Sport

Coleraine has a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team playing in the

South West District Football League The South West District Football League is an Australian rules football league based in South-western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with clubs located in the vicinity of Hamilton, Victoria, Hamilton, Heywood, Victoria, Heywood and Portland, Vict ...

. It has a horse racing club, the Coleraine Racing Club, which runs the Coleraine Cup meeting in September. The meeting features the steeplechase race commemorating the feats of district horsemen and renowned Australian poet

Adam Lindsay Gordon Adam Lindsay Gordon (19 October 1833 – 24 June 1870) was a British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He was the first Australian poet to gain considerable recognition overseas, and according to his contemporary, write ...

.Gardiner, Frank, 2003, ''The Fields of Coleraine : at the heart of both Australia Felix and Western District of Victoria,'' Camberwell, Vic. Golfers play at the Coleraine Golf Club on Gordon Street.

References

External links

Towns in Victoria (Australia) Western District (Victoria) {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub