Henty 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 ...

. The town is located in the Shire of Glenelg

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

, 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 ...

. Henty is in the middle of the Henty wine region, which is also named after the early settlers.

History

The Henty and

Merino The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

area was the region of the first white settlement in what is now Victoria by the Henty brothers, starting in 1834. The indigenous custodians were the Bonedai Gundigj clan. The railway station opened in 1884, on the Casterton railway line branch from the Portland line at Branxholme. The station closed in 1967 and the line in 1977. Parts of the early pastoral runs were later used for soldier settlement schemes after both world wars.Sign at Henty memorials The World War II scheme provided a total of in 25 lots to returned soldiers and their families in what was known as ''Hindson's Estate''.Plaque at Henty erected in 2007 Henty Post Office opened on 16 April 1885 and closed in 1977.

Traditional ownership

The formally recognised

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

for the area in which Henty sits are the

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of southwestern Victoria in Australia. They are the Traditional Owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. ...

People who are represented by the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.

References

External links

Towns in Victoria (state) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub