Minyip is a town 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

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, north west of

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 ...

. It is in the

Shire of Yarriambiack The Shire of Yarriambiack is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the north-western part of the state. It covers an area of and at the , had a population of 6,556. I ...

local government area. At the , Minyip had a population of 524. The name "Minyip" is derived from an Aboriginal word for "ashes" or "camping place". The town is known as the "Heart of the Wheat Belt". Dryland agriculture especially grain production and handling is one of the region's major industries.

History

The area was first settled by European selectors in about 1872. The town became a rail-head when the railway arrived from Murtoa in 1886. A grain shed was used to store local wheat until silos were built in 1939–40. The town's courthouse dates from 1886 and the old office of the local newspaper ''The Guardian'' (1885) has been converted into an historical research centre by the local historical society. The Club Hotel (1907) and the Commercial Hotel (1908) are Edwardian buildings with wrought-iron lacework and leadlight windows. Violet's General Store dates from 1897. Minyip Post Office opened on 1 May 1875. There was a branch of the

Commercial Bank of Australia The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited (CBA) was an Australian and New Zealand retail bank which operated from 1866 until it merged with the Bank of New South Wales, which was established in 1817, to form the Westpac Banking Corporation in ...

in Minyip by 1891. The

Colonial Bank of Australasia The Colonial Bank of Australasia was a bank operating primarily in the Australian colony and then state of Victoria from 1856 to 1918. It commenced operation on 14 April 1856, following its incorporation by the Parliament of Victoria through t ...

had a branch in the town by 1902. Scots-born Aboriginal rights activist and medical doctor

Charles Duguid use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kent Town, Adelaide , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = ...

and his first wife, Irene, lived in Minyip for about two years after their marriage in 1912. He practised as a

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

during this time. The Minyip Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1983. An agricultural show was held in Minyip between 1887 and 2018, but was ceased due to an inability to gather a committee to run it.

St John's Lutheran Church

The German

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

, fleeing religious persecution, came to the area around Minyip in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. One group formed at the tiny village of Kirchheim, south-west of Minyip. They built a weatherboard church there in 1875 but it was destroyed by a violent storm in 1889. This led to the construction, in that same year, of the present timber building. In 1935 this building, which had an estimated weight of 50 tons, was moved by steam traction engine to its present site on the corner of Church and Carrol Streets. It took three days to move the structure the from its original foundations. On the way it very nearly toppled over when it reached a rabbit warren and the weight caused the warren to collapse. St John's is a Gothic design which retains its fine octagonal

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...

with

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

, 19th-century

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, stained-glass lancet windows and pews, although the men no longer sit on the opposite side of the aisle to the women.

Today

Minyip was the filming location for exterior scenes in the 2020 film '' The Dry'', representing the fictional town of Kiewarra, Victoria, as well as the

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

The Flying Doctors ''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. ...

'', representing the fictional

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

town of Coopers Crossing. The Flying Doctors' headquarters, Cooper's Crossing Garage, and Majestic Hotel are all located on the main street of the town and still visit-able. However, they now have alternative uses as the Minyip Senior Citizen's Centre and Guy's Coffee & CafeAfter Sharlene Baldock's son died in a car crash, she started a cafe in his honour
Alexander Darling,

ABC News Online ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia- ...

, 2023-08-07 respectively and a Men's Shed.
As of 2021, the Club Hotel no longer operates as a hotel. In the Club Hotel, there is a room filled with Flying Doctors' memorabilia including signed scripts and props from the shows. The town has an

Australian rules football 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 ...

team, The Minyip/Murtoa Kookaburras, competing in the

Wimmera Football League The Wimmera Football League is a major Australian rules country league based in Western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with clubs located in towns in the Wimmera region: the regional centres along the Western Highway from Ararat, Victoria, A ...

. Main Street currently boasts an IGA supermarket, post office/pharmacy, cafe & takeaway, butcher, a second hand/op shop, a caravan park, art and craft groups. The Commercial Hotel and the Club Hotel are currently closed. The children of Minyip attend a local kindergarten and primary school. There is a branch of WWHS on Church Street with a nurse on full-time. Minyip is also the home of the Dunmunkle Lodge Retirement Village. Golfers play at the course of the Minyip Golf Club on Ubergangs Road each Sunday & Wednesday. There is also a bowling green, and an outdoor swimming pool. The Minyip Lions Club is very active, as is the Historical Society. There are numerous plaques displaying the history of the town, with the biggest concentration being in the town square and outside the Senior Citizen's Centre. Minyip hosts an annual car and motorcycle show, the Minyip Show and Shine, which has been held in the town since 2018.

Gallery

Image:cooperscrossinggarage.jpg, The Cooper's Crossing Garage Image:flyingdoctorbuilding.jpg, Headquarters of the Flying Doctors Image:magestichotel_cooperscrossing.jpg, The Majestic Hotel

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Wimmera