Stawell ( "stall"), is an Australian 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 Victoria west-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 ...

. Located within the Shire of Northern Grampians

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 ...

, it is a

seat of local government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

for the shire and its main administrative centre. At the , Stawell had a population of . It was founded in 1853 as Pleasant Creek during the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

. It is one of few towns in Victoria retaining an active gold mining industry. Stawell is famed for the

Stawell Gift The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short-distance running race. It is the main event in an annual carnival held on Easter weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, with the main race finals on the holiday Monday, at Central Park, S ...

, a professional foot race that began in 1878. It is also known as the gateway to the

Grampians National Park The Grampians National Park, commonly known as the Grampians, is a national park located in the Grampians region of Victoria, Australia. The Jardwadjali name for the mountain range itself is Gariwerd. The national park is situated between ...

. One of the most significant Aboriginal cultural sites in south-eastern Australia is Bunjil's Shelter, within the Black Range Scenic Reserve, south of Stawell. It is named after Sir William Foster Stawell (1815–89), the Chief Justice of Victoria.

Indigenous people

Aboriginal peoples of Victoria lived in the Stawell area for many thousands of years before the

colonisation of Australia 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

. The formally recognised

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

for the area north-east of the Horsham and Ararat roads, are the Wotjobaluk, Jardwadjali (also known as Jaadwa),

Wergaia The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee (Victoria), Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj ( ...

and Jupagalk nations. These nations are represented by the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation. In the area of Stawell that is south-west of Horsham and Ararat roads traditional owners have not yet been formally recognised; however, the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (EMAC) is negotiating a recognition and settlement agreement with the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

. The boundary of the agreement is under negotiation. The Eastern Maar people are represented by the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation. The language spoken in the area is Djab Wurrung, and the local placename for Stawell in the indigenous language is Yirip.

Colonial history

William McLachlan discovered

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

gold at Pleasant Creek in May 1853, but the yield was not in sufficient volumes to attract much interest, as the

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

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 ...

fields were known to be giving better results, and had already established the infrastructure to support the miners. There was however sufficient numbers for the area to support the beginnings of a settlement. The town site was first settled during 1853 and was named Pleasant Creek. The mining population of the Stawell field remained relatively small (averaging 200 or less) until 1857 when a series of new alluvial gold discoveries were made.Historic Gold Mining Sites in the South West Region Of Victoria. pg5
Department Of Natural Resources & Environment. 1999. (Retrieved 7 March 2014.) In August 1857 more extensive prospecting and mining occurred at what became known as Commercial Street, Pleasant Creek.
Stawell Historical Society. (Retrieved 7 March 2014) Two

Post Offices Post, POST, or posting may refer to: Postal services * Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries ** An Post, the Irish national postal service ** Canada Post, Canadian postal service ** Deutsche Post, German posta ...

were opened, Pleasant Creek on 19 October 1857 and Quartz Reef, Pleasant Creek on 1 June 1859. In 1858 diggers opened the Great Western goldfield, which was worked by some 9,000

prospectors Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting rel ...

. The prospecting spread to nearby Deep Lead, about 6 kilometres to northwest, and it was reported that at the height of the rush there were over 25,000 people in the area. At the same time, shafts were being sunk around Big Hill, becoming known as the Quartz Reefs. Much alluvial gold was found in the area but the ' fossicking' petered out by 1859. In 1864, the township was renamed to honour Sir

William Stawell Sir William Foster Stawell KCMG (27 June 181512 March 1889) was a British colonial statesman and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. Stawell was the first Attorney-General of Victoria, serving from 1851 to 1856 as an ...

(1815–89), the Chief Justice of Victoria resulting in the name of the Pleasant Creek post office becoming "Stawell". The town was created a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

in 1869. In 1870 Stawell post office was renamed Stawell West, and Quartz Reef, Stawell post office was renamed to Stawell. Stawell

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

was constructed in 1872, under the guidance of Stawell Shire Engineer, John D'Alton. The former Free Library and

Mechanics Institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult ed ...

building at 170 Main Street was constructed in 1874 to the design of Stawell

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, George Inskip. The building has served as the location of the Mechanics Institute, School of Design (later School of Mines) and the Borough Library. It is now the headquarters of Australian Regional Education. The town's water supply system was designed by John D'Alton in 1875, diverting water from Fyan's Creek by tunnels and pipelines, construction was completed in 1881. By the mid-1920s the gold mining had effectively ceased as the yields were found to be no longer commercially viable. A Pioneer's memorial was erected on Big Hill in 1938. The town hall underwent significant postwar remodelling, culminating in the addition of the landmark clock tower in 1939. The Quartz Gold Memorial and Dane Memorial seat were erected on Big Hill in 1953 out of local quartz stone. Stawell's historical association with gold-mining was revived when full-scale mining recommenced in 1981 with the opening of the Stawell Gold Mine. The mine was closed in 2016, following pressure from environmental protection agencies, following the mines plans to turn open cut. This was followed by fear that the town would become a ghost town of sorts, however, the mine reopened fully in early 2019.

Demographics

As of the 2021

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, 6,220 people resided in Stawell. The

median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

age of persons in Stawell was 47 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 15.4% of the population. People over the age of 65 years made up 26.2% of the population. There were slightly more females than males with 50.6% of the population female and 49.4% male. The average household size is 2.2 people per household. The average number of children per family for families with children is 1.8. 79.9% of people in Stawell were born in Australia. Of all persons living in Stawell, 1.8% (115 persons) were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. This is higher than for the state of Victoria (1.0%) and lower than the national average (3.2%). The most common ancestries in Stawell were Australian 41.3%, English 39.9%, Scottish 10.8%, Irish 10.1% and German 4.7%.

Governance

Stawell is a

for the

Northern Grampians Shire The Shire of Northern Grampians is a local government area in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 11,431, having fallen from 12,087 in 20 ...

(the other being St Arnaud). The council meets regularly at Council Chambers at the Shire's offices on the Western Highway. Stawell is also the main administrative centre for the council, with its customer service administration facility located at the Stawell Town Hall. The LGA was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of a number of other municipalities in the region and currently consists of 4 wards, each represented by one to three

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s elected once every four years by

postal voting Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by Mail, post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling place, polling station or electronically via an electronic voti ...

. In state politics, Stawell is located in the Legislative Assembly

electoral district of Lowan The electoral district of Lowan is a rural Victorian Legislative Assembly (Lower House) electoral district of the Victorian Parliament. It is located within the Western Victoria Region of the Legislative Council. It was initially created by ' ...

, currently held by Emma Kealy ( National Party). Stawell is located within the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

Western Victoria Region Western Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created in ...

. In federal politics, Stawell is located in a single

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

division—the

Division of Mallee The Division of Mallee is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located in the far north-west of the sta ...

Economy

The economy of Stawell is sustained by the mining, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and tourism industries; the upcoming addition of the only neutrino observatory in the southern hemisphere, the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory in a transitioning gold mine, represents a significant shift. The town's service industry includes government services, health, retail and education. Stawell is the closest large town to the Grampians National Park, and as such plays a large role in regional tourism. Woolworths and IGA operate supermarkets in the town. Stawell Hospital is a major regional hospital operated by Stawell Regional Health.

Attractions

Stawell is situated not far from the

, about by road from Halls Gap.

Bunjil's Shelter

One of the most significant Aboriginal cultural sites in south-eastern Australia is Bunjil's Shelter, which is the only known rock art depiction of Bunjil, the creator-being in Aboriginal Australian mythology. The shelter lies within the Black Range Scenic Reserve (not to be confused with the Black Range State Park), about south of Stawell. It is a small shelter at the base of a large

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

boulder.

Education

Secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

is serviced by Stawell Secondary College.

Primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

facilities include Stawell Primary School, Stawell West Primary School and St Patrick's Catholic Primary.

Early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of Education sciences, education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is ...

facilities include Early Learning Centre, Taylor's Gully and Cooinda Kindergartens.

Special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

is provided by Skene Street School. Alternative High Schools include Ararat College and Marian College, both only a short drive away in the town of Ararat.

Transport

Road transport is the main form of transport in Stawell. The town is at the junction of several major roads, the most significant being the Western Highway which bypasses the centre of town along Longfield Street linking it to the cities of Ararat, Ballarat and Melbourne in the east and the cities of Horsham and Adelaide to the west. The bypass has resulted in a new commercial centre spread along its length to the south of the town centre. Other significant roads include the Grampians Road (C216) used by many tourists on their journey to and from Halls Gap in the south west; Pomonal Road (C221) connecting it with the town of Pomonal to the south; Donald-Stawell Road (C238); and Navarre Road (C221) connecting it to the town of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

to the north. All major roads but the Western Highway converge in the town centre.

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 ...

services operate from the Stawell railway station to nearby towns including Halls Gap. Stawell railway station is the town's only operating rail station, having been reopened for ''

The Overland ''The Overland'' is an interstate passenger train service in Australia, travelling between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the ''Adelaide Express'', known by Sout ...

'' passenger services between

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in 2011.

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...

offer up to 60 seats on each ''Overland'' service for V/Line passengers travelling in Victoria. As at December, 2019, it operates twice weekly; on Mondays, and Fridays for Melbourne and on Tuesdays and Saturdays for Adelaide.Overland
Journey Beyond Stawell Airport is located southwest on Grampians Road; it provides for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

Sport

Along with the

, run each

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

long weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, Stawell also has many other sporting outlets and teams. The town has a main

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 ...

club, the Stawell Warriors, competing in the Wimmera Football League, and another team, the Stawell Swifts, competing in the Horsham & District Football League. The town also has a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club, the Stawell Mounties, who play in the Limestone Coast Rugby League. Their foundation in 2022 follows on from the now-defunct Stawell Devils who last played in the Central Highlands Rugby League in the 2000s. The horse racing club, the Wimmera Racing Club, schedules around four race meetings a year at Stawell including the Stawell Cup meeting on Easter Sunday. The racecourse is on the south-western outskirts of the town, on Pomonal Road. Stawell

Harness Racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the town. Golfers play at the course of the Grange Golf Club on the Western Highway, Stawell, or at the course of the Stawell Golf Club on Marnoo Road.

Notable people

Notable people from or who lived in Stawell include: * George "Mick" Prendergast, Premier of Victoria * Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, cricketer * Frederick Wymark, Australiana collector, book collector and bookseller * Stella Young

Climate

References

External links

* * {{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Wimmera Mining towns in Victoria (state) Populated places established in 1853 1853 establishments in Australia