Moyston is a town in the Western District region of 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...

, near the Grampians

Grampians National Park

The Grampians National Park is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 235 kilometres west of Melbourne. The Park was listed on the Australian National Heritage List on 15 December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty and being one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern...

 mountain range. The town is located in the Rural City of Ararat

Rural City of Ararat

The Rural City of Ararat is the local government area in south-west Victoria, Australia. The region has an area of 4,230 square kilometres and is centred around the city of Ararat. The population of the region is approximately 11100, according to the 2001 census...

 Local Government Area, 224 kilometres (139 mi) north west of the state capital, Melbourne

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...

. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Moyston and the surrounding area had a population of 575.

History

The first European

European exploration of Australia

The European exploration of Australia encompasses several waves of seafarers and land explorers. Although Australia is often loosely said to have been discovered by Royal Navy Lieutenant James Cook in 1770, he was merely one of a number of European explorers to have sighted and landed on the...

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

Squatting (pastoral)

In Australian history, a squatter was one who occupied a large tract of Crown land in order to graze livestock.  Initially often having no legal rights to the land, they gained its usage by being the first Europeans in the area....

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

Horatio Wills

Horatio Spencer Howe Wills , or Horace Wills, was an Australian pastoralist and politician. Born in Sydney, the son of a convict sent to Australia for highway robbery, Wills is notable as being involved in several events in Australian history...

, the son of a transported convict. His son, Thomas Wentworth Wills, was one of the men credited with founding Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

. It has been claimed that Wills incorporated into the new sport features of Marn Grook

Marn Grook

Marn Grook , literally meaning "Game ball", is a collective name given to a number of traditional Indigenous Australian recreational pastimes believed to have been played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players. It is often confused with a separate indigenous game resembling Association...

, a game played by Aboriginal

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....

 people, that he observed while living in the Moyston area. The discovery of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 in 1857 started a small gold rush

Victorian gold rush

The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...

 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

Australian pubs

A public house in Australia is an establishment performing many functions, often serving alcoholic beverages, meals, and providing basic accommodation.-Origin:...

 and a police station.

By 1880, mining in the area had declined and vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

s and orchards were established along with dairy

Dairy

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...

ing and grazing on newly developed selections

Selection (Australian history)

Selection referred to "free selection before survey" of crown land in some Australian colonies under land legislation introduced in the 1860s. These acts were similar to the United States Homestead Act and were intended to encourage closer settlement, based on intensive agriculture, such as...

. 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

Great Western, Victoria

Great Western is a town in the east of the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Western Highway, in the Shire of Northern Grampians Local Government Area, 225 kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne...

, Ararat

Ararat, Victoria

Ararat is a city in south-west Victoria, Australia, about west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera...

, Stawell

Stawell, Victoria

Stawell , is a town in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. The town is located in Shire of Northern Grampians Local Government Area, west-north-west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Stawell had a population of 6,035....

, and Halls Gap

Halls Gap, Victoria

Halls Gap is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on Grampians Road, adjacent to the Grampians National Park, in the Shire of Northern Grampians local government area. The town is set in the Fyans Valley at the foot of the of Wonderland and Mount William ranges . At the 2006 census Halls...

, 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, Victoria

Willaura is a small town in the Rural City of Ararat Local Government Area in western Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Willaura and surrounding area had a population of 467.-History:...

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

Mininera & District Football League

The Mininera & District Football League is based in South-western Victoria, with clubs located east of Hamilton, south of Ararat and west of Colac. The league absorbed several teams from the defunct Ararat & District Football Association in 2000.-History:...

.