Bannockburn

History

The township, originally named Leigh Road, was founded in the early 1850s. It is presumed to have been named after the 14th century battle site in Scotland, and grew as a coaching stop during the 1850s and 1860s, when the main route to the Ballarat goldfields was via the port of Geelong. The railway came to the town with the opening of the Geelong-Ballarat line in 1862. The local railway station was originally called Leigh Road but the name was changed to Bannockburn in 1904. Today, only grain and freight trains use the line. The township grew around the station and a post office, called Leigh Road Railway Station, opened on 18 May 1863. It was renamed Leigh Road in 1873, Wabdallah in 1875, and finally Bannockburn in 1892. St John's Anglican Church located on Byron Street, was built in 1878. Bannockburn township contains notable examples of Victorian colonial architecture, such as the former Somerset Hotel (1854), now a private home, and the Bannockburn Railway Station (1863). The former Bannockburn Lock Up in Victor Street (1860) was relocated from Lethbridge to its present site in 1869. In the 1940s, the lock up's adjoining police station residence became a farmhouse at a Hills Road property in Batesford. Both the railway station and former lock up are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. In 1942, the United States Army established the Kane Ammunition/Ordnance Depot in order to assist with their operations in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The base, located in the triangular slice of land between Brislane Road, Harvey Road and the Western standard gauge railway line in Murgheboluc, served as a storage centre and a maintenance workshop for ordnance materials used in the war. A railway siding was also set aside for a mustard gas depository, with…

Most-observed species

• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  10,926
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  10,319
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  8,808
• Little Raven

  Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 · Aves
  7,933
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  7,407
• Spotted Dove

  Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  7,293
• New Holland Honeyeater

  Phylidonyris novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  6,631
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,124

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2026-07-05
  28 km WNW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 3.5 — 2023-10-21
  10 km NW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 4.8 — 2023-10-21
  16 km WNW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 3.8 — 2023-05-28
  5 km W of Mickleham, Australia
• M 2.9 — 2021-11-05
  4 km S of Rosebud, Australia
• M 3.1 — 2013-05-01
  7 km NW of Clifton Springs, Australia