Shire of Benalla
The Shire of Benalla was a local government area about 188 kilometres (117 mi) northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of 2,322 square kilometres (896.5 sq mi), and existed from 1868 until 1994. From 1948 onwards, Benalla itself was managed by a different entity, later known as the City of Benalla.
History
Benalla was first incorporated as a road district on 4 September 1868, and became a shire on 3 September 1869. The declared area included the Shire of Euroa, which was severed and incorporated on 3 November 1879.
Over the following years, the Shire of Benalla lost small amounts of territory at its edges:
On 1 September 1948, after considerable growth of Benalla as a regional centre, the Central Riding was severed, and became the Borough of Benalla, later becoming the City of Benalla, on 26 May 1965. On four occasions (10 April 1956, 1 February 1964, 17 September 1969, 13 February 1980), land was transferred to the City of Benalla.
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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