Horsham () is a regional city in the

Wimmera The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social ...

region of western Victoria, Australia. Located on a bend in the

Wimmera River The Wimmera River, an inland intermittent river of the Wimmera catchment, is located in the Grampians and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Rising in the Pyrenees, on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the Wimm ...

, Horsham is approximately northwest 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 ...

. As of the 2021 census, Horsham and surrounds had a population of 20,456. It is the most populous city in Wimmera, and the main administrative centre for the

Rural City of Horsham The Rural City of Horsham is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018, had a population of 19,875. It includes the towns ...

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 ...

. It is the eleventh largest city in Victoria after Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Wodonga, Mildura, Shepparton, Warrnambool, Traralgon, and Wangaratta. An early settler James Monckton Darlot named the settlement after the town of

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

in his native England. It grew throughout the latter 19th and early 20th centuries as a centre of Western Victoria's wheat and wool industry, becoming the largest city in the Wimmera and Western Victoria by the early 1910s. Horsham was declared a city in 1949 and was named Australia's Tidiest Town in 2001 and Victoria's Tidiest Town in 2021.

History

Pre-colonisation

Recent archaeological research of rock shelters by

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

in the

Grampians The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

found clear evidence of Aboriginal occupation 3–4,000 years ago, and the possibility of occupation up to 22,000 years ago. The rock shelters would have provided reliable access to water and a base to hunt

megafauna In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...

on the plains of the Wimmera. Then "around the time of the arrival of the First Fleet, the Jardwa people were being forced south by either a Murray or northern Victorian tribe called the Wotjol". By the time of European exploration and settlement, the Jardwadjali language (a dialect of the Wemba-wemba language group common across most of Western Victoria)) was well established across the southern portion of the Wimmera region. Wimmera Aboriginal people hunted and traded widely, with stone for their tools coming up from the Grampians in the Ararat district. Relations between Europeans and Aboriginal people, as across much of Australia, were mixed, featuring both conflict and cooperation. One of the last Aboriginal missions in Victoria, Ebenezer Mission, was run successfully by the Moravian Order during the 1870s and 1880s, providing education and employment for the region's Indigenous people before it fell into decline in the 1890s and closed in 1902.

European exploration

Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to pass through the area, naming the Wimmera River on 18 July 1836. After the explorer

Edward Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand's New Munster Province, New Munster province, and Governor of Jamaica. Early ...

passed through the region seeking an overland route between Port Philip and Adelaide, he reported to ''The Adelaide Gazette'' on 14 July 1838, that the region was "well-watered and affording good pasturage for stock."

Settlement

The

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

were the first European settlers in the Wimmera. William J Bracewell made the first claim, claiming 100,000 acres at Dooen on 10 August 1842. Although Captain Chris Lewis was the first resident of the Wimmera, settling at Ledcourt Station at Glenorchy in 1840. Charles Carter, a Squatter 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 ...

established his property "Brim Springs" nearby in 1845. The Wimmera region was made part of the Portland Bay district in 1843 and then became its own district in 1846. Land ownership was formalised in 1847, and the "Wimmera squatters wasted no time in securing their land cheaply as leasehold." George Langlands, a merchant from Melbourne was encouraged by James Darlot to move to the Wimmera region and open a store. Langlands reached the Wimmera and opened a general store in October 1849 on what is now the corner of Darlot and Hamilton Street. A Post Office had opened a year earlier on 1 July 1848. By 1851 the small village of Horsham had been established, consisting of an estimated 18 homes.

Town

The 1851 census counted 2,019 people living in the Wimmera region. The

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 ...

connected Horsham with the rest of the state, when it became a stop-over point for the Gold Escort in 1851. Governance was formalised in 1858 when the Wimmera area was included in region's first electoral district, covering an area from the Murry River in the north, then south to the Wimmera River and then east to the Grampian Range. Then in 1862 the Horsham District Road Board was established, which later evolved into the Horsham Shire with the passing of the ''Local Government Act'' in 1864. The electric telegraph was connected in 1875 and the main railway from Melbourne reached Horsham in 1879. The Horsham Borough Council and the Shire of Wimmera operated the McKenzie Creek Tramway from the town to a stone quarry, approximately to the south. The horse tramway opened within the town in 1885 but had ceased operating by 1927. Special picnic trains operated from time to time conveying residents in open wagons along the McKenzie Creek Tramway. The 1870s saw significant economic and demographic growth in Horsham. During this period the foundry, the hospital, and the Horsham Agricultural Society were established, with the first Horsham show held in 1876.

Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey, (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. Blainey is noted for his authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including ''The Tyranny of ...

, notes in his ''History of Victoria'', that the Victorian railway building boom of the 1870s enabled large-scale wheat production to begin in the Wimmera. He also describes a unique migration of German farmers, mostly Lutherans from South Australia, who travelled across east in covered-wagons along with their families and herds of cattle and then settled in the Wimmera district. Blainey writes that "nothing in Australian history so resembles the opening of the American west as this trek of farmers to the Victorian plains in the 1870s'." Farming production in the region dramatically increased, and wheat was established as the dominant agricultural crop. Although flooding along the Wimmera River was noted during the early period of the settlement, the first major flood was recorded in 1883 with the first flood causing serious damage occurring in 1889, when several buildings and the tramway were damaged. Several serious floods then occurred along the Wimmera River over the next five decades, in 1894, 1903, 1909, 1915 and then in 1923. The flood in 1923 was the third largest on record. In response to this history of flooding, the council successfully applied in 1946 for money from the State Parliamentary Public Works Committee for flood management. Men from Horsham fought in the

First World War 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 ...

. "By mid-August 1914 the first of Horsham's soldiers were given a rousing civic farewell at the Town Hall." However conscription "divided the community", with the Anti-Conscription League noting the high rate (6%) of conscription in the Horsham district. ''The Discharged Soldier Settlement Act'' of 1917 was created to give returning soldiers a head-start establishing farms in regional Australia. According to the act returning soldiers with farm-experience could apply for a block of land. By 1919 2,933 ex-servicemen had taken up the opportunity. The average size of the land grants were . When

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 ...

started, men from Horsham again volunteered. The war effort was enthusiastically embraced, for example in May 1940, when King George VI made a Commonwealth-wide call to prayer, 1,800 people attended a religious service at the town hall. Returning servicemen were again given the opportunity to take up land grants at the end of the war, with the average size of the blocks being between .

City

Horsham's population had reached 6,388 in 1947 and so it was declared a city on 24 May 1949. In 1950 Horsham celebrated its Centenary with a parade through the city. But then tragedy struck on 24 February 1951, when a train and bus collided at a level crossing on Dimboola Road, resulting in 11 deaths. The Horsham Streetscape was dramatically remodelled in the 1960s when planning laws were changed and shopfront verandahs were removed from the Post Office, The Bull and Mouth, and The White Hart pubs. The Horsham City council installed the first parking meters on Firebrace Street in 1963. A major fire damaged the new State Public Office on McLachlan Street in 1971. In 1995, the Rural City of Horsham was formed through the amalgamation of the Horsham City, Wimmera and Arapiles Shires. Horsham was named Australia's Tidiest Town in 2001 and was also named Victoria's tidiest town in 2015. The Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 affected Horsham, with area burnt around the city's fringe including the golf club and eight homes destroyed in the Haven area. Horsham experienced significant flooding in successive years in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 Victorian floods High intensity rainfall between 12–14 January 2011 caused major flooding across much of the western and central parts of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Several follow-up heavy rainfall events including Severe Tropi ...

. During these events, the Wimmera reached 3.32 m and 4.71 m respectively. The 2011 event was particularly severe with the Wimmera River reaching a record peak; over 1,000 residents were evacuated as flood waters divided the city and damaged 600 houses pushing up to a metre of water into parts of the CBD.

Traditional ownership

The Victorian government has recognised the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali,

Wergaia The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee (Victoria), Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj ( ...

and Jupagik nations as the

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 Horsham area. These five nations are represented by the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation.

Population

According to the 2021 census of population, there were 20,429 people in Horsham. * 49% Male * 51 % Female * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.8% of the population (Indigenous status not stated 5.1% and Non-Indigenous 93.2%) * The

median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

age is 41

Geography

Wimmera River

The city of Horsham is situated on the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the

, south of the Dooen Swamp and north of the River's junction with McKenzie Creek. The Wimmera River rises in the western slopes of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

and then runs west towards Horsham before turning north at Quantong and heading north towards the Murray, but empties into Lake Hindmarsh. The Wimmera River is dammed by a weir at the southern edge of the city. A recent study in December 2017, found that the Millennium drought decimated the

Platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypi ...

population in the River leaving only a solitary colony south of the weir.

Climate

Horsham has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''BSk'') with a mean annual temperature of 14.7 °C (58.5 °F) and a mean annual rainfall of 379.3 mm (14.93 in). It experiences one of the coolest climates of this type in Australia, due to its southern

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

and exposure to cooler airmasses off the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight (geography), bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern Coast, coastline of mainland Australia. There are two definitions for its extent—one by the Internation ...

Summer

Most summer days in Horsham are warm to hot, clear and dry with very low

relative humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

. January is the warmest month with a mean maximum temperature of 30.6 °C (87.1 °F). Horsham is prone to experiencing extreme heat days, particularly for its latitude, and records about 25 days annually with maximum temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F). These are confined to the months of November to March, with most occurring in January and February. On the other hand, overnight minima during summer are typically quite cool, often dropping to around 12 °C (54 °F). The resulting wide diurnal range is characteristic of the ''BSk'' climate type; in summer the difference between the daily high temperature and the overnight minimum is frequently greater than 20 °C and may exceed 25 °C on days with a particularly low

dew point The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to produce a relative humidity of 100%. This temperature depends on the pressure and water content of the air. When the air at a temperature above the ...

. Temperatures of 7 °C (45 °F) or lower are usually attained with the passage of cold fronts - many of which see daily maxima struggling to exceed 22 °C (72 °F) under full sunshine, and are often coupled with a strong west to south-westerly wind. The reading of 47.9 °C (118.2 °F) on 20 December 2019 at the Horsham Aerodrome site is the equal third-highest temperature recorded in the state of Victoria.

Winter

Horsham typically experiences cool, relatively long winters where cloudy days featuring light, misty rain and

drizzle Drizzle is a light precipitation which consists of liquid water drops that are smaller than those of rain – generally smaller than in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation r ...

are common. July is the coolest month with a mean maximum temperature of 13.6 °C (56.5 °F). Horsham records minimum temperatures below on about 26 days annually; these occur almost exclusively between the months of May and October, with the majority between June and August. Rainy days - defined as days with any amount of rainfall - predominate in June to August, but the total winter rainfall received remains low relative to most locations in Victoria and is only slightly higher than that received in summer. Though snow is very rare in Horsham, sleet and chilling rains of or less are not too uncommon. The snow was widespread on 26 July 1882.

Statistics

Land use

Horsham's topography is flat, approximately above sea level. The central business district (CBD) is laid out in a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...

south of the train line and is characterised by wide streets and several roundabouts. Firebrace Street, running north–south through the middle of the CBD is one of Horsham's original "thoroughfares" (first surveyed in 1849) and is named after a soldier from the British Army, Major William Firebrace (1795-1856). Residential areas extend north of the train line, west towards Natimuk and south-west towards Haven and south-east across Burnt Creek. A light industrial area is located south of the Wimmera River. Due to the flat topography and floodplain clay, there are very few multi-story buildings. The five most prominent buildings in the city are the State Government Offices on McLachlan Street, the T&G clocktower on Firebrace Street, St John Anglican church on the Western Highway, the Horsham Cinema and Horsham Town Hall, both on Pynsent Street.

Mining

Due to Horsham's location in the

Murray Basin The Murray Basin is a Cenozoic sedimentary basin in south eastern Australia. The basin is only shallow, but extends into New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It takes its name from the Murray River which traverses the Basin from eas ...

, the area to the east and south of the city contain extensive deposits of Mineral Sands, primarily

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printi ...

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of th ...

and

rutile Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at vis ...

. Preliminary exploration was conducted in the 1980s at Drung, a locality east of Horsham. However, the Conservation Council of Australia opposed the exploration citing the long-term consequences of mining activity and the possibility of inadequate rehabilitation. In June 2018 new mining exploration leases for the Wimmera region were granted by the Victorian State Government.

Governance

In 1993 the Kennett Government passed the ''Local Government (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill'' which resulted in council amalgamations across Victoria. So in 1995 the City of Horsham merged with the Wimmera and Arapiles shires to form th
Horsham Rural City Council
making Horsham the

seat of local government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

. The current mayor of Horsham is Robyn Guilline. In the

Legislative Assembly of Victoria The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster Sys ...

Horsham is part of the

Electoral district of Lowan The electoral district of Lowan is a rural Victorian Legislative Assembly (Lower House) electoral district of the Victorian Parliament. It is located within the Western Victoria Region of the Legislative Council. It was initially created by ' ...

and is currently represented by Emma Kealy. For the Legislative Council of Victoria Horsham is part of the

Western Victoria Region Western Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created in ...

and is currently represented by Jaala Pulford, Simon Ramsay, Gayle Tierney, Josh Morris and James Purcell. In the Federal Parliament of Australia the city is represented in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

by the

Division of Mallee The Division of Mallee is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located in the far north-west of the sta ...

. Currently held by Anne Webster and until the 2019 Federal Election was considered a very safe National party seat. The Horsham Police station on Roberts Ave, along with ordinary policing duties also handles traffic, firearm registration and crime investigation. Next to the Police station is the Horsham Magistrates' Court.

Culture

The Horsham Botanic Gardens, managed by the Horsham Rural City Council, are located between the Horsham City Oval and Horsham Caravan Park and were designed by

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

William Guilfoyle. Sawyer park alongside the Wimmera River contains a sound shell and hosts the ANZAC day dawn service, Carols by Candlelight and Australia Day events.

Arts

The Horsham Town Hall, rebuilt and enlarged in February 2016, is the city's main performing arts venue, attracting a wide range of national and international acts. It is operated by the Horsham Rural City Council also contains the Horsham Regional Art Gallery. The Wesley Performing Arts Centre, once the Wesley Church, was, until 2018, a second performance venue. However, it was closed indefinitely in June 2018 due to safety concerns. The Horsham Arts Council, formed in 1972 and based in Old Hamilton Road, regularly stages musicals. Horsham also hosts the annua
Art is...festival
some aspects of the biennial Nati Frinj Festival and Awakenings (Australia's only regional disability arts festival). Centre Cinemas manage a movie theatre on Pynsent St.

Cuisine

An item of food said to be unique to Horsham is the florrie. A variation of the cordon bleu, it consists of a piece of beef steak thinly sliced, wrapped around slices of ham and processed cheese, and then crumbed. Introduced by local chef Alfonso Baviello in the mid 20th century and originally dubbed the Florentine, it can be purchased fresh at Horsham butcher shops or as a cooked meal in cafes and pubs.

Music

Horsham has community bands such as the Horsham City Brass Band and the Horsham Pipe Band with many towns surrounding the city having their own community bands. Some of the Horsham pubs host live music and the city hosts both the annual Kannamroo festival and Horsham Country Music Festival.

Media

Horsham is served by three newspapers, the
Wimmera Mail-Times
' (a tri-weekly paid publication), the
Weekly Advertiser
(a free weekly)'' and the
Horsham Times
(a weekly paid publication)''. Printed news from the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) Wimmera is available on the ABC Wimmera Facebook page and is also broadcast via its local radio station. Other available national radio stations in Horsham are

ABC Classic ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...

Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

and

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

. 3WM 1089 AM and MIXXFM 101.3 are the local commercial stations and Triple H 96.5 FM is the local community radio station. Horsham is also served by local transmission of free-to-air television networks ABC,

Prime7 Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as ''CBN (Australian TV station), CBN-8'' in Orange, New South Wales, Ora ...

(Seven),

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

(10), WIN (Nine) and SBS.

Religions and faiths

A total of 60% of people in Horsham identified with Christianity at the 2016 national census (which is higher than the national average) although nearly 30% identified as "no religious affiliation", which reflected the national average. The Horsham Ministers Association established the Christian Emergency Food Centre on Firebrace Street and help organise the annual Carols by Candlelight. The Lutheran Church oversees a local school (Holy Trinity Lutheran College) and nursing home (Sunnyside Nursing Home) and maintains a Christian bookshop, Jacob's Well. A

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

mosque was built on Stawell Road in October 2014.

Service clubs and other clubs (non-sporting)

The combined local services club host a free community breakfast on

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

. Local clubs include the Apex Club of Horsham, the City of Horsham

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

, the Horsham Combined Probus Club, the Horsham East Ladies Probus Club, Horsham Senior Citizens, the Lions Club of Horsham, the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

of Horsham and the Rotary Club of Horsham East.

Sport

Horsham Australia Mechanics Institute building

Sport and fitness are popular pastimes in Horsham. The Horsham Aquatic Centre contains an indoor and outdoor pool, gym, kiosk and child care centre, owned by the Horsham Rural City Council and operated by the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. Horsham has an outdoor

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

, indoor squash centre and basketball stadium. The City Oval located between Baker St and Hocking St next to the botanical gardens hosts a variety of football games and cricket matches. Cricket and tennis are the most popular summer sports in Horsham. The Wimmera Regional Sports Assembly Inc. is a volunteer based organisation established to support the growth, development and promotion of sport and recreation at the grass roots level. The assembly provides a vital link between local clubs and state and national bodies. It has formed a solid partnership with Sport and Recreation Victoria and other strategic partners (including VicHealth, Local Government, and health agencies) to provide a quality service for Wimmera sports clubs and associations which encompasses the needs and priorities of the region. The assembly office is at 22B Pynsent Street in Horsham and staff can readily provide information and support on a variety of sports related topics. Staff have a wide range of both experience and knowledge and would be pleased to assist wherever possible. Local sporting organisations include the Horsham Angling Club, the Horsham Badminton Association, the Horsham Hornets Basketball Club, Wimmera Kart Racing Club, Natimuk and District Gymnastics Club, Horsham Little Athletics Centre, Horsham Motor Sports Club, the Horsham Panthers Rugby League Club, the Horsham Volleyball Association, the Horsham Golf Club and the Drung Golf Club. Other sports active in Horsham include: carpet bowls, hunting, karate, lawn bowls, netball, pistol shooting, rowing, smallbore rifle shooting, soccer, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, and water skiing.

Australian rules football

Former Sydney Swans footballer and 2014 Australian of the Year

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

grew up in Horsham and the town currently has four players representing the town in the Australian Football League (AFL). The two local football and netball leagues are overseen by AFL Wimmera Mallee.

=Wimmera Football & Netball League

= The town has two Australian rules football teams competing in the Wimmera Football League * Horsham Demons * Horsham Saints

= Horsham & District Football & Netball League

Clay target shooting

The Central Wimmera Clay Target Club holds clay target shooting competitions twice a month at 1 pm on the 1st Sunday & 2nd Saturday of each month. Practice shoots for newcomers are held 1st & 3rd Fridays each month.

Cricket

The Horsham Cricket Association has four clubs based in the Horsham. *Homers Cricket Club *Horsham Saints Cricket Club *Colts Cricket Club *Jung Tigers Cricket Club

= Wimmera Girls Cricket League

= The Wimmera Girls Cricket League (WGCL) inaugural season was held in early 2020. Season 2020/21 provided a competition aimed at girls aged 10 to 17 years.

Flying and gliding

The Horsham Flying Club is the home of sport aviation and gliding in the Wimmera Mallee region of Victoria. The club was formed in 1963 as Wimmera Soaring Club and later amalgamated with Wimmera Sports Aircraft Association. The city also hosts the longest-running gliding competition in Australia, Horsham Week, held yearly in the first week of February since 1967.

Greyhound racing

Horsham Greyhound Racing Club has held regular

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

meetings at the Horsham Showgrounds since 17 December 1973.

Harness racing (''trots'')

Horsham Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the city.

Thoroughbred horse racing (''gallops'')

The Wimmera Racing Club, schedules around five race meetings a year in Horsham, including the Horsham Cup meeting in October.

Infrastructure

The city provides community and family support services.

Education

The Workingmen's College was open from 1891 to 1922. The original buildings of the Workingmen's College became Horsham High School in 1912, the high school moved to the current site on Dimboola Road in 1926. Public primary school education was conducted at the Central School until 1955 when another primary campus was added in the west. A third primary school was added in 1965 in the north. A Roman Catholic primary school was established in 1883 and a Lutheran primary school was established in 1978. Technical education was re-introduced as part of the Horsham High School curriculum in 1959 and the nearby Longernong Agricultural College opened in 1889 at Dooen.

Kindergarten

Non-integrated three and four year old kindergarten programs in Horsham are managed by Emerge Early Years Services. Integrated day care and kindergarten programs are managed by the individual facilities.

Primary education

* Holy Trinity Lutheran College: independent, Lutheran, co-educational, years prep to 12. Founded in 1978 and governed by a council elected from the congregation of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. * Horsham Primary School (298 and Rasmussan campuses): public, co-educational, prep to 6. * Horsham West and Haven Primary School: public, co-educational, prep to 6. * Saints Michael and John's Primary School: independent, Roman Catholic, co-educational, prep to 6.

Secondary education

* Holy Trinity Lutheran College: independent, Lutheran, co-educational, prep to 12. Founded in 1978 and governed by a council elected from the congregation of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church * Horsham College: public, co-educational, 7 to 12. formerly known as both (Horsham Technical School) and (Horsham High School) before merging to become Horsham College in 1994 * St Brigid's College: independent, Roman Catholic, co-educational, 7 to 12.

Tertiary and trades education

*Federation University: Wimmera campus, tertiary education and trade courses. *Longernong Agricultural College: often abbreviated to "Longy", agricultural tertiary college focusing on agronomy, rural merchandise management, wool classing, agricultural education, farm management, research and livestock sales.

Transport

Road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

and the

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

is the main form of transport. The Western Highway (connecting Melbourne to Adelaide) is the most significant road system in the city. It connects with the Henty Highway (A200) (from Portland north towards

Mildura Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

) cross paths with the Wimmera Highway on the eastern side of the central business district, The Western Highway will eventually be diverted around the city in a bypass. The Wimmera-Henty Highway (B200) is the main northern road, connecting Horsham to

Warracknabeal Warracknabeal ( ) is a town in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, located in the Wheatbelt (Australia), Victorian wheatbelt. Situated on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km northwest of Melbourne, it is the bus ...

and the Sunraysia Highway (B220) to

as well as the Wimmera Highway (B240) and St Arnaud. The Wimmera Highway continues west to

Naracoorte, South Australia Naracoorte is a town in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, approximately 336 kilometres south-east of Adelaide and 100 kilometres north of Mount Gambier, South Australia, Mount Gambier on the Riddoch Highway (A66). History Before the ...

. Rail transport includes both

passenger rail A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

and freight rail. The city's only passenger station is Horsham railway station which is on the Melbourne–Adelaide railway is located approximately four blocks (1 km) north of the CBD. ''

The Overland ''The Overland'' is an interstate passenger train service in Australia, travelling between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the ''Adelaide Express'', known by Sout ...

'' operates between the state capitals and stops in Horsham twice a week in each direction for passengers. While there is no direct connection to the Victorian broad gauge rail network, there are plans to increase the frequency of rail services between Ararat and Melbourne, and eventually improve the rail services to Horsham itself. Interstate freight trains regularly travel through Horsham to the Wimmera Intermodal Freight Terminal located nearby in Dooen.

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, ...

operates a coach service into Horsham from Ararat and onward to Nhill. Melbourne bound passengers then board a train in Ararat to continue their journey. A local company the 'Wimmera Roadways and Horsham Bus Lines' provide 6 routes through the city. Along with the bus service two taxi companies operate from a depot at 30 Wawunna Road. The Horsham Airport is located to the north of the city and hosts a variety of private aviation companies as well a depot for the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

Utilities

Water and waste-water services are provided by Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater), "a government-owned statutory corporation established in 2004" who manage water services for most north-western Victoria. Horsham's primary water source is Lake Wartook, with a bore field at Laharum providing a supplementary supply source for the town when water levels are low. Electricity is provided to Horsham via the Horsham Terminal Station, operated by Powercor Australia and located to the east of the city on the corner of Riverside East and Horsham-Lubeck Roads.

Health and healthcare services

The Wimmera Base Hospital on Baillie street has been managed by Wimmera Health Care Group since 1995 and was amalgamated with Ballarat Health Services, Stawell Regional Health and Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital to form Grampians Health, November 1, 2021. The hospital is also a regional training facility, and along with ordinary hospital operations provides a range of outpatient and community health support services. Horsham also contains a number of nursing homes, several pharmacies, two medical surgeries, two dental surgeries and various allied health services. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports the median age of Horsham is older than the national average with just over 20% of the population over 65 years old.

Economy

Healthcare, education and government related are the main employers in Horsham, although the largest number of businesses in 2017 were agriculture, forestry and fishing related, and the median income is $40,245 (2013). The Wimmera Development Association is based in Horsham, they gather economic data, lobby for improved infrastructure, organise events and encourage connections between local businesses and civic leaders. The Victorian Regional Development Association is represented locally by the Wimmera Southern Mallee Regional Partnership.

Commercial

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, most businesses in Horsham have fewer than four employees, with only 35 businesses employing 20 or more people. There are over a hundred retail outlets in Horsham of varying sizes, many independent, but some part of larger national or international chains, such as Coles, Woolworths,

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

, Target,

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

Bunnings Bunnings Group Limited, trading as Bunnings Warehouse or Bunnings, is an Australian hardware and garden centre chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings was founded in Per ...

Harvey Norman Harvey Norman is an Australian multinational retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned by ASX-lis ...

, The Reject Shop, Best & Less,

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

Hungry Jack's Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia (with licensing from Restaurant Brands International), a privately held company owned by ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Foundry

The Horsham Foundry formerly operated by CMI Horsham was closed in July 2012.

Grains Innovation Park

The Horsham Grains Innovation Centre was established in 1962 to breed wheat varieties for Victoria. The scope of research has become "a world leader in science and innovation...for barley, canola, field peas, lentils and chickpeas.” Today the complex also hosts the

Australian Grains Genebank The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) is a national center for storing genetic material for plant breeding and research. The Genebank is in a collaboration with the Australian Seed Bank Partnership on an Australian Crop Wild Relatives project. I ...

, the Horsham Incident Control Centre service and depots for Agriculture Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the Victorian Fisheries Authority.

Renewable energy

The Murra Warra Wind Farm project is located north of Horsham at Murra Warra, a 99-turbine producing 434 megawatts of electricity is being constructed with stage 1 completed in mid-2019. Renewable Energy Systems and Macquarie Capital are providing the $750 million equity for the project.

Tourism

The city is a significant stop-over point between Adelaide and Melbourne and contains nearly a dozen motels. West of Horsham is Mount Arapiles, south of Horsham are the

Grampians National Park The Grampians National Park, commonly known as the Grampians, is a national park located in the Grampians region of Victoria, Australia. The Jardwadjali name for the mountain range itself is Gariwerd. The national park is situated between ...

, northwest is the Little Desert National Park and north of Horsham the Silo Art Trail begins in Brim. The Wimmera River and its annual Fishing Competition are notable features of the city.

Wheat and wool

By 1910 Horsham sat on the boundary between Victoria's primary wool-producing area, the south-west and the state's second-largest wheat-producing area the Wimmera. Wheat is one of Australia's largest agricultural exports with the Wimmera and Mallee regions producing between 10 and 40 tonnes of wheat per square kilometre. Farmers around Horsham often rotate wheat with canola and legumes.

Notable people

* Jarrod Berry, AFL footballer * Tom Berry, AFL footballer * Chloe Bibby NBL/NBA Basketballer * Aaron Bruce, former NBL and NCAA basketballer for Baylor University * Shaun Bruce, NBL basketballer, currently Sydney Kings formerly Brisbane Bullets and Cairns Taipans * Jannik Blair, member of Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team * Patrick Carnegie Simpson (1865-1947), missionary, professor, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of England (1928) * Mitch Creek, NBL/NBA basketballer * Chris Crewther, Member for Mornington in the Victorian Parliament, and former Member for Dunkley in the Australian Parliament (including Chair of both Parliament's Foreign Affairs & Aid Sub-Committee, and the Government's Home Affairs & Legal Affairs Policy Committee) * Portia de Rossi (born Amanda Rogers), actress *

, former

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

player and Australian of the Year who grew up and did his schooling in Horsham * Brett Goodes former AFL footballer for Western Bulldogs * Shane Heard, former AFL footballer * Adrian Hickmott, former AFL footballer * Lajos Kazár, Hungarian linguist * Jake Lloyd, AFL footballer * Jason Niblett, cyclist, Commonwealth Wealth Games gold medallist * Mark O'brien Australian Cyclist * Alex Rathgeber, actor * Sebastian Ross, AFL footballer * Brad Sholl, former AFL footballer * Craig Sholl, former AFL footballer * Melissa Sinfield, basketball player * Jen Storer, children's author * Pauline Toner (1935-1989), first female Victorian Cabinet minister * Darcy Tucker, AFL footballer *

Doug Wade Douglas Graeme Wade (born 16 October 1941) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). He was the League ...

, former VFL footballer

References

External links

Visit Horsham pageHorsham Regional Art Gallery Artabase page
{{authority control Horsham, Victoria Cities in Victoria (state) Rural City of Horsham Wimmera