Satellite map of Hamilton

Research Site Manager: Dr Yaso Nadarajah

The south-west corner of Victoria was a prosperous area for the indigenous people before the Europeans arrived in the 1840s. It is bountiful country. To the north the ragged range of the Grampians, or Gariwerd to use their indigenous name, rise out of the basalt plains. The Wannon River snakes south and then west to join the Glenelg River as it travels down to the sea. Long before 'settlement', European ships had passed along the southern coast of Australia and had noted an abundance of campfires that could be seen from sea in the area near what is now Portland.

• Hamilton region Scenario Mapping Project 
• Helen & Geoff Handbury Fellowships 
• Intercultural Mela, February 2006

Background

The first European to set foot in the area, the explorer Thomas Mitchell, was moved to call it 'Australia Felix'. For twenty-two years the indigenous people put up considerable resistance in what they now call the Eumaralla War. Eventually they were defeated and located into settlements at Lake Condah and Framlingham, near Warrnambool. Since the period of 'settlement', the region with its rich volcanic soils and higher than average and reliable rainfall has been considered a good area for farming.

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