Broadford (Broadford)
Broadford is a small town in central Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Broadford had a population of 4,076. The town is the headquarters of the Shire of Mitchell local government area and is approximately 73 km north of the state capital, Melbourne.
Broadford lies on the major transport routes between Melbourne and Sydney. The town is bypassed to the east by the Hume Freeway and the railway line linking the two cities passes through Broadford. Broadford is built on the banks of Sunday Creek, a tributary of the Goulburn River.
The original inhabitants of Broadford are the Taungurung people, a part of the Kulin nation that inhabited a large portion of central Victoria including Port Phillip Bay and its surrounds. A 1934 document recalling the 1870s notes the "Puckapunyal tribe, and there were about twenty in number. … I knew four of them fairly well, one of whom was called Billy Hamilton (and claimed to be the son of the Chief of the Puckapunyal tribe) his lubra, Mary, Gelibrand and Lankey."
Hamilton Hume and Captain William Hilton Hovell were the first Europeans to set foot on the future township of Broadford during their pioneering journey into inland Victoria in 1824. Hovell recorded that on Sunday the 12th December, the party reached the top of the Murchison Gap East of Broadford and took a compass bearing of the ‘remarkable’ Sugarloaf Hill that they could see. They named it Mount Piper. The bearing was written as “W. b. S” which is the navigator’s standard compass point of West by South or 258.75 degrees. It is nearly due West to the layman.
The party continued on that bearing, crossed Black Swamp Gully, and reached the confluence of Dry Creek with Sunday Creek, now the township of Broadford, where they camped for the night. They named the larger creek as Sunday Creek.
This meant that Broadford was also the first future township in Victoria where Europeans camped overnight.
The next morning they were forced to travel for seven miles along Sunday Creek in a South by East direction (nearly due South), before they could find a crossing over its muddy banks at the now Waterford Park. They then proceeded on through the middle of Wandong and crossed the Dividing Range at Hume’s Pass.
The first European resident of the townsite of Broadford was Lt. Col. Henry White who was reported as being "of Mount Piper" in October 1838. Mount Piper is 4 km west of Broadford. White was the first recorded land holder in the vicinity. The first survey map of the region in 1842 shows Colonel White’s Station on Sunday Creek only 4 km downstream of its junction with Dry Creek. That junction became the future townsite of Broadford.
This map also shows Gideon Stewart’s sheep station exactly on the future Broadford townsite, 9 chains (181 metres) East of the junction of Dry Creek with Sunday Creek. Stewart arrived from Hobart and took out a licence for a sheep station from 1 July 1840.
Stewart was an associate of the well known Hobart publican Reay Clarke. Clarke left Hobart and set up an inn at the location of Stewart’s sheep station in 1843. The location was referred to as "Clarke’s Ford" in October, 1843. Clarke was granted a General Licence for the "Broadfoot" Inn, Sunday Creek on 27 April 1844. By April 1845 it was recorded as "Broadford" Inn.
Broadford lies on the major transport routes between Melbourne and Sydney. The town is bypassed to the east by the Hume Freeway and the railway line linking the two cities passes through Broadford. Broadford is built on the banks of Sunday Creek, a tributary of the Goulburn River.
The original inhabitants of Broadford are the Taungurung people, a part of the Kulin nation that inhabited a large portion of central Victoria including Port Phillip Bay and its surrounds. A 1934 document recalling the 1870s notes the "Puckapunyal tribe, and there were about twenty in number. … I knew four of them fairly well, one of whom was called Billy Hamilton (and claimed to be the son of the Chief of the Puckapunyal tribe) his lubra, Mary, Gelibrand and Lankey."
Hamilton Hume and Captain William Hilton Hovell were the first Europeans to set foot on the future township of Broadford during their pioneering journey into inland Victoria in 1824. Hovell recorded that on Sunday the 12th December, the party reached the top of the Murchison Gap East of Broadford and took a compass bearing of the ‘remarkable’ Sugarloaf Hill that they could see. They named it Mount Piper. The bearing was written as “W. b. S” which is the navigator’s standard compass point of West by South or 258.75 degrees. It is nearly due West to the layman.
The party continued on that bearing, crossed Black Swamp Gully, and reached the confluence of Dry Creek with Sunday Creek, now the township of Broadford, where they camped for the night. They named the larger creek as Sunday Creek.
This meant that Broadford was also the first future township in Victoria where Europeans camped overnight.
The next morning they were forced to travel for seven miles along Sunday Creek in a South by East direction (nearly due South), before they could find a crossing over its muddy banks at the now Waterford Park. They then proceeded on through the middle of Wandong and crossed the Dividing Range at Hume’s Pass.
The first European resident of the townsite of Broadford was Lt. Col. Henry White who was reported as being "of Mount Piper" in October 1838. Mount Piper is 4 km west of Broadford. White was the first recorded land holder in the vicinity. The first survey map of the region in 1842 shows Colonel White’s Station on Sunday Creek only 4 km downstream of its junction with Dry Creek. That junction became the future townsite of Broadford.
This map also shows Gideon Stewart’s sheep station exactly on the future Broadford townsite, 9 chains (181 metres) East of the junction of Dry Creek with Sunday Creek. Stewart arrived from Hobart and took out a licence for a sheep station from 1 July 1840.
Stewart was an associate of the well known Hobart publican Reay Clarke. Clarke left Hobart and set up an inn at the location of Stewart’s sheep station in 1843. The location was referred to as "Clarke’s Ford" in October, 1843. Clarke was granted a General Licence for the "Broadfoot" Inn, Sunday Creek on 27 April 1844. By April 1845 it was recorded as "Broadford" Inn.
Map - Broadford (Broadford)
Map
Country - Australia
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The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
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| AUD | Australian dollar | $ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
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| EN | English language |