Penola

History

The Aboriginal Australians living in the area when Europeans arrived were the Bindjali people, although this meaning has also been ascribed to Coonawarra by the same source. A different source reports that the Bindjali expression, pena oorla means "wooden house", which referred to the first pub in the district, the Royal Oak. The first Europeans to the area were the Austin brothers, who arrived in 1840 and established a run of . The first settlers were Scottish-born Alexander Cameron and his wife Margaret in January 1844 after obtaining an occupation licence. In April 1850, Cameron obtained 80 acres (0.3 km2) of freehold land (his station was on a pastoral lease) and established the private town of "Panoola", later known as Penola. By 1850, he had built the Royal Oak Hotel and was doing much business supplying liquor to the many travellers passing through to the Victoria goldfields. Penola Post Office opened around 1852. Religious services in the town were first conducted in a converted shop, This was replaced on the same site by a new one designed by Adelaide architect Herbert Jory in Romanesque Revival style and opened in 1924. John Riddoch purchased Yallum in 1861. Riddoch grew up in poverty in the highlands of Scotland and in 1851 emigrated to try his luck on the Victoria goldfields. Within a few years he was a successful shopkeeper and wine merchant on the Geelong goldfields. He acquired 35,000 acres (142 km2) on which he ran 50,000 head of sheep. It was Riddoch who planted the first grape vines and helped to diversify the pastoral economy of the area with an agricultural industry. In 1890, he established the Penola Fruit Growing Colony which was renamed Coonawarra in 1897. Mary MacKillop was a Roman Catholic nun, who was beatified on 19 January…

Most-observed species

• Australasian Bittern

  Botaurus poiciloptilus (Wagler, 1827) · Aves
  1,325
• Gray Fantail

  Rhipidura albiscapa Gould, 1840 · Aves
  257
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  237
• Crimson Rosella

  Platycercus elegans (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  235
• White-throated Treecreeper

  Cormobates leucophaea (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  222
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  217
• New Holland Honeyeater

  Phylidonyris novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  195
• Yellow-faced Honeyeater

  Caligavis chrysops (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  192

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2006-04-19
  50 km SW of Millicent, Australia
• M 3.6 — 2002-01-05
  44 km S of Moorak, Australia