Chiltern

History

The area around Chiltern is the traditional lands of the Dhudhuroa people. The nearby Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site, in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, includes artworks created by the original inhabitants of the Chiltern area, including one ochre painting thought to represent a Thylacine, an animal now extinct and which has been extinct on mainland Australia for thousands of years. The area of Chiltern was on the Wahgunyah cattle run and was known as Black Dog Creek. The township, named after the Chiltern Hills in England, was surveyed in 1853 but not established until gold discoveries in 1858-59 during the greater Victorian Gold Rush period. The Post Office opened on 1 September 1859. The Chiltern Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1983, not having been visited by a Magistrate since 1972. Many of Chiltern's buildings are classified by the National Trust. In 1859, many shop-keepers and miners from around Beechworth and the Ovens Valley districts followed the rush and re-located into Chiltern. The Grape Vine Hotel, on the corners of Main Street and Conness Street, boasts the largest grapevine in Australia, planted in 1867. The discovery of gold by John Conness in late 1858 and early 1859, brought a huge shift in population into the Chiltern – Black Dog Creek area. Gold discoveries drew many miners away from the nearby Ovens goldfields; namely Beechworth, Nine Mile Creek and Stanley during the big drought of 1859. Unlike those surface-based sluicing mining operations around Beechworth, the gold around Chiltern was extracted by sinking deep wet leads. These operations required a different type of miner and working groups, capable of sinking shafts to some 400 feet in depth. Miners with these skills and abilities came into the area, from Ballarat and…

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  3,661
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  3,366
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  3,101
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,832
• White-plumed Honeyeater

  Ptilotula penicillata (Gould, 1837) · Aves
  2,716
• Gray Shrikethrush

  Colluricincla harmonica (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,714
• Yellow-tufted Honeyeater

  Lichenostomus melanops (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  2,687
• Fuscous Honeyeater

  Ptilotula fusca (Gould, 1837) · Aves
  2,618

Most recent

• M 3.2 — 2013-06-22
  24 km SE of Benalla, Australia
• M 2.6 — 2007-06-10
  12 km SE of Myrtleford, Australia
• M 2.9 — 2006-02-28
  14 km WNW of Falls Creek, Australia
• M 3.3 — 2005-01-20
  16 km WNW of Wangaratta, Australia
• M 3.2 — 2003-01-25
  2 km NNE of Jindera, Australia