Broadford is a small town in central Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Broadford had a population of 3,054.The town is the headquarters of the Shire of Mitchell Local Government Area and is approximately 88 kilometres north of the state capital, Melbourne.

Broadford lies on the major transport routes between Melbourne and Sydney. The town is bypassed to the east by the Hume Freeway and the railway line linking the two cities passes through Broadford. Broadford is built on the banks of Sunday Creek, a tributary of the Goulburn River.

History

Broadford grew when gold was discovered in Sunday Creek and the Post Office opened on 1 July 1852.The railway arrived in 1872.

The Town today

Industry in Broadford includes a paper mill. It has a primary school, a secondary college and two kindergartens.

Popular sports in Broadford include Australian rules football and the town has a team, competing in the Riddell District Football League.The Broadford juniors play in the Seymour Junior Football Netball League.

It is the home of the Victorian State Motorcycle sports complex.

Golfers play at the Broadford Golf Club on Davidson Street.

RSL Fire

On the night of January 9 2008 firefighters were called to a blaze at the Broadford RSL, but there was little crews could do to save the weatherboard hall. The Country Fire Authority's Scott Hamilton says the blaze caused about $300,000 damage to the building and destroyed its contents.

Notable Residents

Notable people from Broadford include
Sydney Swans Australian rules footballer Barry Hall.
Adelaide Crows Australian rules footballer Richard Douglas

Kilmore is a town in the Australian state of Victoria. Located 60 kilometres north of Melbourne, it is acknowledged as Victoria's oldest inland settled town. It has a population of approximately 5,200.

History

Kilmore Post Office opened on 1 February 1843 and, with Ovens (later Wangaratta) which opened the same day, were the fifth and sixth to open in the Port Phillip District and the first two inland offices.

Kilmore was a stronghold of early Celtic settlers from Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall, and remains a strong Celtic area to this day. In the mid-1850s Kilmore was the electorate of the Irish Premier of Victoria (1857-1859), John O'Shanassy (1818-83). O'Shanassy, an Irish Catholic, was the bane of the Protestant establishment in Melbourne and that rubbed-off of those who lived in Kilmore. O'Shanassy's supporters were referred to as 'O'Rowdies' and O'Shanassy as the 'Rowdy King" (O'Brien, Shenanigans) A Melbourne Punch cartoon "Freedom of Election at Kilmore" depicted the 1859 election day in the town as a wild barney of Irishmen. (Punch, 8 September 1859, p.52, & O'Brien, p. 81) The town hosts a market on the 2nd Saturday of each month, and a Celtic Festival each June.

The town has two private secondary schools, and two primary schools. One of the secondary schools is The Kilmore International School (also known as T.K.I.S.), which is the only school in Australia to completely use the I.B. (International Baccalaureate). The other secondary school is Assumption College which has had many AFL players graduate from there. These include Shane Crawford, Jason Johnson, Simon O'Donnell and Billy Brownless.

Many of Kilmore's oldest extant buildings are made of bluestone including the hospital, old court house, former post office, some churches, a gaol, and a monument to Hume and Hovell near the golf course.

Railway

The old Post Office and Courthouse at Kilmore.

A railway used to ascend from Heathcote Junction on the Sydney-Melbourne line, passed through Kilmorewith the main branch running onto Heathcote; while a white elephant branch line ran out to Lancefield until dismantled during 1914. The Heathcote branch line was closed in 1969 and then dismantled. An operational tram museum utilises part of the old railway right of way between Kilmore and Bylands (Tucker, Kilmore).

Kilmore is served by a railway station at Kilmore East, on the main line. The Post Office at Kilmore East opened on 1 September 1872 as Gavan Duffy and was renamed Kilmore East two months later and closed in 1976.

The town today

Kilmore has a horse racing club, Kilmore Racing, which schedules around fourteen race meetings a year including the Kilmore Cup meeting in February.

Kilmore Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is an Australian rules football club competing in the Riddell District Football League.

Kilmore Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the town.

Books on the Kilmore Area
O'Brien, Antony. Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields; the 1859 election, Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2005. (detail on O'Shannasy, the local member and Premier)
Tucker, Maya V. Kilmore on the Sydney Road, Shire of Kilmore, 1988. (comprehensive (1830s-1980s)history based on local newspapers)