Thousands of yearscenturies ago people of the Pirt-Kopenoot tribe lived around the Willaura district. They were in turn part of the Tjaprurong and Gunditjmara nations. Clashes with early explorers and settlers led to many problems and by 1863 the Board for Protection of Aborigines estimated that only 70 Aboriginals were left in the Wickliffe/Horsham/Mt Rouse area. ‘Nomadic way of life was disrupted, European religion was being imposed and Tribal groups destroyed…deprivation and dispossession had contributed to a growing dependence on alcohol…today the only reminders of their presence are rock paintings, tools and weapons, bones and a few canoe trees…’ (The History of Willaura and District 1835-1985).
In September 1836 Major Thomas Mitchell travelled through the area on his return to Sydney from Portland. He crossed the Hopkins near the Edgarley Bridge, camped at Mt Stavely, journeyed through the salt lakes area and then camped at Cockajemmy Lakes. He wrote in his journal that ‘…a land more favorable for colonisation could not be found…’ and his trip effectively opened the district for white settlement. A Cairn on the Wickliffe Road commemorates his journey.
The 1862 Duffy Land Act made blocks available for free selection and this was taken up enthusiastically around what was then known as Wickliffe Road. The railway had come through in 1877, and gold discoveries at Mafeking in June 1900 had brought many people to the area.
In 1902, 60 tenant farmers were settled on 18,000 acres of Mt William Estate, and in 1906 a further 37,000 acres was sold off to small farmers. In 1902 part of Greenvale was sold as smaller town blocks, and the little settlement of Wickliffe Road, now called Willaura, had become a focal point for farming activities in the Shire. It was realised that crops, particularly wheat, did very well in the area and many farmers were keen to establish themselves. Willaura became an important receival centre for grain, and in 1910 was the second biggest in the western half of Victoria.
There were a couple of disastrous fires in the town, one in 1912 and another in 1916, which wiped out many business houses. The town steadily progressed however, and in the 1940s gained momentum with the advent of Soldier Settlement. Parts of Edgarley, Narrapumelap and Burrumbeep were divided for Closer Settlement, and again farming activity boosted the district.
Willaura and district has a number of Historical Sites and Buildings and some of these are noted on plaques erected around the town. In The Australian Heritage Commission’s Register of the National Estate the following are identified: Mt William Homestead and woolshed, ‘Brierly’, ‘Yarram Park’, and the RSL Clubrooms. The National Trust of Australia notes in addition to these the Railway Station. The Heritage Commission’s Sites of State Significance mention the Railway Stations, and of local significance is the Primary School No. 2662, and the Bridge of the Hopkins River. There iss a historic horse trough in the town, one of many donated worldwide by Mr and Mrs Bills in the 1920s.
Revered for his more than 60 years of service to Willaura is Dr. Cyril Checchi. He was largely responsible for bringing water to the town in 1949 and the sewerage system in 1968. Because of this infrastructure the town was able to progress significantly and the community’s quality of life wasfor vastlyrapidly improved.
The town has a link to former Prime Minister Mr Malcolm Fraser and his wife Tammy. The couple wasere married in the present Anglican Church and the gravel road the bridge travelled on to her wedding is known colloquially as ‘Wedding Road’
The name ‘Willaura’
The Ararat Advertiser on 1 August 1905 wrote that the township’s name had been altered from Wickliffe Road to Willaura, but the origins of the name are a little unclear. According the ‘The History of Willaura and District 1835-1985’ several versions exist.
The head teacher at the Wickliffe Road School until his retirement in 1907, was Mr FW Ellis and he wrote the following. “As correspondence for Wickliffe Road was constantly being missent to Wickliffe, the PMGs Department asked the residents to submit another name for their township. A meeting of residents was held and three names were suggested – ‘Wheatville’…’Lignum’…and ‘Willaura’…which I think I suggested… The name was given to the surveyor of the parish of Willaura many years before the residents chose it as the name of their town…” According to Mr Ellis the surveyor coined the name in relation to one of the women in his party, Laura, after someone asked, “Will Laura or Helen do it?” (This also explains the name of nearby settlement Helendoit).
However, noted historian Les Blake wrote: “Willaura – Parish, County of Ripon, township near Hopkins River, southwest of Ararat, reputedly surveyor combined his children’s names – William and Laura, township proclaimed in 1911, earlier known as Wickliffe Road.”
Yet another suggestion regarding the origin of ‘Willaura’ comes from Dr Inga Clendinnen, who presented a Boyer Lecture on ABC Radio on 28 November 1999, entitled ‘Back to the Past: Victoria 1841; Arnhem Land 1937-7’. In it she related comments by Mr George Augustus Robertson, Chief Protector to the Aborigines for the District (Port Phillip). He travelled through the region in 1841 and wrote to the people he encountered from the ‘Wol-lore-rer Tribe’. Whether this name is merely similar to Willaura, or in fact is where the surveyor gained his inspiration perhaps warrants further research. Certainly, the coincidence is striking.
Ref – The History of Willaura and District 1835-1985
Middlemarsh, by Rod Giblett