Kilmore, Victoria

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Kilmore Victoria
The main street of Kilmore.
Population:	3,521 (2001 census)
Postcode:	3764
Location:	60 km from Melbourne 40 km from Seymour
LGA:	Mitchell Shire
State District:	Seymour
Federal Division:	McEwen

The Kilmore courthouse, June 30, 1933

Kilmore is a town in the Australian state of Victoria. Located 60 kilometres north of Melbourne, it is acknowledged as Victoria's oldest inland settled town. It has an approximate population of 4,000.

It was a stronghold of early Celtic settlers from Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall, and remains a strong Celtic area to this day. In the mid-1850s Kilmore was the electorate of the Irish Premier of Victoria (1857-1859), John O'Shanassy (1818-83). O'Shanassy, an Irish Catholic, was the bane of the Protestant establishment in Melbourne and that rubbed-off of those who lived in Kilmore. O'Shanassy's supporters were referred to as 'O'Rowdies' and O'Shanassy as the 'Rowdy King" (O'Brien, Shenanigans) A Melbourne Punch cartoon "Freedom of Election at Kilmore" depicted the 1859 election day in the town as a wild barney of Irishmen. (Punch, 8 September 1859, p.52, & O'Brien, p. 81) The town hosts a market on the 2nd Saturday of each month, and a Celtic Festival each June.

The town has two private secondary schools, and two primary schools. One of the secondary schools is The Kilmore International School (also known as T.K.I.S.), which is the only school in Australia to completely use the I.B. (International Baccalaureate). The other secondary school is Assumption College which has had many AFL players graduate from there. These include Shane Crawford, Jason Johnson, Simon O'Donnell and Billy Brownless.

Many of Kilmore's oldest and still intact buildings are made of bluestone. For example, the town's hospital, old court house, former post office, some churches, a gaol, and a monument to Hume and Hovell near the golf course.

[edit] Railway

The old Post Office and Courthouse at Kilmore.

A railway used to ascend from Heathcote Junction on the Sydney-Melbourne line, passed through Kilmore with the main branch running onto Heathcote; while a white elephant spur line ran out to Lancefield until dismantled during 1914. The Heathcote branch line was closed in 1969 and then dismantled. An operational tram museum utilises part of the old railway right of way between Kilmore and Bylands (Tucker, Kilmore).

Kilmore is served by a railway station at Kilmore East, on the main line.