Henty is a town in southwestern

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The town is located in the

Shire of Glenelg The Shire of Glenelg is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 19,665. It includes the towns o ...

local government area, west of the state capital,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. 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 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 monopoly; exports of the bree ...

area was the region of the first white settlement in what is now

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 Soldier settlement was the settlement of land throughout parts of Australia by returning discharged soldiers under soldier settlement schemes administered by state governments after World War I and World War II. The post-World War II settlemen ...

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 designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

for the area in which Henty sits are the

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Th ...

People who are represented by the

Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Thei ...

References

External links

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