Mount Egerton is a town 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 ...

. It is located on the mountain by the same name in the

Shire of Moorabool The Shire of Moorabool is a 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 34,158. It includes the towns of Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Balliang, ...

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 ...

, north 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 ...

. At the , Mount Egerton had a population of 582. It was named after settler George Egerton. The town's main street is Main Road which consists of the historic gold mine and battery, general store (now closed), and hall. The town also contains a primary school and recreational reserve. It is a historic

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

word

History

George Egerton held approximately 35,000 acres of stock farming land in 1838 which to outsiders was known simply as "Egerton's run". The discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in 1853 by Alexander Russell and George Grell saw a

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

in 1854 as

placer mining Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for precious metal deposits (particularly ...

took place along All Nations Gully and West Gully. A rich reef was found at the hill crest in 1856 and an

underground mine Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...

was established. The Post Office opened on 1 February 1856. The town population swelled to 600, several companies had established mines including the Black Horse and the town was home to banks and several hotels. The main mine was sold to Thomas and Somerville Learmonth in 1863 and became known as "Learmonth's Claim". Montage of Mount Egerton and mine in 1892

Montage of Mount Egerton and mine in 1892

St Francis Xavier was built in 1868 by settler Thomas Thyne. Mt Egerton Primary School began taking enrolments on 6 November 1877. Although sustained mining occurred through the 19th Century, a decline in gold output caused a general decline in the town and it gradually decreased in size while many of the district's buildings and homes were abandoned until mining operations finally ceased in 1910 having produced a total gold output valued at around 2 million pounds. The post office closed in 1993. In 1996 the

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

was redeveloped into a

fish and chip Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of battered and fried fish, served with chips. Often considered the national dish of the United Kingdom, fish and chips originated in England in the 19th century. Today, the dish is a common takeaway ...

shop,

liquor store A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

and

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, or coin wash, is a facility where clothes and some household textiles are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, ...

, with the old bank being removed to make way. The shop closed in May 2010, and the premises was used as a private residence. In 2023 the shop was reopened under new ownership, trading as 'Half Pace General Store' In 2011, proposals were submitted for a

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

and telecommunications towers both of which have met some community opposition.

WestWind Energy WestWind Energy is an Australian company involved in development and operation of wind farms. Its origins were in Germany in the renewable energy sector. It is part of the WestWind Group of companies which has its headquarters in Kirchdorf, Low ...

has proposed the Moorabool Wind Farm, a 330MW, 107 turbine facility in the vicinity of the town.

Geography and climate

Mount Egerton is situated in gently sloping but highly elevated hills ranging from 518 m (highlight point) to 634 m (highlight point) above sea level. This results in a cold and windy climate and it is not unusual for

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

to fall on the town during the winter months. The town is surrounded by bushland and is situated close to a State Forest to the east, presenting a high bushfire risk in the summer months.

Transport

Mount Egerton is an automobile dependent community. The town is situated at the junction of three main roads. The Gordon-Egerton Road provides a direct connection to

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Gordon Heuck ...

to the north and ongoing connections to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

and

while the Ballan-Egerton Road provides a direct connection to Ballan to the east and the Yendon-Egerton Road provides a link west to Yendon, beyond to Ballarat and smaller towns to the south. The town has 2 public transport

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

links with one connecting to both Ballarat and Gordon operating Monday to Friday and Saturday once a day in the morning to Ballarat and returning in the afternoon. The other bus service is the connecting service to the Ballan train station to meet with the morning express train to Melbourne. This operates Monday to Friday only. The high school students and private school students have dedicated bus services provided by the Govt on all school days. Since the success of the Regional fast rail project, the local community lobbied for the reopening of nearby Gordon station or improved access to Ballan Station, however to date have been unsuccessful.

Culture and sport

The Mount Egerton Recreation Reserve is the hub of sporting activity in the town, although the town's small population makes organised sports a challenge.

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 ...

is popular, however the local club is dormant and the oval has instead been used for other sports mostly by teams from nearby towns.

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

is also popular. A local cricket association existed until 1951 after which the local team joined the Ballarat Cricket Association. The club has since disbanded and the Gordon Cricket Club instead makes use of its venue.

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

was also popular, however the local club dissolved.

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

has a presence in the town with a local team existing for a short time before disbanding. Instead The Ballan United Soccer Club and the Moorabool Panthers Soccer Club use the reserve as a venue.

Notable people

Captain Moonlite Andrew George Scott (5 July 1842 – 20 January 1880), also known as Captain Moonlite, though also referred to as Alexander Charles Scott and Captain Moonlight, was an Irish-born New Zealand immigrant to the Colony of Victoria, a bushranger the ...

- notorious

bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in The bush#Australia, the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia ...

lived in the town and known for robbing the local bank * Ernest Wetherell - minister in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

References

External links

Visit Moorabool: Mount Egerton
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state)