Harcourt is a town in the Central Highlands of the state of

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 ...

. It is about north-east of Castlemaine, where the Midland Highway meets the

Calder Highway Calder Highway is a rural highway in Australia, linking Mildura and the Victoria/New South Wales border to Bendigo, in North Central Victoria. South of Bendigo, where the former highway has been upgraded to freeway-standard, Calder Freeway li ...

. At the 2021 census, Harcourt had a population of 1,038. The town was named after

Sir William Harcourt Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt, (14 October 1827 – 1 October 1904) was a British lawyer, journalist and Liberal statesman. He was Member of Parliament for Oxford, Derby, then West Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constitue ...

History

The Post Office opened on 27 February 1858 replacing that of nearby Mount Alexander open since 1856.

Overview

Set in a valley at the foot of

Mount Alexander Mount Alexander is a mountain located approximately 125 km north-west of Melbourne, near the town of Harcourt. It rises 350 metres above the surrounding area to a level of 744 metres above sea level. Being a prominent local landmark, ...

, Harcourt was once the premier apple growing region in Australia (a title yielded to Tasmania some time ago). Still the apple centre of Victoria, the local area is fast getting a name for wine and cider production. Other things of interest in and around the town are

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 ...

fishing and the numerous walking tracks in Mount Alexander Park. Within the park boundary there is an old

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

forest which was established by the tanning industry for the acorns. It is home to a World's largest apple. Each year on the March Labour Day long weekend the town hosts the Harcourt ApplefestThe Harcourt Applefest
/ref> with local produce on sale in stalls, music concerts and several sports on show. Harcourt

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 ...

stone is widely used through Australia for soldier memorials, headstones and buildings of historical note. The town has an

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 team competing in the

Maryborough Castlemaine District Football League The Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League is an Australian rules football league based in central Victoria (Australia), Victoria. This is a minor league with clubs coming from towns near the regional centres of Maryborough, ...

Harcourt railway station Harcourt is a closed station located on the Bendigo line. It served the township of Harcourt and was closed to passenger traffic on 4 October 1981, as part of the ''New Deal'' timetable for country passengers. A 10-ton crane at the station, ...

is on the Bendigo line, but has been closed since 1981. The closest operating train station is Castlemaine.
La Larr Ba Gauwa Mountain Bike Park
is riding distance (2 km) from the centre of Harcourt. Harcourt facilities include a small post office, a petrol station/general store, 2 cafes, community swimming pool, public hall, public toilets, recreation reserve, primary school and a motel.

References

External links

Community website
Through the auspices Harcourt Heritage and Tourism Centre Inc, a community website has been created to promote the Township, Organisations and Businesses in Harcourt. {{authority control Towns in Victoria (state)