Kilmore, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Kilmore
state = vic


caption = The main street of Kilmore.
lga = Shire of Mitchell
postcode = 3764
est =
pop = 4,721
pop_footnotes = (2006 census) [Census 2006 AUS | id = UCL224400 | name = Kilmore (Urban Centre/Locality) | quick = on | accessdate=2008-02-28]
elevation= 370
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Seymour
fedgov = McEwen
dist1 = 60
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 40
location2= Seymour
near-nw = Willowmavin
near-n = Willowmavin
near-ne = Broadford
near-w = Willowmavin
near-e = Wandong
near-sw = Wallan
near-s = Wallan
near-se = Wandong

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 a population of approximately 5,200.

History

Kilmore Post Office opened on 1 February 1843. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

Kilmore 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.

Railway

A railway used to ascend from Heathcote Junction on the Sydney-Melbourne line, passed through Kilmore ["The Heathcote Junction to Bendigo and Associated Railways" Turton, Keith Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, April, 1970 pp69-88 ] 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. The Post Office at Kilmore East opened on 1 September 1872 as Gavan Duffy and was renamed Kilmore East two months later and closed in 1976. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

Books on the Kilmore Area

* O'Brien, Antony. "Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields; the 1859 election", Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2005. (detail on O'Shannasy, the local member and Premier)

* Tucker, Maya V. "Kilmore on the Sydney Road", Shire of Kilmore, 1988. (comprehensive (1830s-1980s)history based on local newspapers)

See also

*Kilmore Football Club

References

External links

* [http://www.kilmorehistory.info/ Kilmore Historical Society]
* [http://www.kilmore.info/ Kilmore Celtic Festival and Kilmore Mechanics' Institute]
* [http://www.theruralstore.com.au/MechanicsInstitute/FeastingFindingandFerreting.html Ferreting, Feasting and Finding Your Way Around Historic Kilmore Country]
* [http://walkabout.com.au/locations/VICKilmore.shtml Walkabout - Kilmore]