Anakie is a town between

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

and

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh ( Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is a town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately north-west of the state capital Melbourne, at a near equidistance to the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong. As of the ...

, in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. At the , Anakie and the surrounding area had a population of 734. The area is divided between the

City of Greater Geelong The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. I ...

and

Golden Plains Shire The Golden Plains Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018, had a population of 23,120. It includes the towns of Bannockburn, Inverleigh, L ...

local government areas. The name is believed to be derived from 'Anakie Youang', an expression in one of the local

Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

, meaning 'little hill' or 'twin hills'. The nearby

Brisbane Ranges National Park The Brisbane Ranges National Park is a national park in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, The national park is situated approximately west of Melbourne near the town of and is managed by Parks Victoria. The park covers part ...

contains three hills known as The Anakies, as well as Mount Anakie. Anakie's industry consists mainly of farms and vineyards. Fairy Park, a fairytale-themed amusement park overlooking the Anakie township, is a prominent local attraction. The town is also a stopping off point for the Brisbane Ranges National Park. 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

team, the Anakie Football Club, competing in the

Geelong & District Football League The Geelong & District Football Netball League (GDFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, being the oldest surviving competition in the region. It is one of three leagues in the Geelong area, t ...

History

The area was first settled by Europeans in 1842 when Frederick Griffin established his Anakie pastoral run. In the 1850s, Griffin subdivided some of the land along the Anakie Creek, which became a small village. A

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

school opened in 1858 and a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

school in 1859. The Post Office opened on 15 October 1858. By 1865 the town had a hotel and a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church. A Catholic church was established in 1871 followed by an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in 1891. The size of the farming lots were too small for most farmers to make a living, and so consolidations occurred, which resulted in a drop in population. Residents in Anakie experienced severe

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

on 22 January 2006 with fires spreading over of land and at least three homes being lost in conditions surpassing . Narada Homestead, dates from 1862 and is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...

."Narada Homestead (H0282)"
''

.''

Heritage Victoria Heritage Victoria is a branch of the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning. It is the regulator responsible for administering the Heritage Act 2017. The Heritage Act provides for the protection and conservation of the cultural heritage ...

. Retrieved 2014-03-23.

Population

In the 2021 census, there were 734 people in Anakie. Seventy-nine per cent of people were born in Australia and 88% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were 'no religion' (44.8%) and Catholic (17.7%).

Gallery

Image:AnakieFairyPark.JPG, Fairy Park, a small amusement park in Anakie

References

External links

Australian Places - AnakieFairy Park
{{authority control Suburbs of Geelong Towns in Victoria (state) Wine regions of Victoria (state)