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Bonnie Doon
Bonnie Doon is a small town situated in North East Victoria on the edge of Lake Eildon and is the Gateway to The HIGH COUNTRY. It is most well known these days as a holiday and weekend destination for bushwalkers, trail bike riders, off-road 4WD enthusiasts and fishermen.
Many motor cycle and car clubs use Bonnie Doon as a base for their weekend rallies around Lake Eildon and the King Valley.
It is not so much a town with one population base, but a series of villages with diverse identities spreading north and south from the highway. Sure, the town centre is on the highway with a collection of motels, hotel, caravan park, garage and cafes- but venture out on Maintongoon, Hutchinson or Dry Creek roads to discover the real Bonnie Doon!
Bonnie Doon TimeLine 1824 - New Millenium
1824 Hume & Hovel travelled through the area from Sydney to Port Phillip.
1839 Watson & Hunter Pastoral Group employee Andrew Ewan, while searching for stray horses, crosses the Strathbogie Ranges to the Delatite River (Aboriginal name: Wappang) where the group took up a large strip of grazing land (Wappan Run).
1842 Borodomanin Station taken up from the Paps to the Big Hill.
1850s No roads or fences
Stagecoach runs from Melbourne to Mansfield via Longwood
Gold is discovered
1860s Some Crown land already held by squatters in large runs made available in certain areas.
Doon township originated
1868 Doon Post Office opened
1869 Gold mining Hayfield Reef, Ancona
1870s Gold discovered around Growlers Gully, California Gully near Merton
Dry Creek Diggings school opened
1871 First Rural School, Brankeet Doon
Population 26
1885 Catholic Church
Rabbits in plague proportions
Football Club emerging
1890s Golden Era Newspaper printed in Doon
1891 Railway opened
Name changed from Doon to Bonnie Doon
1894 Original Bonnie Doon township
1897 Mechanics Institute grant applied for
Cricket team formed
1899 Presbyterian Church
Church of England Church
1901 Population 133
1902 Tennis court opened
1909 Dry Creek dredge operating in creek
1912 Forerunner of Lake Eildon constructed, damming of Goulburn & Delatite Rivers
1914 Drought
1916 Original Bonnie Doon township
September floods
1921 War memorial unveiled
1922 Gun added to war memorial
1923 Disastrous fire " Ancona, Dry Creek, Strathbogie Ranges
1924 Hume & Hovel cairn unveiled at Brankeet
1928 Bush fire bridge formed
1931 Library building opened
1934 Hospital Auxiliary formed
1936 Golf Club opened
1941 Electricity arrived
1950s Primary school in original town
1953 New railway line & Eildon Weir works commenced
Physical removal of houses & buildings to higher ground commenced
1954 Population 354
1955 Town moves to current location
First train across the bridge
New school built in Arnot Street
Eildon Weir fills
1960s Lake Eildon tourism boom
1962-77 Train across bridge
1966 Population 102
1978 Sporting Complex and Town Hall opened
1979 Last train at Bonnie Doon
1982/83 Drought
1983 Pentridge escapees in Bonnie Doon
1993 Netball team formed
1997 “The Castle” made
1999 School closes
Rail Trail Footbridge opened
2001 Population 115
2004 Old School opens as a Community Centre
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