Yambuk
Victoria
Yambuk Hotel
Yambuk is located in Shire of Moyne
Yambuk
Yambuk
Coordinates38°18′0″S 142°03′0″E / 38.30000°S 142.05000°E / -38.30000; 142.05000
Population267 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)3285
Location
LGA(s)Shire of Moyne

Yambuk /ˈjæmbʌk/ is a small town in Victoria, Australia. The Yambuk township was established in the 1850s, and the Post Office opened on 1 March 1859.[2] Yambuk is sited where the Princes Highway crosses the Shaw River. At the 2006 census, the town and surrounding area had a population of 540.[3] The 2016 census recorded a population of 267.[1]

The name Yambuk is an word from the language of the local indigenous inhabitants, thought to mean "red kangaroo", "full moon" or "big water".[4][5]

Shell middens in the limestone cliffs to the east of the town indicate that Aboriginal people had lived in the area for at least 2300 years.[6]

Traditional ownership

The formally recognised traditional owners of the area in which Yambuk is located are the Eastern Maar people in the western portion and the Gunditjmara people in the eastern portion,[7] who are represented by the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (EMAC)[8] and the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC).[9]

European settlement

European settlement began in the area when Lieutenant Andrew Baxter and his wife Annie Baxter squatted on the Yambuck pastoral run in 1843.

Annie Baxter's diary notes 13 occasions where European settlers formed armed and mounted hunting parties to attack and harass the Gunditjmara people.[10] Those events were part of the significant conflict between Aboriginal people and Europeans that occurred around Yambuk at the time.

Some of the most violent clashes in the Western District of Victoria took place near the Shaw River and the Eumeralla River.[11][12][13] That conflict, known as the Eumeralla wars, occurred from the 1840s until about 1860.

In 1921, legislation was passed in the Victorian Parliament authorising the extension of the Port Fairy railway line to Yambuk, a distance of 11+1⁄2 miles (18.5 km).[14] Work on the extension never began.

Lake Yambuk and the Yambuk Important Bird Area lie between the town and the coast. Near the lake is the 33-metre-long Yambuk Slide.[15]

Yambuk is the site of Pacific Blue's Yambuk Wind Farm[16] and the adjacent Codrington Wind Farm.

References

  1. ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Yambuk (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 12 July 2020. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ Phoenix Auctions History. "Post Office List". Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  3. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Yambuk (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  4. ^ "Yambuk". Victorian Places. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Yambuk - Port Fairy". www.portfairyaustralia.com.au. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Yambuk". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Map of formally recognised traditional owners". Aboriginal Victoria. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation". Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal". Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  10. ^ Critchett, Jan (1984). "A Closer Look at Eultural Contact: Some Evidence from 'Yambuck' Western District, Victoria". Aboriginal History. 8: 12.
  11. ^ "VHD". vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  12. ^ Else-Mitchell, R., "Dawbin, Annie Maria (1816–1905)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 29 December 2018
  13. ^ Critchett, Jan (1984), A closer look at cultural contact : some evidence from Yambuk, western Victoria, retrieved 29 December 2018
  14. ^ "Port Fairy to Yambuk and Won Wron to Woodside Railways Construction Act 1921". Victorian Historical Acts. AustLII. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Yambuk - Giant Yambuk Slide". MelbournePlaygrounds. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Portland Stage 1 - Yambuk Wind Farm". Pacific Blue. Retrieved 7 June 2023.

External links

Media related to Yambuk at Wikimedia Commons


Localities in the Shire of Moyne
Wind farms in Australia
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