Avenel

History

The Post Office opened on 2 June 1858. It is frequently stated as having been named for a village in Gloucestershire by Henry Kent Hughes. The name "Avenel" also appears in Sir Walter Scott's Tales from Benedictine Sources: The Monastery (1820) and The Abbot (1820) as the name of a castle and family, that own it. Hughes settled there in 1838, laid out the future town, and named the Hughes Creek, which flows through it. The Avenel Court of Petty Sessions closed on 25 March 1969, with the former courthouse subsequently being used by local community groups. Avenel was the hometown of Ned Kelly in his younger years, where he saved a boy from drowning in the local Hughes Creek. His brother and father are buried in the Avenel cemetery. Kelly and his family went to school in Avenel. The Hume Highway passed through the town until a bypass was opened in December 1981.

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  4,584
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  3,652
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

  Cacatua galerita (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  3,291
• Little Raven

  Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 · Aves
  3,152
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  2,948
• Crimson Rosella

  Platycercus elegans (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  2,468
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  2,119
• Striated Pardalote

  Pardalotus striatus (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  2,082

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2023-05-28
  5 km W of Mickleham, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2014-01-13
  1 km SSE of Lilydale, Australia
• M 3.2 — 2013-06-22
  24 km SE of Benalla, Australia
• M 3 — 2010-05-26
  8 km E of Rochester, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2004-04-12
  26 km ESE of Alexandra, Australia
• M 2.6 — 2003-05-09
  27 km SE of Euroa, Australia