Hexham is a township 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 ...

. The town is on the Hamilton Highway between

Caramut Caramut is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia on the Hamilton Highway. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area and the federal Division of Wannon. The name "Caramut" is believed to be derived from an Aboriginal w ...

and

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 ...

. It sits on the banks of the Hopkins River, Hexham is said to be Victoria's second oldest inland settlement, after

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

. The town was a Cobb & Co. staging point for all mail from Hamilton via

Penshurst Penshurst is a historic village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Weald, Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, Kent, River Eden, within the Seveno ...

and Tarrington and passenger stopover on the route between Geelong and Belfast (

Port Fairy Port Fairy (historically known as Belfast) is a town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the Souther ...

). The hotel was once a regular stop over for miners on their way to the goldfields. The town used to have a football team that played in the Mt Noorat Football League but it folded in 1984. The town is located 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 ...

, on the

Hamilton Highway Hamilton Highway is a rural highway through the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, linking Geelong and the town of Hamilton. Route Hamilton Highway commences at the intersection of Latrobe Terrace and Portarlington Road in Geel ...

between

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and

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 Hexham sits are the

Eastern Maar The Eastern Maar people are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples whose traditional lands are in the south-western part of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is a name adopted by a number of Aboriginal Victorian groups who identify as Maar ...

People who are represented by the

Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation The Eastern Maar people are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples whose traditional lands are in the south-western part of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is a name adopted by a number of Aboriginal Victorian groups who identify as Maar ...

. The Indigenous language spoken in the area is

Djab Wurrung The Djab Wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyren ...

. The

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

leader

Collin Hood Collin may refer to: People Surname * Collin (surname) * Jacques Collin de Plancy (1793–1881), French occultist, demonologist and writer * Victor Collin de Plancy (1853–1924), French diplomat, bibliophile and art collector * Jean-Baptiste C ...

lived here with his wife

Nora Hood Nora Hood (born Ageebonyee, ; – 28 March 1871) was an Aboriginal Australian Christian religious figure. Literate in English due to her job as a domestic servant, she became prominent for her knowledge of Christianity, with one missionary using ...

in the mid-19th-century.

References

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