City of Benalla
The City of Benalla was a local government area about 188 kilometres (117 mi) northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city, which was completely surrounded by the Shire of Benalla, covered an area of 17.76 square kilometres (6.9 sq mi), and existed from 1948 until 1994.
History
The Shire of Benalla was first incorporated as a road district on 4 September 1868, and became a shire on 3 September 1869.
On 1 September 1948, after considerable growth of Benalla as a regional centre, the Central Riding was severed from the shire, to become the Borough of Benalla. Further land was transferred to the borough on 10 April 1956 and 1 February 1964, after which the borough was proclaimed a city, by the Governor of Victoria on 26 May 1965. Two more transfers of land from the shire to the city occurred; on 17 September 1969 and 13 February 1980.
On 18 November 1994, the City of Benalla was abolished, and, along with the Shires of Benalla and Mansfield and the Warrenbayne district of the Shire of Violet Town, was merged into the Shire of Delatite. The Shire of Delatite itself was abolished in 2002, with its former area divided between the Rural City of Benalla and the Shire of Mansfield.
Benalla
Benalla /bəˈnælə/ is a small city located on the Broken River in the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about 188 kilometres (120 mi) north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the 2011 census the population was 9,328.
It is the administrative centre for the Rural City of Benalla local government area.
History
Prior to the European settlement of Australia, the Benalla region was populated by the Taungurong people, an Indigenous Australian people.
It was first sighted by Europeans during an expedition of Hamilton Hume and William Hovell in 1824, when the area, first named "Swampy" was noted that agricultural settlement. The expedition was followed by that of Major Thomas Mitchell in 1834.
Reverend Joseph Docker settled in 1838 creating a pastoral run called Benalta Run, said to be from an Aboriginal word for musk duck. An attack by indigenous people on the camp of sheep herders George and William Faithful became known as the Faithful Massacre; eight settlers were killed in the incident. Following the massacre in 1839 a police station was established and the name of the settlement became Broken River.
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