The lightly wooded landscape between the Merri and Moonee Ponds Creeks attracted pastoralists in the 1840s. In 1850 a Government survey laid out a township in an area along the Moonee Ponds Creek valley, now known as Westmeadows, but then named Broadmeadow. An Anglican church was built in 1850, and the church, police station and Broadmeadows hotel (now Westmeadows Tavern), in Ardlie Street were the first village centre. The old Council chamber and office are nearby.

East of the old village is today’s Broadmeadows, for which the early town centre was Campbellfield. In 1857 the Broadmeadows District Road Board was formed. Its area had Essendon on the south and it extended as far north as Mickleham, placing the village very much in the southern third of the Road District.

A primary school was established by the Anglican church in 1851, becoming a State school in 1870 (now Westmeadows). In 1872 the railway line was extended form Essendon to Seymour, creating a station about 2 km. east of the village. At the height of the landboom in 1889 another line was opened from Coburg, joining the Seymour line at Somerton. A station was provided at Campbellfield. These lines tended to draw subdivision and speculation eastwards, away from the Broadmeadows village. Hence the naming of the local municipal council as Broadmeadows shire on 27 January, 1871, did not reflect where the district’s future prosperity lay. The village was isolated westwards, separated from the railway areas by open grass lands. Broadmeadows consisted of farms, many of them dairying, and the few large holdings were subject to closer settlement subdivision during the early 1900s. The shire was enlarged on 1 October, 1915, when the shire of Merriang, to the north-west, was added. In 1903 The Australian Handbook described Broadmeadows as –

Two weeks and one day after the outbreak of the first world war the Australian Army established the Broadmeadows Military Camp in the open area between Broadmeadows and Campbellfield. Reticulated water was connected in five days, a project which the shire had been unable to persuade the Board of Works to undertake in seven years of negotiation. The camp and the surrounding areas were the venue of numerous bivouacs and military exercises.

Residential subdivisions had been released in the shire’s southern areas since the 1880s, and much of the land was not built on by the end of the first world war. More subdivision took place in the 1920s, and Broadmeadows had its (railway) Station Estate. Reticulated water and electricity were connected to the southern part of the shire in 1924 and 1925, and the railway was electrified in 1921. In 1928 new shire offices were opened near the railway station. These conveniences, plus the quicker travelling time to Melbourne, potentially made Broadmeadows more appealing for residential settlement. The line through Campbellfield, however, was closed between 1903 and 1928, when an infrequent service was resumed. During the 1930s financial depression the military camp accommodated unemployed men. The Broadmeadows landscape, however, remained one of small farms and derelict, undeveloped subdivisions, amounting to 17,000 allotments. In 1949 The Australian Blue Book described the Broadmeadows shire as –

In 1951 the Victorian Housing Commission announced its proposal to take over 2,270 ha. of land in Broadmeadows for a housing estate. The Commission’s housing construction proceeded apace, but the provision of shops and other facilities lagged. Glenroy became the main lcoal shopping area, four kilometres to the south. Schools were opened in time for the new population: Broadmeadows East and Broadmeadows South (later Glenroy North), in 1956, and Broadmeadows and Eastmeadows in 1961, the latter also attended by children from a migrant hostel in the military camp. The Commission built in the area between Broadmeadows and Glenroy in 1958, and the Jacana and Campmeadows primary schools were opened the following year. During the 1960s three secondary schools were opened – two technical and one high. Catholic schools comprise a primary, a co-educational secondary and a boys’ secondary.

Some way through Broadmeadows’ urbanisation it was decided to sever the rural parts north of Somerton Road and attach them to the adjoining shire. This occurred on 31 May, 1955, and next year on 30 May Broadmeadows was proclaimed a city. Six months later the Housing Commission began the transfer of a wedge of its land at Upfield and Campbellfield for the Ford motor car factory, which reactivated the railway which had been closed (again) the previous year. The Ford factory opened in 1959 and four other substantial factories opened the following year along the Hume Highway.

Schools were overcrowded, swimming pools unbuilt until 1962 and speech nights were held at Coburg or Essendon. A new civic hall and council offices were built in 1964. The adjoining local shopping centre, Meadow Fair, existed only on Housing Commission paper until the 1970s, and finally in 1974 it was completed. It is now the Broadmeadows Shopping Square, considerably enlarged to over 20,000 sq. metres of gross lettable area. The site for a hospital, however, still remained empty in the mid 1990s.

During the 1970s and 1980s Broadmeadows had a reputation for boisterous youth: the Broady Boys rode the trains and daubed graffiti proclaiming that they “rule, O.K.” By the 1990s this had lessened and there was a catch-up of some of the facilities long denied. Jacana gained a golf course, much of Westmeadows is a reserve, the town park and a TAFE are opposite the civic offices and there are two reserves beside the reduced military barracks. The technical school site is occupied by an Islamic College and there are four other secondary colleges. Space is reserved for further enlargement of the shopping centre, but public libraries are in other town areas under the Council’s jurisdiction (1996).

The Broadmeadows municipality contained Campbellfield, Collaroo, Dallas, Fawkner, Gladstone Park, Glenroy, Oak Park, Tullamarine, Upfield and Westmeadows. (Some of these contained smaller localities which are mentioned in their descriptions.) On 15 December, 1994, Broadmeadows city was united with most of Bulla shire and parts of Keilor and Whittlesea cities to form Hume city.

Broadmeadows’ census populations were 333 (1861), 192 (1911) and 522 (1947). The municipality’s census populations have been 2,100 (1911), 8,971 (1947), 23,065 91954), 66,306 (1961, after severance of the northern area), 101,100 (1971) and 102,996 (1991).

Further Reading:

• Lemon, Andrew, “Broadmeadows: A Forgotten History”, City of Broadmeadows and Hargren Publishing Company, 1982.

A hotel was built on the site of the present Blackburn Hotel in Whitehorse Road in 1861, serving travellers to Healesville and the Gippsland goldfields around Woods Point. Another was opened near the creek in 1865. A post office was opened in 1876 and the Box Hill to Lilydale railway in 1882. The 1880s saw a spate of development, partly induced by the railway and strongly promoted by subdividers. The most active was the Freehold Investment and Banking Company which acquired thirty small farms and laid out a model township distinguishable by the triangular street design south of the railway station. The company is credited with building the public hall (1888), and damming the creek to form the Blackburn Lake (1889). One of the company’s officers, T. Morton, lived in Blackburn, was active in building the first Anglican Church (1890), and is commemorated by Morton Park. The Methodist Church was opened two years before, and the primary school in 1889. The main industries were a brickworks, orchards and other farming.

The 1890s depression curtailed land development schemes. The Adult Deaf Society purchased land adjoining the lake in 1919 and built a large home. It also established a flower farm of about 5 ha. The Society still has land north-west of the lake. Blackburn underwent steady growth between the first and second world wars. An open-air primary school for children in need of recuperation was opened in 1913 and one in Blackburn South in 1920. A cool store was opened in 1918 and the Blue Moon Fruit Co-operative built its fruit cannery in 1930. Blackburn was described in The Victorian Municipal Directory in 1940 as –

During the early 1950s Blackburn’s residential growth quickened. Its shopping centre attracted an aggressive price cutting grocer, Anstey’s, whose self-service supermarket contributed to the end of retail price maintenance. He was situated in an area with increasing numbers of growing families who wanted food and groceries at discounted prices.

Ever since the early subdividers created the Blackburn Lake the community was conscious of its local bushland. In 1959 a tree-preservation society was formed, alarmed by the loss of tree cover in residential subdivisions and alongside roads. Their activities have probably encouraged tree planting by residents in their house allotments, as well as the more obvious plantings in public areas.

In 1956 a high school was opened and four year later a technical school (Blackburn North). In the 1960s and beyond residential growth occurred in Blackburn North which extends to Doncaster and in Blackburn South which extends to Burwood East.

The strip shopping centre near the railway line is moderately active, and about 600 metres north of the Maroondah Highway there is a drive-in shopping centre, North Blackburn Square. In addition to the natural landscape around the Blackburn Lake there is a linear park along the Blackburn Creek and a reserve with an oval and other facilities near the shopping centre.

Blackburn had census population of 1,158 (1911) and 2,616 (1933).

Further Reading:

• Da Costa, Robin, “Blackburn: A Picturesque History”, Pioneer Design Studio Pty. Ltd., 1978.

The area was surveyed by Robert Hoddle and subdivided into farm allotments in 1837. The origins of Preston’s settlement were generally along the Plenty Road, from Melbourne to the Plenty Ranges. In 1850 Edward Wood opened a store at the corner of High and Wood Streets, High Street branching off Plenty Road and being a route to Sydney. Wood, who came from Sussex, England, is though to have given the name Preston, after Preston in Sussex. He was a founding member of the Baptist Church (1859). Hotels were established near Woods store and near the junction of High Street and Plenty Road, two kilometres to the south. Between these two localities is modern-day Preston central, known as Gowerville in the 1880s.

In 1854 Anglican and Wesleyan primary schools were opened, and in 1866 the first State school was opened just east of the High Street/Plenty Road junction. Another school, Tyler Street, was opened in 1875 in the vicinity of Woods store, shortly after the denominational schools closed.

Not all of Preston’s land was good for farming, dairying and market gardens. Building material was cut from the basalt and the non-basaltic areas yielded clay for potteries and bricks. A bacon-curing factory began in 1862 and a tannery in 1865. Several larger factories followed, notably Huttons Hams and Bacons and Zwar’s Parkside Tannery.

Preston’s first involvement in local government was as part of the Epping Roads District in 1854, which included Northcote. In 1870 the Epping District was amalgamated with Merriang, Whittlesea, Morang and Woodstock Roads Districts to form a very large Darebin shire. The following year Preston and Northcote were separated from Darebin to form the Jika Jika shire. On 11 September, 1885, Preston and Northcote were proclaimed as separate shires.

In 1889 a railway line from Collingwood was opened via Preston to Whittlesea. Stations were provided at Bell Street (now Bell), Preston (formerly Gowerville at Murray Road, where the town hall was to be built), Regent Street (now Regent) and at Reservoir. The Australian Handbook, 1893, described Preston as –

During the 1880s numerous subdivisions for residential development were released in Preston, relying on the extension of the railway to promote sales. It has been estimated that sufficient allotments were available to house 20,000 people, but the population grew from about 2,000 to 3,600 between 1887 and 1891. Most subdivisions hugged the Plenty Road/High Street corridor, with others to the west along Gilbert Road. The areas taken up for building were mainly in the corridor well into the next century.

Preston’s urban growth spurt came in the 1920s. The railway journey to Melbourne had been improved by a direct connection between Collingwood and Melbourne (instead of a westerly loop to Spencer Street) in 1904, and a tram service to Melbourne was opened in 1920. The tramsheds were opened in 1925. The trains were electrified the following year. Electricity reticulation was begun in 1914 and sewering of the Preston district was undertaken in 1909-15. The West Preston primary school (actually close to Preston central) was opened in 1915 and by 1928 had over 1,000 pupils. The Preston East primary school about two kilometres from West Preston, was opened in 1928 and the Girls’ High School in 1929. By 1930 shopping strips had formed along High Street and Plenty Road, and most of the suburban streets to the east and west were completely settled., On 14 March, 1922, Preston was proclaimed a borough, two months later a town and on 14 July, 1926, a city.

The 1930s depression affected new home-dwellers and the new council at an economically vulnerable time, when financial reserves were scant or non-existent. A bright patch was Roy (“Up There”) Cazaly’s coaching of the Preston Football Club in 1931.

During the world wars two local men who enlisted gave their names to future localities: both were V.C. winners – Private Bruce Kingsbury (posthumously awarded), and William Ruthven, (New Guinea), first world war. Kingsbury adjoins Bundoora and Ruthven is the name of a railway station and primary school in Reservoir.

Preston, in conjunction with Brunswick and Northcote, have elected some notable politicians to State and Commonwealth Parliaments. Frank Austey (1865-1940) served in both parliaments and John Cain (senior) was Victorian Premier three times between 1943 and 1955. Left wing political agitation influenced the provision of municipal relief work during the depression. Although some jobless residents left the area, the improvements to parks and pavements helped to attract new residents. The population grew by 40% between the 1933 and 1947 censuses. In the earlier part of this growth the Technical School was opened (1937), later to become a Technical College (1964) and finally the Preston Institute of Technology.

Between 1947 and 1954 Preston municipality’s population grew by 37%, reaching nearly 64,000. The West Preston primary school’s enrolments topped 1,000 until other schools were built. Between 1947 and 1966 the Housing Commission built about 2,600 dwellings in east Preston and in the Reservoir area. In 1966 11% of Preston municipality’s population was in Commission dwellings. During the 1960s the Council actively promoted street-construction schemes to overcome a backlog of suburban quagmires. In 1958 the Preston and Northcote Councils achieved a fifteen year vision when the Preston and Northcote Community Hospital (PANCH) was opened in Bell Street.

The Housing Commission disposed of some of its land in East Preston in 1963 to the Myer Emporium, and on 4 October, 1966, the Northland drive-in shopping centre was opened. Further east there was more unoccupied land where a wedge of the Preston municipality occupied Bundoora. In 1964 the site for Victoria’s (third) La Trobe University was announced and it opened in March, 1967. It adjoins hospital facilities at Mont Park.

The continuing population growth through the 1960s stimulated the building of secondary schools. Preston east technical and high schools were opened near Northland in 1960 and 1964 respectively, the former later becoming Northland Secondary College. (In 1993-5 the College was the subject of dispute on the grounds that its closure discriminated against Koori children.)

The suburb of Preston is located in the south of its former municipal area. Other place names in the Preston suburb are Bell (railway station and primary school) and Regent (railway station). The north of the former municipal area included Keon Park, Kingsbury, Reservoir and Ruthven (railway station and primary school). High Street, Preston, and the Preston market are strong retailing areas, being about two kilometres from Northland and having a considerable catchment in West Preston.

Preston’s parks and recreation spaces are not numerous. There were two drive-in theatres in East Preston in the 1980s, but by 1995 the only drive-in theatre in inner metropolitan Melbourne was in neighbouring Coburg. In 1981 the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works confirmed its designation in 1954 of Preston as a District Centre.

In 1986 about 30% of the residents of Preston municipality were born overseas, slightly more than for metropolitan Melbourne. Eleven percent were Italian born, compared with 3.5% for metropolitan Melbourne.

The median house price in Preston in 1987 and 1996 was about 83% of the median for metropolitan Melbourne.

On 22 June, 1994, Preston city was united with most of Northcote city and a small part of Coburg city to form Darebin city.

Preston’s census populations have been 623 (1861), 3,563 (1891) and 6,555 (1921). The Preston municipality’s census populations were 5,049 (1911), 33,442 (1933), 46,775 (1947), 84,146 (1961) and 76,996 (1991).

Further Reading:

• Carroll, Brian and Rule, Ian, “Preston: An Illustrated History”, City of Preston, 1985.
• Forster, H.W., “Preston Lands and People”, F.W. Cheshire, 1968.

Immediately north of Wodonga are the Wodonga river flats, through which passes the flood-prone Murray River. At the point where the Wodonga Creek and the Sydney road intersected with the Murray River, a town was surveyed by the Victorian government surveyor in 1852. It was named Belvoir, after Charles Huon’s homestead. The formation of other official townships along the Sydney road in the next few years marked the road as the main inter-colonial truck route, and Belvoir’s position immediately before the river crossing made it a stopping-off place. During the 1860s Belvoir became known as Wodonga (thought to be an Aboriginal word meaning bulrushes), and a gazettal on 7 August, 1874, confirmed the change of name.

By 1865 Belvoir had a school (1857), a court of petty sessions, branches of insurance offices, two hotels, a flour mill, and a saw mill. The estimated population was 500 persons.

During the 1870s Wodonga’s population increased rapidly: pastoral runs were opened for selection and the railway from Melbourne to Wodonga was opened in 1873. Wodonga shire was created on 10 March, 1876, its area including Bandiana and Bonegilla to the south-east of Wodonga. Its area was 167 square kilometres. The first causeway across the Wodonga flats was formed in 1870, becoming the forerunner of the Lincoln Causeway on which the Hume Highway was built. In 1890 a branch railway line to Tallangatta, east of Wodonga, was opened.

The animal saleyard at Wodonga had large throughputs of meat and dairy cattle and, when the Victorian border tax reduced sales, horses for the Indian Army were bred locally and sold through Wodonga. Dairying along the river flats was active and the Wodonga Butter Factory was amalgamated with others to become the North-Eastern Dairy Company.

In 1903 The Australian Handbook described Wodonga –

In 1919 the River Murray Commission began construction of the Hume Dam upstream of Wodonga, about twelve kilometres eastwards. Starting at a time when settlement of an irrigated Murray Valley would make it a “land fit for heroes”, the project was completed in 1936 towards the end of the depression. During the course of the project the temporary Ebden Weir township housed up to 500 workers and their families, and its site is marked by a memorial erected in 1924, the centenary of Hume and Hovell’s southern exploration. (Ebden was named after Charles Ebden, pastoralist.)

During the second world war military camps were established east of Wodonga at Bandiana and Bonegilla. Bonegilla was used for training infantry, and bomb-disposal personnel. It later became a migrant reception centre, and many immigrants settled in Wodonga in the immediate postwar years. Postwar industries were established in clothing, timber milling and pipe-making. The shire’s populations more than doubled between 1947 and 1954. In 1949 it was described in The Australian Blue Book –

Further industries were opened in Wodonga, notably Uncle Ben’s pet food (1967). In 1973 the Commonwealth, New South Wales and Victorian Governments agreed to the Albury-Wodonga Development Scheme, for a decentralised growth area. Although the growth fell short of projections, Wodonga municipality’s population doubled between 1971 and 1991 to 26,389. Wodonga is the minor partner to Albury, having 30% of Albury-Wodonga’s office space (1986) and about the same proportion of retail floor space.

During 1954-63 two primary schools, a high school and a technical school were opened. Wodonga West primary school was for children from Housing Commission estates and from married quarters at the Bandiana military camp. Since then two more primary schools, a secondary college, the Clyde Cameron Trade Union College and a LaTrobe University Campus have been opened.

Wodonga has a racecourse, recreation reserve and showgrounds near the Bandiana military camp, a large livestock saleyards, several parks along watercourses, sports ovals, a golf course, an indoor sports and leisure centre and a wide range of other community services. The town and residential area were bypassed in 1985 by an extension of the Hume Freeway, joined to the Lincoln Causeway.

Wodonga had eleven hotels and motels in 1997, providing 668 bed spaces. The median house price in Wodonga in 1987 was $74,000 and 1996 it was $108,750. Wodonga’s farm activity is grazing, with 100,000 cattle and 16,900 sheep and lambs in 1994.

In 1996 the median weekly personal income of residents aged 15 years or more was $300, which was $29 higher than the median for the Ovens-Murray region.

Wodonga’s census populations have been 254 (1861), 909 (1901), 3,066 (1947) and 7,789 (1961). After then the published population figures have been for Albury-Wodonga. The municipality’s census populations have been 1,568 (1881), 3,250 (1933), 10,924 (1954), 18,087 (1981) and 29,188 (1996).

Further Reading:

• Albury-Wodonga Future Directions Final Report July, 1990, Albury-Wodonga
  Region Planning Committee, 1990.
• Dunlop, Alan J., Wodonga Over River and Plain, Hawthorn Press,
  1976.
• Joes, Howard C., Wodonga City: a Jubilee History, Wodonga Rural
  City Council, 1998.
• Martin, Desmond, A Tale of Twin Cities: Part 1 – The Founding Years,
  Graphic Books, 1981.

The first European explorers to pass through the Wangaratta area were Hume and Hovell (1824) who named the Oxley Plains immediately south of Wangaratta. The New South Wales Surveyor-General, Major Thomas Mitchell, crossed the Ovens River in 1836 during his Australia Felix expedition. There is a “Mitchell tree” near where Murphy Street, Wangaratta, meets the Ovens River, stated to be a place where Mitchell stopped. In the following year George and William Faithfull settled at the Bontharambo pastoral station, north of Wangaratta. In 1838 their place was taken by Joseph Docker. Docker’s Bontharambo homestead (1858) is on the Register of the National Estate.

A punt for crossing the Ovens River was begun by a man named Rattray in 1838. The Hope Inn, now the Sydney Hotel at Ovens and Templeton Streets, was opened in 1840. Ovens Crossing, as it was called, formed a settlement which became Wangaratta. In 1848 the Port Phillip surveyor, Robert Hoddle, arranged for a town survey at Ovens Crossing, consisting of eleven streets and about 200 blocks. It was named Wangaratta, reputedly derived from an Aboriginal word meaning cormorant’s resting place. Land sales took place in 1849-50. A primary school was opened in 1850, and the site continues as that of the Wangaratta State primary school.

The discovery of gold in the Ovens Valley in 1852 stimulated the growth of Wangaratta, as miners used the punt crossing and the bridge which replaced it in 1855. On 19 June, 1863, Wangaratta was created a borough. By about that time Wangaratta had a petty sessions court, a racecourse, branches of banks and insurance companies, an agricultural society, flour mills, breweries, and Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches. (In 1902 Wangaratta became an Anglican Diocese, and a Cathedral Church was built.)

In 1873 the railway line from Melbourne to the State border, via Wangaratta, was opened. By about the turn of the century Wangaratta’s preeminence in north-eastern Victoria was emerging – the creation of the Anglican Diocese being an example. The Australian Handbook, 1903, described Wangaratta –

Wangaratta became a provincial retailing area for north-eastern Victoria, Callenders emporium and Osmotherly’s drapery being examples. The North-Eastern
Co-operative Society advertised itself as running the Greatest Store in the North East. Wangaratta also became a provincial educational centre with the opening of a State high school (1909), a Catholic technical school and a State technical school (1923). Manufacturing in the form of butter and cordial factories, a foundry and coach works was significantly diversified in 1923 when the proprietor of Callender’s emporium was made the first chairman of the Wangaratta Woollen Mills.

In 1942 an aluminum factory was established at Wangaratta as a war-time industry. Although the factory ceased operation as the Japanese forces retreated,
the building was taken by Bruck Mills (Canada) in 1947 for rayon production. The Bruck Mills workforce exceeded 1,000 at its peak. It has been a civic-minded
firm which has sponsored public utilities and financially assisted the building of houses. The Wangaratta borough was described in The Australian Blue Book, 1949 –

During the first fifteen postwar years Wangaratta’s population doubled to over 13,000 persons. Partly this was attributed to some emigration from rural centres, but a steady growth of manufacturing and tertiary employment was more significant. Housing was built by local co-operatives and the Housing Commission. The Commission’s estate is south of the city, close to the textile mills. Wangaratta borough became a city on 15 April, 1959.

In 1970 Yakka Overalls opened a factory employing about 250 workers. By 1988 it was estimated that the three large textile and clothing factories
employed about 1,300 or 70% of workers engaged in manufacturing in Wangaratta. This was a cause of concern as textile tariffs were lowered. Partly the concern was offset as employment in the tertiary sector grew –

Cutbacks in community-service employment during the next ten years, however, dented this trend.

The industrial area is on the Melbourne side of Wangaratta, both sides of the Hume Highway and the railway line. An airport is further south. An encouraging addition to the manufacturing sector was a computer plant opened by IBM in 1986.

Wangaratta’s commercial and retail area is in the north-east of the built-up area, and adjoins the Ovens River where the town area began. Although there are large Kmart and Coles drive-in shops, the traditional retailing strips have not had to contend with a free-standing shopping centre (1997).

Wangaratta has a TAFE, two State secondary and three State primary schools. Along the Ovens River there are several parklands and a camping area. There are also showgrounds, a racecourse, a trotting track and a range of sports facilities.

Tourism has had a significant presence in Wangaratta with hotels in the commercial area and more recent motels. In 1997 there were six hotels/motels offering 896 bed spaces. Wangaratta is 55 km. from Mount Buffalo, 100 km. from the Falls Creek and Mount Hotham snow fields and 40 km. from the north-eastern vineyards. Local attractions include the Airworld aircraft museum and an annual festival of jazz and blues. The shopping centre has over 200 shops and in 1986 equalled the size of the shopping centre in Wodonga. Wangaratta’s shopping centre had nearly one third of the retail floor space in north-eastern Victoria.

In 1996 the median weekly income of residents of 15 years or more was $269, compared with a Victorian median of $290.

On 18 November, Wangaratta city was united with Wangaratta shire and parts of Oxley, Beechworth, Benalla and Yarrawonga shires to form Milawa shire.

Median house prices in Wangaratta in 1987 and 1996 were $66,000 and $91,000
respectively.

Wangaratta’s census populations have been 612 (1861), 1,331 (1881), 4,136 (1911), 6,670 (1947) 10,715 (1954) and 15,527 (1996).

Postcard. Murphy Street, Wangaratta.

Further Reading:

• O’Callaghan, Bill and Findlay, Bill, “Wangaratta, 1959-1984: A Silver
  City”, City of Wangaratta, 1984.
• “Wangaratta: Capital of North Eastern Victoria”, Committee
  of the Back to Wangaratta Celebrations, 1927.
• Whittaker, D.M., “Wangaratta: Being the History of the Township
  that sprang up at Ovens Crossing and grew into a modern City”, Wangaratta
  City Council, 1963.