Chiltern is a town in 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 ...

, in the northeast of the state between

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census. The city is located at the confluence, junction of the Ovens River, ...

and

Wodonga Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury-Wodonga and is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga L ...

, in the Shire of Indigo. At the 2021 census, Chiltern had a population of 1,580. It is the birthplace of Prime Minister

John McEwen Sir John McEwen (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia from 1967 to 1968, in a caretaker capacity following the disappearance of prime minister Harold Ho ...

. The town is close to the Chiltern-Mount Pilot National Park. Chiltern was once on the main road between Melbourne and Sydney but is now bypassed by the

Hume Freeway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city National Highway (Australia), national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in ...

running one kilometre to the south.

History

The area around Chiltern is the traditional lands of the Dhudhuroa people. The nearby Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site, in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, includes artworks created by the original inhabitants of the Chiltern area, including one

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colou ...

painting thought to represent a

Thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...

, an animal now extinct and which has been extinct on mainland Australia for thousands of years. The area of Chiltern was on the Wahgunyah cattle run and was known as Black Dog Creek. The township, named after the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, was surveyed in 1853 but not established until gold discoveries in 1858-59 during the greater

Victorian Gold Rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

period. The Post Office opened on 1 September 1859. The Chiltern Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1983, not having been visited by a Magistrate since 1972. Many of Chiltern's buildings are classified by the National Trust. In 1859, many shop-keepers and miners from around Beechworth and the Ovens Valley districts followed the rush and re-located into Chiltern. The Grape Vine Hotel, on the corners of Main Street and Conness Street, boasts the largest grapevine in

, planted in 1867.

Gold

The discovery of gold by John Conness in late 1858 and early 1859, brought a huge shift in population into the Chiltern – Black Dog Creek area. Gold discoveries drew many miners away from the nearby Ovens goldfields; namely Beechworth, Nine Mile Creek and

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

during the big drought of 1859. Unlike those surface-based sluicing mining operations around Beechworth, the gold around Chiltern was extracted by sinking deep wet leads. These operations required a different type of miner and working groups, capable of sinking shafts to some 400 feet in depth. Miners with these skills and abilities came into the area, 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 ...

and

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

and joined with the sluicers from around Beechworth and the Ovens. Miners from the Ballarat goldfields were considered 'radical', because of their connections with the

Eureka Rebellion The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British administration of the Victoria (Australia)#Colonial Victoria, colony of Victoria, History of Au ...

(1854). Some of these miners were colourful characters and the most notable, a colourful and radical A.A. O'Connor, stood for parliament in 1859 as the would-be member for the Ovens; his escapades and the social tensions his candidature aroused appear in O'Brien's book which is cited below. While Beechworth's gold production declined during 1859, due in part to the drought and lack of water for sluicing, Chiltern's gold production increased (O'Brien), to such an extent that Chiltern looked as if it would usurp the importance of Beechworth. Beechworth was the most important regional centre in North-eastern Victoria during the gold boom of 1852–1859. Chiltern did overshadow Beechworth within a few years, especially when the main Melbourne-Albury rail by-passed Beechworth. Finally, when the gold dwindled during the early 1900s, so did Chiltern.

The town today

The town hosts an antique fair in August and an art show in June. The Chiltern-Mount Pilot National Park lies close to the town. Golfers play at the Chiltern Golf Club on Howlong Road. The winning clip of the 2009 J Award for Best Music Video of the Year, Alex Roberts' video for Art vs. Science's "Parlez-vous Français?", was entirely shot in this town. Several movies have been shot using Chiltern's well-preserved Victorian-era streetscapes, including Walt Disney's '' Ride a Wild Pony''.

Transport

The

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 ...

on the

North East railway line The North East railway line is a railway line in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The line runs from Southern Cross railway station on the western edge of the Melbourne Melbourne City Centre, central business district to Albury rail ...

, has

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, ...

services running between

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 ...

and

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

Chiltern Football Club

Chiltern played its first game 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

against Beechworth in 1876. Chiltern has four

Australian Rules 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 ...

football teams & four netball teams that competes in the

Tallangatta & District Football League The Tallangatta and District Football League (TDFL) is an Australian rules football competition in north-eastern Victoria (state), Victoria and the southern border area of the Riverina region of New South Wales. The clubs compete across four c ...

. Chiltern FC have played in the following official football competitions - * 1893 to 1903 - Ovens & Murray Football League * 1904 - North East Central Football Association * 1905 - Half Day Holiday Football Association * 1906 to 1908 - Ovens & Murray Football League * 1909 - Federal Junior Football Association * 1910 - Ovens & Murray Junior Football Association * 1911 - Rutherglen & District Football Association * 1912 to 1916 -

Chiltern & District Football Association The Chiltern & District Football Association was first established in 1912 from six Australian Rules Football clubs—Barnawartha, Chiltern, Chiltern Valley, Christmastown, Southern and Wodonga—in North Eastern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Aust ...

* 1917 & 1918 - Chiltern FC in recess, due to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

* 1919 to 1940 -

* 1941 to 1944 - Chiltern FC in recess, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* 1945 to 1953 -

* 1954 to 2002 - Ovens & King Football League * 2003 to present day -

;Football Premierships :Seniors *

**1914, 1922, 1929, 1936, 1940, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953 (12 total) * Ovens & King Football League **1957, 1958, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1982, 1983, 1994, 1996, 1998 (10 total) *

**2022, 2023

Notable people

* Mary Gaunt, novelist, was born here on 21 February 1861.
Cecil Robert Gaunt
army officer and brother of Mary Eliza Gaunt, was born here in 1863 * Henry Handel Richardson, novelist ('' The Getting of Wisdom''), lived in Chiltern for some time in her youth. *

, 18th

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

, was born in Chiltern on 29 March 1900. * Barrie Cassidy, former ''Border Morning Mail'' and ABC journalist, grew up in Chiltern. * Nigel Lappin and cousin, Matthew Lappin, former professional

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 ...

ers, grew up in Chiltern.

References

* Robert W. P. Ashley, ''History of the Shire of Chiltern'', Thompsons, Albury-Wodonga, 1974. * Antony O'Brien, ''Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields: the 1859 Election'', Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2005. (a mining candidate from Chiltern, A. A. O'Connor, stood for this general election during 1859) * Jennifer Williams, ''Chiltern Standard Newspaper, 1859-60'', M.A. Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1970. This is available in the Melbourne University Reading Room at the Baillieu Library. * DNRE, ''Victorian Goldfield Project: Historical Gold Mining Sites in the North East Region of Victoria'', 1999

External links

Chiltern Cemetery deceased records and online map
at Chronicle Cemetery Map
Chiltern, Victoria1939 - Chiltern & District Football Association: Chiltern FC & Albury FC Seconds team photos1940 - Chiltern & District Football Association Azzi Medalist: G O'Neill, Chiltern FC1945 - Chiltern & District Football Association Premiers: Chiltern FC team photo1950 - Chiltern & District Football Association Premiers: Chiltern FC team photo
(undefeated)
1953 - Chiltern & District Football Association Premiers: Chiltern FC team photo
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Indigo Mining towns in Victoria (state) Hume Highway