Keilor, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Keilor is a suburb in Melbourne
, Victoria
, Australia
, 18 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district
. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Brimbank
and Hume
. At the 2006 Census, Keilor had a population of 5,670.
Whilst most of the suburb is contained within the City of Brimbank
, the northern section of Keilor, located north of the Calder Freeway
, is located in the City of Hume
. This section of the suburbs is located on the flood plain of the Maribyrnong River
, and is home to many market garden
s.
The suburb is essentially residential with large industrial developments in adjacent suburbs.
There are several shopping centres around the area including Centro Keilor and Watergardens Town Centre
located approximately 5 km from Keilor.
Caroline Chisholm was responsible for having shelter sheds erected alongside the river; a reconstructed example has been built and may be viewed. The escorts from the goldfields passed through Keilor. They camped in a paddock near Keilor. This paddock was known as Escort Paddock and the remains of an old stone building is still to be seen there. The surrounding country is known by the name of the Keilor Plains and is of basaltic formation. Spanning the river was a wooden bridge which was replaced by an iron bridge in 1868. A new bridge had been built alongside the iron bridge. Both the Anglican and the Catholic Churches built during the early settlement years have been retained for future generations to view and to enjoy. They have been heritage listed.
About 1 million years ago lava covered the previous landscape and created basalt
plains. Over time, the Maribyrnong River
carved itself through the basalt plains.
Australian megafauna
including 3 meter high kangaroo
s and Diprotodon
s were found in the area until extinction about 13,000 years ago at the end of the ice age
.
The Wurundjeri
Aborigines
inhabited the area for approximately 40,000 years. It is one of the oldest inhabited sites in Australia.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were Charles Grimes
surveying party who followed the Maribynong River upstream in the Summer of 1803. Grimes report of the area was unfavourable. In June 1835, John Batman
followed a similar route and remarked of Keilor that it was the "Most beautiful sheep pasturage I ever saw in my life".
In about 1838 the first European settlements were established by pastoralists James Watson and Alexander Hunter. James Watson is thought to have named the area after a place called Keilor in Forfarshire
, Scotland
where his father farmed a large property.
In the 1850s people would stopover at Keilor during their travels from Melbourne to the Bendigo
goldfields. Keilor saw an influx of new settlers who intended to cash in on this new market. Keilor Post Office opened on 2 March 1854
and a general store, blacksmith, hotel, police station, courthouse and bridge were all built during this time.
The area became an agricultural district and remained so until after World War II
when the suburb saw a rapid increase in population due to cheap land and the establishment of large industries in surrounding suburbs.
, an Australian Rules football team, competes in the Essendon District Football League
.
Golfers play at the Keilor Public Golf Course on the Calder Highway in the neighbouring suburb of Keilor North.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, 18 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district
Melbourne city centre
Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...
. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Brimbank
City of Brimbank
The City of Brimbank is a Local Government Area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the western suburbs between 10 and 20 km west and northwest from the Melbourne city centre.It has an area of 123 km²...
and Hume
City of Hume
The City of Hume is a Local Government Area located partially within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre....
. At the 2006 Census, Keilor had a population of 5,670.
Whilst most of the suburb is contained within the City of Brimbank
City of Brimbank
The City of Brimbank is a Local Government Area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the western suburbs between 10 and 20 km west and northwest from the Melbourne city centre.It has an area of 123 km²...
, the northern section of Keilor, located north of the Calder Freeway
Calder Freeway
Calder Freeway is a freeway linking Melbourne to Ravenswood South in Victoria, Australia, superseding stretches of the Calder Highway. Originally just a short spur of the Tullamarine Freeway linking to the Calder Highway in Keilor in suburban Melbourne, it has been extended in phases to Ravenswood...
, is located in the City of Hume
City of Hume
The City of Hume is a Local Government Area located partially within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre....
. This section of the suburbs is located on the flood plain of the Maribyrnong River
Maribyrnong river
The Maribyrnong River rises about 50 km north of Melbourne, Victoria , near Mount Macedon. It flows generally southward and combines with the Yarra River to flow into Port Phillip....
, and is home to many market garden
Market garden
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically, from under one acre ...
s.
The suburb is essentially residential with large industrial developments in adjacent suburbs.
There are several shopping centres around the area including Centro Keilor and Watergardens Town Centre
Watergardens Town Centre
Watergardens Town Centre is a super regional shopping centre and homemaker complex located twenty-four kilometres north-west of Melbourne primarily in the suburb of Taylors Lakes and partially in the suburb of Sydenham, served by Watergardens railway station...
located approximately 5 km from Keilor.
History
Keilor is a pretty little township in a basin of the Maribyrnong River. W. Watson from Scotland was the first land-holder in the district. Keilor in the early times of the gold diggings was a noted camping place for bullock teams to and from the diggins at Castlemaine and Ballarat.Caroline Chisholm was responsible for having shelter sheds erected alongside the river; a reconstructed example has been built and may be viewed. The escorts from the goldfields passed through Keilor. They camped in a paddock near Keilor. This paddock was known as Escort Paddock and the remains of an old stone building is still to be seen there. The surrounding country is known by the name of the Keilor Plains and is of basaltic formation. Spanning the river was a wooden bridge which was replaced by an iron bridge in 1868. A new bridge had been built alongside the iron bridge. Both the Anglican and the Catholic Churches built during the early settlement years have been retained for future generations to view and to enjoy. They have been heritage listed.
About 1 million years ago lava covered the previous landscape and created basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
plains. Over time, the Maribyrnong River
Maribyrnong river
The Maribyrnong River rises about 50 km north of Melbourne, Victoria , near Mount Macedon. It flows generally southward and combines with the Yarra River to flow into Port Phillip....
carved itself through the basalt plains.
Australian megafauna
Australian megafauna
Australian megafauna are a number of large animal species in Australia, often defined as species with body mass estimates of greater than 30 kilograms, or equal to or greater than 30% greater body mass than their closest living relatives...
including 3 meter high kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
s and Diprotodon
Diprotodon
Diprotodon, meaning "two forward teeth", sometimes known as the Giant Wombat or the Rhinoceros Wombat, was the largest known marsupial that ever lived...
s were found in the area until extinction about 13,000 years ago at the end of the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
.
The Wurundjeri
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri are a people of the Indigenous Australian nation of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance, who occupy the Birrarung Valley, its tributaries and the present location of Melbourne, Australia...
Aborigines
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
inhabited the area for approximately 40,000 years. It is one of the oldest inhabited sites in Australia.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were Charles Grimes
Charles Grimes
Charles Grimes was an English-born surveyor who did some valuable work in colonial Australia. He served as surveyor-general of New South Wales and discovered the Yarra River in what is now the state of Victoria. He is perhaps best known for being the surveyor who mapped the route of the Hobart...
surveying party who followed the Maribynong River upstream in the Summer of 1803. Grimes report of the area was unfavourable. In June 1835, John Batman
John Batman
John Batman was an Australian grazier, businessman and explorer who is best known for his role in the founding of a settlement which became Melbourne and the colony of Victoria.-Life:...
followed a similar route and remarked of Keilor that it was the "Most beautiful sheep pasturage I ever saw in my life".
In about 1838 the first European settlements were established by pastoralists James Watson and Alexander Hunter. James Watson is thought to have named the area after a place called Keilor in Forfarshire
Angus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
where his father farmed a large property.
In the 1850s people would stopover at Keilor during their travels from Melbourne to the Bendigo
Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
goldfields. Keilor saw an influx of new settlers who intended to cash in on this new market. Keilor Post Office opened on 2 March 1854
and a general store, blacksmith, hotel, police station, courthouse and bridge were all built during this time.
The area became an agricultural district and remained so until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when the suburb saw a rapid increase in population due to cheap land and the establishment of large industries in surrounding suburbs.
Today
Keilor Football ClubKeilor Football Club
Keilor Football Club is an Australian rules football club located 20 km north west of Melbourne in the suburb of Keilor.The first football match played at Keilor was in 1894 against an Essendon junior team...
, an Australian Rules football team, competes in the Essendon District Football League
Essendon District Football League
The Essendon District Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne, which was established in 1930.The EDFL consists of 24 senior clubs, 10 clubs in A Grade and 14 clubs in B Grade...
.
Golfers play at the Keilor Public Golf Course on the Calder Highway in the neighbouring suburb of Keilor North.
Notable residents
- Mark VidukaMark VidukaMark Anthony Viduka is a former Australian soccer player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last 16.-Melbourne Croatia:...
, English Premier League player and captain of the Australian national soccer team, grew up in Keilor.
See also
- City of KeilorCity of KeilorThe City of Keilor was a Local Government Area located about northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1863 until 1994.-History:...
—the former local government area of the same name - Brimbank Park
- Electoral district of KeilorElectoral district of KeilorThe Electoral district of Keilor is a metropolitan electorate approximately 15 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, Australia in Victoria's Legislative Assembly....
External links
- http://www.keilor.basketball.net.au/fs_home.asp Keilor Thunder Basketball - Big VBig VThe Big V is the senior basketball league in Victoria, Australia comprising 102 semi-professional teams in 10 competitions.These competitions comprise both genders, and incorporate four levels of senior competition , three levels for women and youth leagues...