Strathbogie Tableland

When the selectors arrived in 1877, they brought an end to the massive land holdings, for but a few. From 1842 squatters took up large tracts of land in the rugged Strathbogie Ranges and ran thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle.
The stations, Bailey Hill, Strathbogie, Springs A and Wombat Hill were situated in the hill country with portions of Saintfield and Borodomanin also in the ranges.

One squatter yet to be forgotten, is John Kissock of Strathbogie Station. When he left the district in 1857 after a ten year stay, he left his wife Agnes, buried in a substantial stone walled grave on the property that same year. The dry stone wall stands as he left it, all those years ago.

Two other gentlemen well remembered are John Gall of Wombat Hill, as he was the only one to live the rest of his life in the area, although on the flat country, and William Forlonge.
William Forlonge owned all five first named stations at the one time, being a total of 185,000 acres as well as five other stations in Victoria, from the early 1850’s to 1867.

With families arriving and settling on their various sized block of land, a need for some civilisation was required. Schools, churches, post offices, blacksmiths, a hotel, halls and a general store were first requirements and soon sprang up over the Tableland. Later a baker, butcher and butter factories, as well as sporting facilities for football, cricket, tennis and golf were added.

Selectors generally came from the Whittlesea and Geelong area to Strathbogie, with Adam Gall Smith being recorded as the first. Some of the other early families who selected land were – Armstrong, Beattie, Hill, Hobbs, Johnston, Mackrell, Moore, Morley, Simpson and Smith.
In 1879 Strathbogie State School No. 2181 opened with forty five pupils on the roll. Other schools soon opened within the area, being only a few miles from each other. Post Offices were as numerous as schools.

In the early days dairying was big business. In 1891 a butter factory was built in the township, then known as Strathbogie South, and a factory was built the following year at Strathbogie North. Soon after, Strathbogie township factory was handling 1,500 gallons a day and in the first year, 13 tons of butter was exported from the factory. Butter from the North factory was also exported and gained top prices in London. The township factory was burnt down in 1907 and rebuilt, but in 1936 when it suffered the same fate it was not built again as the home separator and the growth of sheep farming had detrimental effects on dairying and butter factories. As dairying faded out sheep flocks were built up over many years and with careful, selective choosing, Strathbogie wool proudly became one of the best in the world.

A communication boon was the telephone which arrived in the hills, about 1912. When Strathbogie was added to the state electricity grid in 1966 it heralded a new era.

Towards the end of the twentieth century, change was once again occurring, when sheep were making way for vineyards and other activities.What were once family holdings have been subdivided into smaller lots. Families have moved on and new families have come. The store has changed hands many times after 47 years of Mr and Mrs Ambrose Levey’s ownership. The golf club has moved and what a story is attached to that job! A devastating bush fire in 1990 did much damage and memories of it linger. Some groups have gone into recess while others have begun.

New roads and new bridges have replaced the old ones meant for horse and cart, so now, instead of the railway line that was lobbied for over many years, semi trailers take farmers' produce to town with ease.

Telephones that we take for granted and other up to date communication – Internet, television and the newspaper delivered daily - are a far cry from the early pioneers' day of no electricity, no radio, mail and bread delivered twice a week, with any milk deliveries coming straight from the cow and fresh fruit and vegetables picked from the garden.