Serpentine is a town in north west

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. Located on the Loddon Valley Highway, the town is 201 kilometres 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 ...

and 51 kilometres north west of the regional centre,

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

. Serpentine is in the

Shire of Loddon The Shire of Loddon is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and in 2021 had a population of 7,759. It includes ...

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 ...

and, including the surrounding state suburb, had a population of 192 at the . The town is named for Serpentine Creek, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Loddon River The Loddon River, an inland river of the northcentral catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Loddon Mallee regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters ...

. The creek in turn was named for

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Thomas Mitchell's description of the

river red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as river red gum, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to Australia. It is a tree with smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in ...

trees lining the rivers and creeks of the area. Selectors began to take up allotments in 1862 and the townsite was established as Serpentine Creek in 1863. A Post Office under that name had been open since 1848, the name being changed to Serpentine in 1917. It eventually became the seat of the then

Shire of East Loddon The Shire of East Loddon was a local government area about northwest of Bendigo, in northwestern Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1864 until 1995. History East Loddon was first incorporated as a road dist ...

. Today, Serpentine is a producer of grain and cattle and a popular place for anglers. The

Burke and Wills expedition The Burke and Wills expedition (originally called the Victorian Exploring Expedition) was an exploration expedition organised by the Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) in Australia in 1860–61. The exploration party initially consisted of ninet ...

is alleged to have passed the townsite in 1860 while attempting to reach the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

. The town has an

Australian Rules 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 ...

football team Bears Lagoon Serpentine competing in the

Loddon Valley Football League The Loddon Valley Football Netball League (LVFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball league based in Victoria (state), Central Victoria. History The league was formed in 1903 by the Inglewood, Bridgewater, Newbridge and Arnold's Bridge ...

References

External links

SMH Travel siteLoddon Shire Council
- Official Site Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Loddon 1863 establishments in Australia {{Mallee-geo-stub