Editing Shepparton (section)

== History ==
Prior to the [[History of Australia (1788–1850)|European settlement of Australia]], the area was inhabited by the [[Yorta Yorta]], the [[Indigenous Australians|indigenous Australian]] people whose country covers the junction of the [[Goulburn River|Goulburn]] and [[Murray River]]s in present-day northern Victoria and southern [[New South Wales]].<ref name="glw-yorta-claims">{{cite news |last=Robertson |first=Wendy |date=8 September 1993 |title=Long history behind Yorta Yorta land claim |url=https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/5673 |newspaper=[[Green Left Weekly]] |issue=114 |access-date=15 February 2016 }}</ref> The town of Shepparton and surrounds are on the country of the Kailtheban clan of the [https://yynac.com.au/ Yorta Yorta nation].<ref name="West1962">{{cite book|author=Raymond West|title=Those Were the Days: A Story of Shepparton, Victoria, and to Some Extent, Its District|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67jiAAAAMAAJ|year=1962|publisher=Waterwheel Press|page=204}}</ref>

[[Surveyor General of New South Wales|Surveyor General]] [[Thomas Mitchell (explorer)|Thomas Mitchell]] was the first European to be recorded traveling through the area, crossing the Goulburn River in 1836 on his return to [[Sydney]] from an expedition to survey the [[Darling River]] and its tributaries. On Mitchell's recommendation, [[Joseph Hawdon]] and [[Charles Bonney]] would follow two years later, camping on the town site by the Goulburn River in 1838 while [[droving]] cattle from [[Albury, New South Wales|Albury]] to [[Adelaide]].<ref name="smh-travel">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/victoria/shepparton/2005/02/17/1108500207320.html |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=Shepparton |date=17 January 2008 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref>

The first permanent settlement in the area was the "[[Tallygaroopna]]" [[sheep station]], established in the early 1840s. By 1843 the station was being run by a man named Sherbourne Sheppard, the town's eventual namesake.<ref name="smh-travel"/> With the advent of the [[Victorian gold rush]] in the 1850s, the area became a popular river crossing point for [[miner]]s travelling east from the [[Bendigo]] and [[Ballarat]] goldfields. As there was no bridge across the Goulburn River, Irish entrepreneur Patrick Macguire set up a [[cable ferry|punt]] service to ferry travellers across the river, erecting the town's first building in the process, the punt house. Macguire sold the building to John Hill in 1853, who converted it into a hotel, the Emu Bush Inn. This settlement soon became known as Macguire's Punt, a name it would keep into the 1870s.<ref name="shepp-heritage">{{cite web |url=http://heritageshepparton.com.au/150_years.htm |title=From Macguires Punt to Greater Shepparton |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2010 |website=Shepparton Heritage Centre |publisher=Shepparton Heritage Centre Inc. |access-date=11 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111223117/http://heritageshepparton.com.au/150_years.htm |archive-date=11 January 2016}}</ref> A post office opened in February 1854, but closed in July that same year.<ref name="postal-history">{{cite web |website=Phoenix Auctions |title=Post Office List |url=http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Shepparton* |access-date=3 February 2021}}</ref>

The settlement was first [[Surveying|surveyed]] in 1855 by Assistant Surveyor [[J.G.W. Wilmot]]. By this time, in addition to Macguire's Punt, it had also become known as Sheppard town, Sheppardton, and Shepparton.<ref name="smh-travel"/><ref name="shepp-heritage"/> The post office reopened in May 1858,<ref name="postal-history"/> and two years later the [[Governor of Victoria]] officially declared Shepparton a township on 24 September 1860.<ref name="town-est">{{cite news |first=A. F. A. |last=Greeves |title=The Town Reserve of Shepparton |newspaper=[[Victoria Government Gazette]] |number=121 |page=1828 |date=28 September 1860 |publisher=Government Printer |location=Melbourne |url=http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1860&class=general&page_num=1828&state=V&classNum=G121 |access-date=10 February 2016 |via=State Library of Victoria}}</ref> It remained a small settlement of a half-dozen buildings into the 1870s despite adding a police station, a general store, a blacksmith, a foundry, and a public hall which remains the city's oldest building. Shepparton's first bridge over the Goulburn River was completed in 1878 and named Dainton's Bridge after James Henry Dainton, the bridge's chief engineer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatershepparton.com.au/downloads/leisure/Greater_Shepparton_Council_Shared_Pathway_Information.pdf |title=Yahna Gurtji Shared Pathway |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Greater Shepparton City Council |publisher=The Greater Shepparton City Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418105637/http://www.greatershepparton.com.au/downloads/leisure/Greater_Shepparton_Council_Shared_Pathway_Information.pdf |archive-date=18 April 2013}}</ref> The first church, St. Patrick's, opened in 1879.

[[File:Wyndham street shepparton 1908.jpg|thumb|left|Wyndham Street, Shepparton in 1908]]

The [[Goulburn Valley railway line|railway from Seymour]] reached the town in 1880.<ref name="newsrail-line">{{citation |date=March 1990 |title=Tracks Across the State |author=Sid Brown |magazine=Newsrail |publisher=Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division) |pages=71–76 |postscript=.}}</ref> A [[mechanics institute]] opened between 1880 and 1888 as Shepparton rapidly developed into a major manufacturing and service centre.

During the Victorian railway boom the railways expanded, and by the turn of the century Shepparton was central to a large network of regional branch lines on the [[Toolamba–Echuca railway line]] — lines leading to [[Cobram]], [[Nathalia, Victoria|Nathalia]], [[Dookie, Victoria|Dookie]], [[Picola]] and [[Katamatite]].<ref>{{Cite web| title=Railway Map of Victoria, 1900 - Melbourne area | url=http://www.vrhistory.com/VRMaps/Vic1900.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041105192707/http://www.vrhistory.com:80/VRMaps/Vic1900.pdf | archive-date=2004-11-05}}</ref> Rail-served industries helped Shepparton grow into a city. While these lines experienced a brief boom, almost all of them would later close. The Goulburn River also developed as a secondary transport hub, with [[paddle steamer]]s and ferries operating at The Barges.

In the post-war era the city's population virtually tripled, with immigration to the city becoming a major factor,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://forecast.id.com.au/Default.aspx?id=272&gid=10&pg=30012 |title=Key drivers of change – City of Greater Shepparton forecast |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=8 October 2009 |website=forecast.id.com.au |access-date=18 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813072518/http://forecast.id.com.au/Default.aspx?id=272&gid=10&pg=30012 |archive-date=13 August 2011 }}</ref> particularly of Mediterranean origin including new residents from [[Italy]], [[Greece]], [[Albania]], [[Yugoslavia]] and [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247730570 |title=Boom town |newspaper=[[The Herald (Melbourne)|The Herald]] |issue=22,353 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 January 1949 |accessdate=29 August 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Post war the city's built environment also went through rapid change, with many of the old buildings being replaced with modern ones.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175001222 |title=FURTHER BUILDING PROGRESS |newspaper=[[Shepparton Advertiser]] |volume=3 |issue=408 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 May 1938 |accessdate=29 August 2023 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> One of the last significant pre-war buildings, the post office was modernised during this period<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174048335 |title=THE POST OFFICE |newspaper=[[Shepparton Advertiser]] |issue=4245 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 February 1932 |accessdate=29 August 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> before being demolished for the construction of a concrete building in 1973.<ref name="post office">[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-21/rebuilding-a-piece-of-shepparton-s-lost-history/100230738 Plans to rebuild Shepparton's historic post office, demolished almost half a century ago] by Mikaela Ortolan and Matt Dowling for ABC Goulburn Murray 21 June 2021</ref> Prior to its demolition the much loved landmark was originally planned to be rebuilt in another location as part of the development of an International Village however the proposal fell through.<ref name="post office" /> Since the 2000s there was renewed interest in rebuilding the lost landmark as a Local Heritage Museum.<ref name="post office" />