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Camperdown () is a town in southwestern Victoria,
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 ...
, west of the state capital,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. At the 2016 census, Camperdown had a population of 3,369.


History

The
Djargurd Wurrung The Djargurd Wurrong (also spelt Djargurd Wurrung) are Aboriginal Australian people of the Western district of the State of Victoria, and traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite. Language The Djargu ...
people were the traditional Aboriginal people of the Camperdown area, who had lived in the area for countless generations as a semi-nomadic hunter gatherer society. The first British settlers, the Manifold brothers (Thomas, John and Peter Manifold), arrived in the area from
Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...
(
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
) after 1835 to establish sheep and cattle runs. Settlement was met with resistance by some of the Djargurd Wurrong, the
Murdering Gully massacre Murdering Gully, formerly known as ''Puuroyup'' to the Djargurd Wurrung people, is the site of an 1839 massacre of 35–40 people of the Tarnbeere Gundidj clan of the Djargurd Wurrung in the Camperdown district of Victoria, Australia. It is ...
taking place nearby. The area's history records instances of mutual assistance and friendship between native and settler people. Notable on this account is the family of David Fenton, the Scottish Presbyterian shepherd and drover who built the first house in Camperdown in 1853. The original settlement was several miles to the north, near where the racecourse now is located. The settlement was called ''Timboon'', but after a wet winter it was decided to move the town to higher ground nestled at the base of Mount Leura. With the relocation of the town, the local lake then known as ''Lake Timboon'' reverted to its indigenous name of ''Golongulac'' now known as Lake Colongulac. The town was surveyed in 1851 and some of the founding fathers had Duncan as their Christian name. Wanting something more prestigious than Duncan as the town name it was decided to name the township Camperdown after most notable Duncan at the time, the Scottish naval hero Lord Viscount Adam Duncan the Earl of Camperdown. The first dwelling was erected on the site of the present Commercial Hotel in 1853 and the Post Office opened on 1 January 1854 replacing an earlier one in the area named Timboon. In 1883 Wombeetch Puuyuun (also known as Camperdown George) died at the age of 43 and was buried in a bog outside the bounds of Camperdown Cemetery. His friend, James Dawson was shocked at this burial upon his return from a trip to Scotland, and personally reburied Wombeetch in Camperdown Cemetery. He appealed for money to raise a monument, but finding little public support, he primarily funded the monument himself. The 7 metre obelisk was erected as a memorial to Wombeetch Puuyuun and the Aboriginal people of the district, and has been described as being still inspiring today. It became the service centre for the vast pastoral empires of the region. The Port Fairy railway line was opened in 1883, and the Timboon railway line was constructed in 1892. By the mid 20th century Camperdown had emerged as a more diverse centre for dairy farming which drew on its rich volcanic soil, for woolgrowing and for produce processing industries. The Camperdown Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990. The town made the news in 1991 due to an industrial dispute at the local abattoir. The dispute over pay and conditions occasionally turned violent between Police and picketers. The owner closed the site and the export licence transferred to another plant in Shepparton. 130 casual jobs were lost and many workers had to leave town in search for new employment. More bad news for the town when the local milk factory relocated to a more modern plant in Cobden. By the late 20th century the town had become a major centre for tourism because of its unspoiled 19th century architecture and as a gateway to the southern tourist attractions of the Otway Ranges, the Great Ocean Road and the ' Shipwreck Coast'. In more recent years, however, the
drought in Australia Drought in Australia is defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology as rainfall over period greater than three-months being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past. This definition takes into account that ...
in the 21st has affected Camperdown's dairy industry.


Geography

Camperdown lies within the 'Lakes and Craters' region, sitting at the foot of Mount Leura which together with nearby Mount Sugarloaf are part of a large extinct volcanic complex known as the "Leura
Maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
". To the immediate west are the deep
volcanic crater lake A volcanic crater lake is a lake in a volcanic crater, crater that was formed by explosive eruption, explosive activity or a caldera, collapse during a types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruption. Formation Lakes in calderas fill large crate ...
s Bullen-Merri and Gnotuk while to the east is the crater lake Purrumbete popular for its
Trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...
and
Chinook Salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...
fishing. It is the starting point of the Crater to Coast Rail Trail which, when completed, will reach Port Campbell. It currently terminates in Timboon.


Climate


Features

The town is renowned for its classic historical buildings. Central is the high Gothic Manifold Clock Tower, built 1897, which sits in a wide
Elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...
lined median between the dual carriageways of Manifold Street, named in honour of one of the pioneer pastoralists. Tower, avenue,
Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...
memorial, Soldiers' memorial, memorial cross and JC Manifold statue are all 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. ...
. Among the many other classic buildings are the 1886-7 two storey Georgian style Court House, the 1863 two storey bluestone (
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
) Camperdown Post Office, Theatre Royal (1890) and Masonic Hall (1867–68). The town has a life-sized statue of the Scottish poet
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
, carved from sandstone in the 1830s and based on the earliest painting of the Bard. Efforts to restore the statue led to a festival celebrating the town's connection with Burns being held in 2012 and then annually.


Media

Camperdown is served by one local newspaper, The Camperdown Chronicle. Television services are receivable in Camperdown via UHF from
Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...
Lookout Hill. Radio services are mainly received from Colac, but some Warrnambool radio stations can also be received in Camperdown.


Local government

Originally, Camperdown was part of the East Riding of the Shire of Hampden, which was incorporated in 1857. On 9 September 1952, Camperdown severed and incorporated as a separate
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...
. It became a town on 21 January 1959. Accessed at
State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...
, La Trobe Reading Room.
See Town of Camperdown. On 23 September 1994, the Town was abolished, and merged with Shire of Hampden, most of Shire of Heytesbury and parts of Colac,
Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes, London, Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes ...
and the area around
Princetown Princetown is a villageDespite its name, Princetown is not classed as a town today – it is not included in the County Council's list of the 29 towns in Devon: located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the ...
on the Great Ocean Road into the
Shire of Corangamite The Shire of Corangamite is a Local Government Areas of Victoria, local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in 202 ...
. The Town of Camperdown was not subdivided into wards, and the nine councillors represented the entire area.


Transport

Camperdown is situated on the
Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...
(A1), which is the main through road and also the main street (Manifold Street). A dual carriageway with a large
central reservation A median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also ap ...
and secondary service street runs through the centre of town. The highway runs west to Terang and beyond to Warrnambool and east to Colac and beyond to Geelong. Secondary roads include the Camperdown-Lismore Road which heads north to Lismore and the Camperdown-Cobden Road (C164) which heads south to Cobden. Just west at Gnotuk is the Darlington Road (C173) which leads north to
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...
. Road coaches (buses) provide links within Camperdown, to neighbouring towns and nearby cities (mainly
V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
) and these services include Cobden, Timboon, Simpson and the city of
Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...
. The town's
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
is served by
V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
passenger services on the Warrnambool line linking it to the cities of
Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...
,
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 beyond to
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
.


Community

The town has many sporting clubs. Archery, badminton, cricket, cycling, golf, horse riding, lawn bowls, squash and tennis, water skiing and yachting have competitions in and around the town. The Camperdown community is heavily involved in competitive sport with the principal sport being
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 ...
. The town has a
football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...
playing in the Hampden Football League. Camperdown has a horse racing club, the Camperdown Turf Club, which holds one race meeting a year, the Camperdown Cup meeting in January. Camperdown is also home to the Lakes & Craters International Horse Trials, founded by Barry Roycroft in 1978. Golfers play at the Camperdown Golf Club on
Lake Bullen Merri Lake Bullen Merri and its smaller northern neighbour Lake Gnotuk are a pair of crater lakes near Camperdown in south western Victoria, Australia. Lake Bullen Merri has brackish water quality whereas Lake Gnotuk is hyper saline (twice as salt ...
Road. There are also many groups providing arts and culture including the Camperdown Theatre Company, Lakes and Craters Band and Corangamite Arts.


Notable citizens

* Clyde Sefton - Silver Medalist 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich * Kevin Bradshaw - Represented Australia at the 1980 Moscow Olympics * Grace Brown - Gold Medalist 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris UCI Women's WorldTeam * Penny Smith - Bronze medalist 2024 Summer Olympics * Norm Sharp -
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 ...
Premiership player 1952 * James Chester Manifold - Politician elected at federation. * Sir Chester Manifold - First Chairman TAB 1961–68 * Cameron Rahles-Rahbula - four-time Paralympian * Paul Broderick - Fitzroy and
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
footballer * Scott Lucas - Essendon premiership player 2000 * Ross Thornton - Fitzroy footballer * Wayne Linton - Fitzroy footballer *
Adam Coote Adam Coote is an Australian rules football boundary umpire and sprinter. He has umpired 383 games, including 31 final matches and five grand finals (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2010R) since making his debut in the 2005 season. In 2006 he was awarde ...
- AFL Boundary Umpire * Len White -
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 ...
footballer * Geoffrey Wickham AO -
cardiac pacemaker image:ConductionsystemoftheheartwithouttheHeart-en.svg, 350px, Image showing the cardiac pacemaker or SA node, the primary pacemaker within the electrical conduction system of the heart The cardiac pacemaker is the heart's natural rhythm gener ...
pioneer * Bill Roycroft - Olympian * Sarah Wall - ANZ Championship Netball bench warmer, Melbourne Vixens (2009, 2011); Queensland Firebirds (2010) * Brydon Coverdale - one of the "Chasers" on '' The Chase Australia'' * Easton Wood - Australian rules footballer for
Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...
(2008–Present) * David Lake - Inaugural coach of
Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...
Women's side. * Ken Hinkley - Senior coach of
Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...
* Stewart McArthur - Federal member for Corangamite - 1984-2007 * Sam Walsh - Australian Rules footballer for
Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...


References


External links


Camperdown
- Official state government tourism organization
Corangamite Shire (local government) - Camperdown
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Corangamite Western District (Victoria)