Kingston

History

The Dja Dja Wurrung People are the Traditional Owners of the district of Kingston. Their country extended over lands from close to Bendigo to Avoca, from the Great Dividing Range to near Pyramid Hill and they were displaced by white settlement, with some retreating to Parker's Protectorate at Franklinford. Kingston Post Office opened on 11 October 1858. A polling place for the Creswick electoral district was first opened in the town in October 1860. It became the administrative centre of the Creswick Shire until the merging of the Shire and Borough of Creswick on 29 May 1934. Kingston was once a thriving gold mining town during the Victorian Gold Rush. An 1876 report in The Argus details the gold rush at Kingston when valuable gold deposits were discovered beneath the basalt in the area, at a reachable depth. It records how by the mid-1870s, many working in the Kingston mines had even transported their entire houses to new locations; McLellan, a Scot, ingeniously moved houses using a large triangular frame with three low wheels. They lifted the house onto this frame with screw-jacks, and reinforced it to prevent damage during haulage by a team of eight to ten horses traveling at about 13 km per day. The house would be made habitable again at its new destination. Those who didn't move their houses flocked to Creswick on Saturday evenings to catch a train to Ballarat and returned early on Monday morning. Long-time resident miners generally owned their houses, and with plenty of job opportunities and improved living conditions compared to the earlier rough times; carpenters and masons were earning 10 shillings per day, as demand for their services increased. Bricklayers were paid 11s. per day, mostly occupied with constructing the state school, which would soon…

Most-observed species

• wombat bush-pea

  Pultenaea reflexifolia (J.H.Willis) de Kok · Magnoliopsida
  3,147
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,785
• Crimson Rosella

  Platycercus elegans (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,336
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,226
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,190
• Little Raven

  Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 · Aves
  1,120
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

  Cacatua galerita (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  799
• Gray Fantail

  Rhipidura albiscapa Gould, 1840 · Aves
  788

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2023-05-28
  5 km W of Mickleham, Australia
• M 3.1 — 2013-05-01
  7 km NW of Clifton Springs, Australia
• M 2.7 — 2007-12-09
  38 km SE of Charlton, Australia
• M 2.8 — 2003-02-02
  9 km N of Trentham, Australia
• M 2.7 — 2001-12-31
  10 km SW of Kilmore, Australia