HORSHAM'S BEGINNINGS

Horsham, Australia is the centre of the Wimmera wheat and wool growing district. It was named by James Monckton Darlot, the first squatter to take up land in 1842. It is believed he named both his Brighton run and the town of Horsham after towns in his native England.

The Wimmera district was previously known by the aboriginal word bogambilor, meaning 'place of flowers', for the site was covered with a dense scrub of wattles at the time.

George Langlands and his family arrived on 30th June 1849 after a suggestion put to him in Melbourne that the Horsham area had a sufficient squatter population to support a store and post office.

In the 1870s when squatting runs were divided up for smaller selection, a large German population settled in the area and many descendants still remain today.

Horsham was declared a town in 1932 when the population was 5000 and it became a city in its centenary year of 1949. Thus, Horsham celebrated the 150th anniversary of its settlement in 1999.  It currently boasts a population of 13,000 and is aptly named 'The Capital Of The Wimmera'.