Rutherglen is located in north-eastern Victoria,
Australia, near the Murray River border with New South Wales.
The area around Rutherglen is one of Australia's oldest wine-growing regions in Australia. However, The Rutherglen gold field was first established in 1860 with the discovery of rich deposits of alluvial gold.
Yorta Yorta (Kwatkwat) Aboriginal People
The Yorta Yorta are river people. The Kwatkwat people who hunted gathered and fished around the Rutherglen region are probably part of the broader Clan of Yorta Yorta/Pangerang people.
The Bayadherra (Broad Shelled Turtle), is a Yorta Yorta totem. Totems come from animals, plants, landscape features and the weather and often determine relationships with others and marriage rules.
Yorta Yorta people primarily lived
around rivers, lagoons, creeks and wetlands, where sources of food and songlines are located. Songlines in the Aboriginal belief system, trace the journeys of ancestral creator beings and their formation of the lands and waters during the Dreaming.
Men hunted kangaroo, lizards, snakes, goanna, small birds and harvested fish. Young boys were taught hunting and tracking skills honed by their ancestors.
Women used digging sticks to obtain roots and gathered seeds, fruits and leaves. Knowledge about foods was
obtained over thousands of years and taught to the younger generations.
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| A canoe tree, on the Murray River, is a tree which has had bark removed by Aboriginal Australians for the creation of bark canoes, shelters, weapons such as shields, tools, traps, containers (such as coolamons) Chronicle |
"Spearing by torchlight was also common in Victoria; at night three bark canoes would go upstream, in the stem of each several torches of manna-tree wood; a native stood or sat with his back to the light and struck at the fish as he passed them. Another method was to lie across the canoe with the face in the water." (From Natives of Australia by Northcote W. Thomas)
"The natives of Victoria had to depend mostly on the yam, quandang, currant, raspberry, cherry, the fruits of the mesembryanthemum, the seed of the flax, the sow-thistle, the roots of the flag, water-grass, geranium, and male fern, the pith of the dwarf fern-tree, the native truffle, the leaves of the clover sorrel, the gums of the wattle, &c. He gathered manna, and made sweet drinks of the flowers of the honeysuckle. In the north-western parts of Victoria, he gathered the seeds of the nardoo, and other seeds, and pounded them, and ate the flour either in the form of paste or cakes." (
Robert Brough Smyth)
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| Ceremony, Lake Moodemere, Victoria, 1900 [picture] / Tommy McRae |
The Victoria Museum has in its collection a possum cloak collected from the Yorta Yorta people of north-eastern Victoria in 1853. Possum fur skins were stitched together, often with kangaroo sinew.
The Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site is considered sacred to
local Aboriginal people. It is located at the base of Mt Pilot, in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, approximately 30 minutes drive from Rutherglen. A rock shelter and bush tucker area are also in
the area.
1820s
In November 1824, explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell crossed the Murray River. (Indi is one of the traditional Aboriginal names for the Murray Rive
r)
Charles Sturt's 1829-30 expedition followed the Murrumbidgee River to its junction with the Murray River and on to the mouth of the Murray at Lake Alexandrina.
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1.Hamilton Hume. 2. William Hovell. Hovell and Hume, 1824, an overland journey, from Sydney to Port Phillip
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1830s
Major Thomas Mitchell, the noted explorer, passed through the district in 1836.
Overlanders began moving stock into the region. However, the Faithfull Massacre of 1838, when 20 Aboriginal Australians attacked 18 European settlers, killing eight of them, halted European settlement south of the Murray for a time. (reprisals and violence went on for some time)
The first pastoral run, Wahgunyah,
was taken up in this district about 1839 by John Foord and John Crisp.
The European pastoral industry made hunting and gathering very difficult for Aboriginal people as stock depleted the grass on which game animals also relied.
1840s
In 1841, John Foord and John Crisp took up the "Wahgunyah Run" of about 35000 acres. On this
land, the modern-day towships of Wahgunyah and Rutherglen would develop.
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| John Foord established the township of Wahgunyah, VIC, in the 1850s, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951) |
1850s
In the 1850s, Lindsay Brown planted a four-acre vineyard on his "Gooramadda Run". (Gooramadda: Aboriginal for reed beds on the river flats)
In 1851 Victoria became a
separate colony.
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| Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 23 February 1858 |
Netherby Cellars, established in 1859, now ruins, can be seen from the road.
1860s
In 1860, gold was found beneath what is now the main street of Rutherglen. Soon, thousands came to the region hoping to strike it rich.
A canvas town grew quickly.
The town that developed was initially called Wahgunyah Diggings, then Calico Town, then Barkly after the then Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Barkly.
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| Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Saturday 27 October 1860 |
Within months, close to 20 deep lodes and seven reefs bearing gold were found.
The Poachers Paradise Hotel
was built in 1860 as the Golden Ball. However, in 1863, the hotel was called the Rutherglen and was used as the booking office for coaches.
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| Victoria hotel, Rutherglen, VIC |
The original Victoria Hotel was built in 1860, in Main Street, Barkly (now Drummond St), The hotel was moved to its present site in Rutherglen in 1863.
If you look through the carriage gates you will notice a
small brick building to the left. This was the town mortuary, which
dates back to the early 1860s.
The Star Hotel was established on the corner of High St and Main Street in October 1860.
The name of the town became Rutherglen, after the home town in Scotland of John "Seven Star" Wallace, the local publican of the Star Hotel. Wallace was offered naming rights if he shouted drinks to the barroom.
By 1861 there were 21 hotels, a newspaper, three schools, a police station and a population of 20,000 people.
There were two canvas theatres
operating in Rutherglen.
Mr D. G. Hamilton commenced business under a big gum tree, around which he piled his casks and cases, covering them with tarpaulins. From under these tarpaulins Mr Hamilton, in the first week of his business, sold 600 dozen of bottled stout. (
2.)
Rutherglen became a town in 1862.
The population in 1862 consisted of 3755, inclusive of 143 Chinese. (
1.) |
| Nott was born in London n 1812, and in 1860 arrived in Rutherglen, VIC, as a compositor, but there being no call at that time for his services, he started a butcher's shop, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) |
The town's original courthouse was built in 1864 with extensions in 1905.
George Sutherland Smith, and John Banks, began growing vines at "Sunday Creek" before relocating to build the "All Saints Castle", based on the design of "The
Castle of Mey", Scotland, just three miles north of Wahgunyah, in 1864.
Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Saturday 21 October 1865
St Stephen's Anglican Church was built in 1864-65.
By the mid-1860s, Rutherglen had a population in excess of 10,000.
Rutherglen consisted of two cross streets, originally called Argyll and Elizabeth, then changed to Main and High.
In April 1869, the Common School commenced in hired premises at the Shire Hall.
1870s
Rutherglen became a shire in 1871.
The first two rooms of The Common School were erected in 1872 and the school opened to students in 1873. An extension was added in 1897.
Rutherglen wines win medals and awards at the Vienna Exhibition, London International Exhibition and International Exhibition in Melbourne.
Lake King was constructed in 1877 as a water supply for the town.
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| Corowa Free Press (NSW : 1875 - 1954), Friday 31 March 1876 |
The Congregational Church built 1877.
The railway complex was opened in 1879.
In January 1879 the Ned Kelly's gang were seen in the Rutherglen-Corowa region.
1880s
Rutherglen is producing around one-third of all Australian wine.
Aboriginal artist (Wahgunyah man
), Tommy McRae, lived near Lake Moodemere, a natural lagoon, along with his family. Two ink drawings by Tommy McRae, were found in the Foord Family
Collection. There appeared to be close ties between McRae and the Foord family. (McRae is buried near Wahgunyah in Carylyle Cemetery) See
more Read
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| Stalking emu, ca. 1885, attributed to Tommy McRae |
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| Main Street. Rutherglen, VIC, (State library Vic). Estimated date between 1880-1893 |
1899: Phylloxera disease affects the Rhue (now Jones) vineyard. However, replanting begins with American rootstock, saving the wine industry.
1890s
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| D G Hamilton's store was located on the North-East corner of Main and High Streets, Rutherglen, VIC. It was also referred to as David Hamilton's Clydeside Store. 1890. Victorian Collections |
Lake Moodemere Reserve (Aboriginal) gazetted March 1891 and closed November 1937. Honorary guardians or police distributed rations. Station owners and others were also appointed as Honorary Correspondents in
regional Victoria to distribute supplies to Aboriginal people.
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| Victoria Hotel, Rutherglen, VIC, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 21 April 1894. At night a large lighted acetylene lamp stood outside the front door of the Victoria Hotel, lighting the street and the laneway opposite to encourage travellers to head for the hotel. The lamp is currently in the Historical Society's care and may be viewed in the Common School Mueseum. |
The Victoria Hotel was rebuilt in 1893-94.
The Methodist Church was built in 1896 and closed in 1974.
The Bank of Victoria on High St was built in 1896.
The peak gold mining period of Rutherglen was in the 1890s.
In Barkley St, Vidal's Cellars and Brandy Distillery,
was built in 1897. Now lies in ruins.
The first Government Battery to crush quartz and extract gold, was erected in 1899 and was located on the Gooramadda Road.
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| MANAGER JOHN M'KAY. Rutherglen on 37th -May, when the timber in the air shaft at the United Prentice mine caught fire. The manager, with two of tlie men, named Trevor Nixon and Alfred Madden, went down to make an inspection. THE RUTHERGLEN MINING FATALITY. — HEROIC MINERS, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 17 June 1899 |
The Bank of Australasia was built in 1899-1900.
1900s
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| Rutherglen, VIC, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 21 April 1894 |
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| The Rutherglen vineyards, VIC Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 2 July 1898 |
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| Rutherglen, VIC, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 2 July 1898 |
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THE LATE JAMES GULLIFER Mr. James Gullifer, senr., whose death we have already recorded, was both in Bristol, England, and embarked to Austialia at the early age of 14 years. In the year 1835,
when but a youth he, with a party of other young men, of whom Mr. William Wise is the only known survivor, started with a large mob of cattle for Sir Charles Ebden, of Sydney, and travelled towards the river Murray with the intention of forming a station. They saw nothing that was suitable until they reached the river, where they settled and named the station Mount Gaberina. Later on, some of the stock straying over the Murray, the overseer discovering the fine quality of the country on the Victorian side, formed the station known as the Bonegiila, and which in later years was owned by the late Mr. Conisbee. Upon this station Mr. Gullifer lived with a hut mate for about two years. A wild life it was, and he has often been heard to say that one would have to watch with a gun while the other went for a bucket of water for fear of being speared by the blacks. It was while he was on Bonegilla that he dug out of a solid gum log the first boat that ever crossed the Murray. Later this old boat, was sold for £10 to Mr. Robert Browne, who used in for ferrying people over the river, until such timeas the punt was erected.Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW : 1860 - 1938), Friday 20 October 1899 |
1900s
The water tower -often called the "The Wine Bottle", was completed in 1900 and held 72,000 gallons to supply the town's water.
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| High Street, Rutherglen, Victoria - early 1900s, Aussie~mobs |
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ELECTRIC- LOCOMOTIVE CAPABLE OF HAULING 60 TRUCKS OF WASIIDIRT (ABOUT 30 TONS) FROM FIVE TO SIX MILES AN HOUR. AT THE GREAT SOUTHERN MINE, RUTHERGLEN,VICTORIA. Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 11 July 1903 |
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| RUTHERGLEN FROM THE WATER TOWER, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 7 March 1903 |
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| Main Street, Rutherglen, Victoria. Date: 1908. |
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| Aboriginal family group at a river campsite at Lake Moodemere, near Wahgunyah and Corowa. A researcher has identified the man on the far left as Neddy Wheeler (died April 1908), Dhudhuroa man and language informant to R. H. Matthews. SLSA |
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| Grape Pickers at Work, All Saints' Vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 May 1908 |
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| The new State School, Rutherglen, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 February 1909 |
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| Cellars at Fairfield, Rutherglen, VIC, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 31 March 1909 |
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| Allen's Star Hotel, Rutherglen, Victoria - circa 1910. H.W. Allen, Proprietor, Aussie~mobs |
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| Main Street, Rutherglen, VIC, c. 1910. State Library of Victoria Image H90.140/951 |
The post office built 1910, includes two rooms from the 1863 post office.
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| RUTHERGLEN VITICULTURAL COLLEGE. VIC. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 2 September 1911 |
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| Workmen and students engaged in bench grafting, Rutherglen, VIC Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 2 September 1911 |
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| 8th Australian Light Horse - pre WW1. Taken at Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia. Aussie~mobs |
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| High Street Rutherglen, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 9 May 1914 |
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| Rutherglen, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 9 May 1914 |
WWI
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| Private Jack Laldlaw (killed) was a son of Mr. R. Laidlaw, late of Rutherglen, Vic. 3rd Infantry Battalion. Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 7 August 1915. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Wednesday 8 September 1915 |
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| Rutherglen Sun and Chiltern Valley Advertiser (Vic. : 1886 - 1957), Tuesday 2 February 1915 |
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Private N. T. JENSEN, Killed in action; formerly of Rutherglen a member of the first military band at
the Bendigo military camp. Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 1 February 1917 |
1920s
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| PISE FARM HOMESTEAD, RUTHERGLEN, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 22 May 1920 (Rammed earth walls are sometimes known as pisé walls) |
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| Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 2 April 1921 |
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| State and Higher Elementary School, Rutherglen, VIC, Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 19 April 1924, |
The Soldier’s Memorial Hall was
built in 1927.
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| Rutherglen Convent, VIC, constructed in 1927-1928, Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954), Thursday 1 November 1928 (The original Convent was opened for Primary School children in 1901) |
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| A native method of hunting. Hidden behind bundles of foliage, two blackfellows creeping on to a flock of parrots, by Tommy McRae (lived at Lake Moodemere, VIC) Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 8 June 1929 |
1930s
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| Rutherglen Gun Club, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 March 1930 |
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| Main street of Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 March 1930 |
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| Graham Bros.' cellars, Netherby vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 March 1930 |
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| High Street, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 20 August 1932 |
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| Cairn, to mark the site where gold was found at Rutherglen, September, 1860. Presented to the Shire by Cr. R. Ready and recently unveiled by Hon. Dr. Harris. M.L.C.Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 21 February 1931 |
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| Swabbing vines at Messrs Masterton's and Dobbin's vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 September 1934 |
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| Rutherglen Fire Station, VIC, Swabbing vines at Messrs Masterton's and Dobbin's vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 September 1934 |
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| Regatta at Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 11 January 1936 |
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| Rutherglen Show, VIC, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Friday 21 October 1938 |
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| The honorary secretary of the Victorian Bush Nursing Association (Sir James Barrett) speaking at the opening of the new bush nursing hospital at Rutherglen. VIC, Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 20 August 1938 |
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| Back to Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 15 April 1939 |
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| 8th (Indi) Light Horse Regiment at Rutherglen, Victoria - 1939, Aussie~mobs |
1940s and WWII
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| Members of the Patriotic Fund Auxiliary, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 6 May 1942, |
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| The Comforts Fund Younger Set have raised £80 and send 83 hampers and parcels to local boys abroad each month. Private H. E. Stanton and Driver H W Dodds, returned from the Middle East, thank .the girls. Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 6 May 1942 |
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| Rutherglen, Bush Fire Brigade, VIC, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Saturday 18 December 1943 |
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| Good attendance at Rutherglen. Show, VIC, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Thursday 1 November 1945 |
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| Rutherglen Cattle Sales, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 28 August 1946 |
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| The Rutherglen reservoir, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 28 August 1946 |
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| "Valencia Shoe Factory", Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 28 August 1946 |
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| MESSRS SEPPELT and SON'S winery at Rutherglen, which is now being duplicated to deal with increasing supplies of rain-damaged grapes from dried fruits areas. (VIC) Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 30 July 1947 |
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| Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Saturday 8 October 1949 |
1950s |
| Main Street of Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950 |
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| Bush Nursing Hospital staff and committee: Sister J. D'Arcy, Cr. W. Jasper (pres.), Sister C. Grayson, Mr C. A. Rickett (sec.), Nurse D. Matthison. Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950 |
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| State School Mothers' Club. From left, front row: Mesdames R. p Sullivan (v.p.), R. Nicholson <v.p.), J. M. Mathews (pres.), R. Stanton p (secretary). Rutherglen, VIC. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950 |
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| Below : Urban Fire Brigade. From left, front row: Messrs J. Hocking (cap!.), G. Eingrave (lieut.), J. Carey (fore man), J. Edwards (sec.). Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950 |
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| Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Friday 10 November 1950 |
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| RUTHERGLEN HOTEL DAMAGED BY CYCLONE.VIC. Benalla Ensign (Vic. : 1938 - 1954), Thursday 5 June 1952 |
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| Rutherglen, VIC, 1954, SLVIC |
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| Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Monday 26 March 1956 |
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| Main road of Rutherglen, VIC, 1958, (Victoria Hotel on the right )Victoria Hotel on the right, SLVIC |
1960s
Rutherglen High School opened in 1962.
1967: Rutherglen Wine Festival. The wine industry and tourism is reinvigorated.
A steel mesh structure, to make the water tower look like a wine bottle, was added to the top in 1969.
2000s
Indigo Shire Council took ownership of Rutherglen's historic water tower.
Around Rutherglen
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| The Victoria Hotel opened in 1894, replaced a former hotel which had been built on the site in the early 1860s, Rutherglen, VIC |
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| The water tower is located in Hunter Street, Rutherglen, VIC. and was built in 1899-1900 to serve as the town's water supply |
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| Fairfield House, Rutherglen, Victoria, 1889 Italianate Mansion |
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| 1889 Italianate Mansion “Fairfield”, double brick cellars, Rutherglen, VIC |
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| Olive Hills House, Rutherglen, VIC, built in 1886 |
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| Star Hotel (was established in 1860), Rutherglen, VIC |
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| Rutherglen Wine Experience and Visitor Information Centre, Rutherglen, VIC (erected in 1862) |
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| Former National Bank, Rutherglen, VIC, built in 1896 |
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| The Rutherglen Courthouse, VIC, opened in February 1864 and was extended at the front in 1905 |
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| Main Street Rutherglen, VIC |
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| Rutherglen Hotel, Poachers Paradise Hotel, Rutherglen, VIC. Built in 1860 as the Golden Ball and renamed the Rutherglen Hotel in 1863 |
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| In 1934 a new brick fire station at Rutherglen, VIC, replaced the existing wooden one |
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| 157 High Street - The Masonic Lodge, Rutherglen, VIC, was consecrated on the 31st of July 1902 |
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| St Stephen's Anglican church, built 1865, in Rutherglen, Victoria |
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| Ready Homestead was built in 1899 by Royston Ready, a local councillor and undertaker. 92 High Street Rutherglen, VIC |
Things To Do and Places To Go
Arts Rutherglen Sculpture Trail Walk
Rutherglen Heritage Walk
Rutherglen Gold Battery
The Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site
Rose of Sharon. An Original Rutherglen Gold Mining Lead. Lot 40, Hopetoun Road, Rutherglen
