Moyston is a town in the Western District region of

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 ...

, near 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 ...

mountain range. The town is located in the

Rural City of Ararat The Rural City of Ararat is an Australian local government area located in the western part of the state of Victoria. It covers an area of and in the 2021 had a population of 11,880. The area includes the towns of Ararat, Armstrong, Dunne ...

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 2021 census, Moyston and the surrounding area had a population of 403. Moyston is the self-proclaimed "Birthplace of

Australian 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 ...

", based on its connection to the sport's founder,

Tom Wills Thomas Wentworth Wills (19 August 1835 – 2 May 1880) was an Australian sportsman who is credited with being Australia's first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football. Born in the British penal colony of Colo ...

, who grew up in the area in the 1840s, and, according to some, played

Marn Grook , or (also spelt ''Marn Gook'') is the popular collective name for traditional Indigenous Australian football games played at gatherings and celebrations by sometimes more than 100 players. From the Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurun ...

with the Indigenous people of the area.Harris, Amelia (22 March 2008)
"Moyston where footy dreams lie"
''The Herald Sun''. Retrieved 4 January 2015.

History

The first

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

to see the Moyston area was the explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836.

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 ...

and their flocks of sheep followed soon after, among them Horatio Wills. His son,

, was Australia's first great

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 ...

er and a pioneer of

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 ...

. It has been claimed that, while living in the Moyston area, Wills witnessed or played

, an Aboriginal football game that inspired his laws for Australian football. 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 1857 started a small

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, ...

and the establishment of a township. The Post Office opened on 19 March 1860 as Campbell's Reef and was renamed Moyston in 1866. In 1861, a formal survey of the township was made and blocks offered for sale. By then, the town included two churches, three

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refr ...

and a police station. By 1880, mining in the area had declined and

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s and orchards were established along with

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

ing and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

on newly developed selections. The last mine in the area, the "Golden Gate", ceased operation by around 1910.

The Town today

Today, Moyston is an historic town surrounded by farming properties and where workers employed in the nearby towns of Great Western, Ararat, Stawell, and Halls Gap, reside. Several public businesses operate in and near the town which included the post office, the general store and Clayfield Winery. The town shares an Australian rules football team with nearby

Willaura Willaura is a town in western Victoria, Australia in the Rural City of Ararat local government area, west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Willaura and surrounding area had a population of 439. According to tradition, the town's name ...

, the Moyston-Willaura Pumas, competing in the Mininera & District Football League.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Mining towns in Victoria (state) Western District (Victoria)