| Swan Hill Victoria |
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Swan Hill from above |
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Swan Hill
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| Population: | 9,684 (2006)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1846 | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 3585 | ||||||||||||
| Elevation: | 70 m (230 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Location: | |||||||||||||
| LGA: | Rural City of Swan Hill | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Swan Hill | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Mallee | ||||||||||||
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Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Murray Valley Highway, on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At the 2006 census, Swan Hill had a population of 9,684.[1]
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In the Dreamtime, Totyerguil (from the area now known as Swan Hill) ran out of spears while chasing Otchtout the cod. This chase is part of the mythology of the creation of the Murray River.
Based on evidence from Coobool Creek and Kow Swamp, it appears that Aboriginal people have lived in the area for the last 13,000 - 9,000 years.[2][3] The area is inhabited by the Wemba-Wemba and Wati-Wati people. Swan Hill was called "Matakupaat" or "place of the Platypus" by the Wemba Wemba people.
The area was given its current name by explorer Thomas Mitchell, while camping beside a hill there on 21 June 1836.
The European community grew up around a punt river crossing, which was established as early as 1846. This crossing serviced the growing agricultural area, and was the only river crossing for 100 km. The Post Office opened here on 1 February 1849.[5]
In 1853 Francis Cadell navigated the Murray river from its mouth in South Australia to Swan Hill in his paddle steamer, Lady Augusta. He arrived on 17 September 1853, narrowly beat William Randell of Mannum, who arrived 4 hours later in the in PS Mary Ann. This demonstrated the feasibility of river traffic, which flourished until the introduction of the railway.
In 1876 Swan Hill was described in the following terms:
In 1883, the first of several red brick water towers were built to supply the growing town with water. Water was pumped out of the river and into the top of the tower by a wood-fired steam engine, and the then flowed by gravitation to surrounding businesses and private residences. Many of these towers can still be seen around town.
The railway from Bendigo was extended from Kerang to Swan Hill in May 1890, being extended to Piangil in 1915.[7]
The punt river crossing was replaced by a timber truss, steel lift span bridge in 1896.[8]
In 1914, Isaburo (Jo) Takasuka produced the first commercial rice crop in Australia. He grew Japanese (Japonica) varieties on 200 acres (81 ha) of flood prone land on the Murray River near Swan Hill.
Swan Hill became a city in 1965.
The Burke and Wills expedition reached Swan Hill on Thursday, 6 September 1860 on their journey across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They made Camp XV, (their fifteenth camp out of Melbourne), in the police paddock on the banks of the Murray River in an area that is now Riverside Park.[9] The expedition stayed in Swan Hill until Monday, 10 September while they reorganised the stores. Burke dismissed four men; Essau Khan, Brooks, Lane and John Polongeaux. He then hired Alexander McPherson, a saddler from Epsom and Charlie Gray, a former sailor from Scotland who had worked as an ostler for Cobb and Co between Bendigo and Swan Hill and who was now employed at the Lower Murray Inn in Swan Hill. The party was strengthened further by the arrival from Melbourne of journalist, William Hodgkinson, and scientist Georg Neumeyer. The local inhabitants gave the expedition a rousing farewell as they crossed into New South Wales. Folklore alleges Burke and Wills planted a Moreton Bay Fig tree in the garden of the local doctor, Dr B W Gummow. The tree is now approximately 27 metres high and has a branch spread of approximately 44 metres and can be seen in Curlewis Street.
In Swan Hill there are four primary schools, two secondary schools and three schools which run both primary and secondary syllabuses. These are Swan Hill College, MacKillop College, St Mary's Primary School, Swan Hill Primary School, Swan Hill North Primary School, Sun Centre Christian School, Victorian P-12 College of Koorie Education - Payika Campus and Swan Hill Specialist School.
Tertiary education is delivered by Sunraysia Institute of TAFE. Its main campus is at Tower Hill, and it runs a farm north of the city. As well as its own courses, it offers a Deakin University program.
A range of retailers operate in Swan Hill including home, garden, general produce and several supermarkets. There are also a number of stores in the region where locals and tourists can purchase locally grown produce.
Swan Hill boasts night-life activities, with active pubs, hotels, clubs and nightclubs
Swan Hill is the heart of the Central Murray Football League. It is also the home to two football clubs, the Swan Hill "Swans" and the Tyntynder "Bulldogs".
Swan Hill also has the Swan Hill Junior Soccer League that consists of over 500 children. They also field 3 teams in the BASL where their Senior Men's Division 2 Team won the Knock-Out Cup in 2006. The Youth Team has come runner up in the Knock-Out Cup competition in both 2006 and 2008. The Senior Women's team came runner up in 2008.
Swan Hill has a horse racing club, the Swan Hill Jockey Club, which schedules around ten race meetings a year including the Swan Hill Cup meeting in June.[10] The Swan Hill St Patricks Race Club also holds a meeting at the racecourse in October.
Golfers play at the course of the Swan Hill City Golf and Bowls Club on Gray Street,[11] or at the course of the Murray Downs Golf Club on Moulamein Road.[12]
The city is located on the Murray Valley Highway, which links it to Bendigo. V/Line operates passenger rail services on the Swan Hill line, with the local railway station being the terminus. The Swan Hill Airport is also nearby. It also has its own buses.
Swan Hill has one locally produced newspaper in The Swan Hill Guardian, which has been circulating Swan Hill and surrounding regions for almost 120 years. In addition to this, there are four local radio stations: 99.1 Smart FM (3SFM); ABC Mildura Swan Hill (3MIL); 107.7 Mixx FM (3SHI) and AM station 1332 3SH. Swan Hill's television stations are identical to Bendigo's: ABC, Prime, WIN, Southern Cross Ten and SBS.
The local train station has a giant Murray Cod out the front. The historic Pioneer Settlement is an open air museum and major tourist attraction, as are rides on the PS Pyap.
Swan Hill gives its name to a wine region straddling the Murray River.[13] The vines are predominantly irrigated from the river.
Swan Hill has a semi-arid climate with hot summers and cold winters.
| Climate data for Swan Hill | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 46.2 (115.2) |
46.9 (116.4) |
42.0 (107.6) |
36.9 (98.4) |
28.0 (82.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
23.0 (73.4) |
27.8 (82.0) |
34.1 (93.4) |
38.4 (101.1) |
44.0 (111.2) |
45.8 (114.4) |
46.9 (116.4) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 32.9 (91.2) |
32.1 (89.8) |
28.4 (83.1) |
23.7 (74.7) |
18.7 (65.7) |
15.4 (59.7) |
14.6 (58.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
20.1 (68.2) |
23.7 (74.7) |
27.9 (82.2) |
30.1 (86.2) |
23.7 (74.7) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 15.9 (60.6) |
16.0 (60.8) |
12.6 (54.7) |
8.8 (47.8) |
6.1 (43.0) |
4.3 (39.7) |
3.6 (38.5) |
4.0 (39.2) |
6.0 (42.8) |
7.8 (46.0) |
11.7 (53.1) |
13.3 (55.9) |
9.2 (48.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 6.0 (42.8) |
7.0 (44.6) |
4.1 (39.4) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
−2.2 (28.0) |
−5 (23.0) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
−3 (26.6) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
−1 (30.2) |
1.0 (33.8) |
5.0 (41.0) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 30.9 (1.217) |
24.3 (0.957) |
15.9 (0.626) |
16.5 (0.65) |
25.6 (1.008) |
23.2 (0.913) |
28.5 (1.122) |
29.4 (1.157) |
26.4 (1.039) |
24.2 (0.953) |
51.8 (2.039) |
22.4 (0.882) |
317.9 (12.516) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 7.4 | 10.5 | 11.9 | 9.9 | 8.2 | 6.3 | 7.1 | 4.9 | 81.5 |
| Source: [14] | |||||||||||||
Around 88% of the people living in Swan Hill were born in Australia. Migrants account for around 12 per cent, these include Italy (1.4%); England (1.0%); New Zealand (0.4%); Scotland (0.3%) and Afghanistan (0.3%). 3.2% of the population are Indigenous.[1]
Author James Aldridge was born in Swan Hill. He described Swan Hill during the Great Depression of the 1930s in his series of "St Helens" books.[15] Some of the best known are:
Swan Hill currently holds the Guinness World Record for Biggest Fruit Salad. Made predominantly from local stonefruit, the salad was 5.7 tonnes, smashing the old record of 4.1 tonnes. The Fruit Salad was made on the 25th January 2008, and eaten the following day, Australia Day.
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