Macedon ( ) is a town at the foot of
Mount Macedon
Mount Macedon ( ; or ) is a dormant volcano that is part of the Macedon Ranges of the Great Dividing Range, located in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The mountain has a ...
in the
Macedon Ranges, between
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
in central
Victoria. It is administered by the
Shire of Macedon Ranges. Macedon's urban population was 2,926 at the 2021 census, up from 2,808 in the . The combined population of Macedon and the nearby larger town of
Gisborne was 21,071
[ Estimated resident population, 30 June 2016.] at June 2016.
Etymology
Macedon's name derives from the Ancient Kingdom of
Macedon
Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...
. The
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
Macedon is derived itself from the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
adjective
μακεδνός (''makednós''), meaning "tall", possibly descriptive of
the inhabitants of Macedon.
[Liddell and Scott 1940.] It has the same root as the adjective μακρός (''makros''), meaning "long" or "tall" in Ancient Greek.
The name is originally believed to have meant either "highlanders", "the tall ones", or "high grown men".
[; ; Eugene N. Borza writes that the "highlanders" or "Makedones" of the mountainous regions of western Macedonia are derived from northwest Greek stock; they were akin both to those who at an earlier time may have migrated south to become the historical "Dorians".]
History
The original inhabitants of
Macedon
Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...
are the
Kulin nation
The Kulin nation is an alliance of five Aboriginal nations in the south of Australia - up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys - which shares Culture and Language.
History
Before British colonisation, the ...
- specifically, the
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri people are an Aboriginal peoples, Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language, Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the traditional owners of the Yarra River Valley, covering much of the present location of ...
,
Dja Dja Wurrrung and
Taungurung
The Taungurung people, also spelled ''Daung Wurrung'', are Aboriginal people who are one of the Kulin nations in present-day Victoria, Australia. They consist of nine clans whose traditional language is the Taungurung language.
Their Country ...
people, who have lived there continually for at least 26,000 years.
Their communities are still active today.
Europeans arrived in 1837, and early interactions between
Kulin Aboriginal people and European settlers were strained, with reports of thefts of stock; however there were no massacres of Aboriginal people reported in the district in the authoritative study.
In the 1850s,
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
was discovered in the
Victorian Goldfields. Middle Gully, as Macedon was called back then, became a hub of activity and provided inns, beer houses, coffee tents, blacksmiths’ forges and stores for the crowds of
gold miners.
The
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
of the 1850s-1870s ensured that the area continued to flourish, and the construction of the
railway between Melbourne and Bendigo from 1858 to 1862 brought many new residents to the region.
The town was affected by the land boom of the late 1880s, with investors being brought up by specially arranged trains. At the peak, property prices increased by up to 3 or 4 times in a short time.
By 1893, the settlement had taken on the name Macedon and was growing through a co-operative association model with shared labour clearing land and building dwellings and fencing. Local industry sprung up, including a butter factory, said by a Melbourne newspaper at the time as "''situated about one mile from the station, on the road to the mount. The building is in brick, 25 x 46ft. The separator is 100gal. capacity, and can revolve 7,000 times per minute. It contains all the latest improvements in butter-making machinery. The whole plant is worked by a six-horse water-wheel, supplied by pipes from a private reservoir.''"
Throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, Melbourne's wealthy social elite began to settle the area in earnest due to large blocks of land on the south side of Mount Macedon being released to them by the government.
In 1903 the ''Australian handbook'' described Macedon as "''a post, money-order, savings bank and telegraph town. It is situated on the Melbourne and
Echuca
Echuca ( ) is a town on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative cen ...
railway, 43¼ rail miles NNW of the former. There are three hotels, Moody's Family, Victorian Alps and State Nursery Hotel, two general stores, a State school (No. 1,660),
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
,
Wesleyan
Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...
and
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
churches, Jubilee hall, library and a State nursery in the neighbourhood, also several eucalyptus oil works.''"
State Nursery Hotel
The former State Nursery Hotel was built in 1859 by James Nicholls and Eliza Weedon. It was originally called the Bricklayers Arms as it had been constructed of bricks from the publican's nearby Nicholls Brickworks. It was given the name State Nursery Hotel in 1881. The hotel became a private dwelling in 1926 and has survived to the present.
Victorian Alps Hotel
The Victorian Alps Hotel was built in 1874 for William Salter Cook. It was located on the corner of Victoria Street and Margaret Street. In 1915 the hotel licence was cancelled and it became a private home until it was destroyed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires.
A write-up in the Gisbourne Gazette of a game played by the Macedon Cats against the nearby Gisborne team in 1892 mentions a visit by both teams to the Victorian Alps Hotel after the game.
Macedon Railway Hotel
The Macedon Railway Hotel was built in 1870.
In 1885 the hotel was renamed the Macedon Family Hotel.
During the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983, a large number of locals & pets successfully sheltered in the hotel throughout the firestorm, with a report from 1984 describing "''some men bravely hosed the outside of the hotel, while others, even previous fighters, refused to take their turns because of fear''".
1918 Avenue of Honour
The village of Macedon is home to a State significant heritage listed war memorial
Avenue of Honour, an extensive planting of 154 oak trees on both sides of the avenue for approximately one kilometre in length between the cemetery at Bent Street and Mt Macedon Road. The trees, comprising
Pin Oaks,
English oaks,
Algerian oaks and oak hybrids were planted by members of the local community working each Saturday for three months in 1918, with each tree planted representing the life of an enlisted soldier from the local area.
The opening ceremony for the Avenue was held on 10 August 1918 with "''the State Premier (Mr. Lawson) and the Federal and State members for the district are expected to be present, and a strong band is to be in attendance''".
The Premier said that this Avenue "''would serve to remind the future generations of their obligations to the men, and women too, who were now doing so much for mankind, and, furthermore, would stand as an example of great public service''" and that the community "''will regard it as a sacred duty to look after this avenue, care for the trees, and remember the grand purpose underlying the whole movement''".
The autumn colours of the Avenue of Honour attract a large influx of visitors annually, prompting the local council to introduce temporary traffic and parking restrictions in recent years.
1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires
Macedon was one of the towns extensively damaged by the
Ash Wednesday bushfires
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a Bushfires in Australia, series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia in 1983 on 16 February. Within twelve hours, more than 180 bushfires, fires f ...
on 16 February 1983, with 2 deaths in the town and 64 houses destroyed.
Most of the shops, the Catholic Church (circa 1891) and Anglican church (circa 1931) were burnt, along with the Jubilee hall, the fire station, the school and the Water Board's office.
At least 160 residents survived by sheltering overnight in the Macedon Family Club Hotel, which had been saved by Macedon brigade.
Witnesses reported that during the ordeal the hotel's windows were "''red-hot''" and "''sparks continuously sprayed the room each time the door was opened''".
The Victorian newspaper ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' reported the next day that "A fire officer came out of Macedon at 3am and said: 'I saw one house and one pub standing.'"
Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...
members were deployed to assist the town in the aftermath, such as disposing of dead livestock,
after the Victorian Minister for Police and Emergency Services requested help from the Federal Government.
A public park near the centre of Macedon, located across the road from
Macedon's railway station, now serves as a memorial to the losses of Ash Wednesday.
Today
In recent years, Macedon's popularity has increased: proximity to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, boutique bed and breakfast accommodation,
food and wine industries and arts scene have made the region highly sought after, drawing tourists and new residents, making the local population growth rate among the fastest in regional Victoria.
Locals, worried about the environmental and cultural impacts of this growing popularity, successfully campaigned for new planning controls to protect the character of the region.
A number of media reports have made reference to the influx of young professionals, artists and '
hipsters' to the region, drawn by the region's natural environment, proximity to the city and access to city-style cafes and restaurants.
Attractions
Vineyards
There are several commercial vineyards open to the public in the area immediately surrounding Macedon, including North Wine and Mount Macedon Winery, which at one time was owned by entertainer
Olivia Newton-John
Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...
.
Private Zoo
Wild Action Zoo, a licensed private zoological facility on 11 acres of land is located in Macedon and provides education about animals via prearranged visits or via a mobile zoo around the State of Victoria. The zoo's owner,
Chris Humfrey starred in a TV series "Chris Humfrey's Animal Instinct" which ran on the Australian version of
Animal Planet
Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
, a Pay-TV channel.
Economy
The initial economy of the town was based on timber and servicing the gold rush further inland from Melbourne.
Later a number of eucalyptus distilleries opened up in the town due to a considerable demand for eucalyptus for medicinal purposes. The first was opened in 1894 which was "''a eucalyptus oil distillery, which is to be erected in Mrs Pinchoffs paddock by Mr Moody, of the Macedon Hotel''". The "Wombat Brand" eucalyptus oil was manufactured at the Macedon Eucalyptus Oil Distillery in the late 1800s.

As of the 2016 census, the main industries employing people in the Macedon area is Education & Training (13.1%), Healthcare and Social Assistance (10.5%), Construction (10%), Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (9.4%), Public Administration and Safety (7.3%), Retail (6.4%) and Manufacturing (6%).
Transport
The railway line from
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
was constructed in 1861, one year after the township was surveyed, near a once-permanent creek. The township was first named Middle Gully, however within a few years of the opening of the railway, Middle Gully's name was changed to Macedon. The railway line's route includes heritage listed Middle Gully rail bridge, completed in 1862 just to the west of Macedon which is an example of one of the earliest metal plate girder road bridges in Victoria.
The railway at Macedon later transported horticultural produce & timber to Melbourne and was the stopping-off point for visitors to resort facilities on
Mount Macedon
Mount Macedon ( ; or ) is a dormant volcano that is part of the Macedon Ranges of the Great Dividing Range, located in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The mountain has a ...
.
Macedon railway station is located on the
V/Line
V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...
Bendigo line.
In 1970 the Tullamarine Freeway was opened, putting Macedon within easier commuting distance of outer metropolitan Melbourne.
Education
Primary
Macedon Primary School is a State public school that was established in 1869. The school maintains a current enrolment of 242 students as at 2019.
Secondary
Macedon Grammar School
Macedon Grammar was a secondary school that operated from 1979 to 2014. In November 2014, Macedon Grammar school went into administration and the Victorian government announced in December 2014 that the school would close.
Alice Miller School
After Macedon Grammar school was closed in 2014 the site was purchased the following year by children's author
John Mardsen who opened the Alice Miller School, a secondary school for 200 pupils focused on the arts. It is based on the same principles as his Candlebark School (opened 2006) in the
Macedon Ranges. The school campus occupies a site of 80 acres of primarily bushland. Facilities include 15 classrooms, science laboratories, gymnasium, 10 metre indoor heated pool, tennis and basketball courts and a five-hole golf course.
Sport
Macedon is home to the Macedon Football & Netball Club, known as the Macedon Cats. The club was founded in 1887.
Environment
The local bushland surrounding was Macedon was harvested extensively for timber since 1850s.
Macedon State Nursery
However the timber industry had so denuded the entire surrounding mountain range, that in 1872, the
State Government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
established the 100 acre Macedon State Nursery, to encourage the replanting of the mountain and to supply seedlings to all parts of Victoria, which it did at no cost to public institutions such as schools, benevolent institutions, hospitals and reserves. By 1888, annual production was around 200,000 seedlings with a projected annual output by 1890 of 700,000-1 million plants.
Newspaper articles from the late 19th and early 20th century describe the wide variety of plants that flourished at the State Nursery in spite of its poor topsoil and craggy terrain. One description of a visit to the nursery by the Minister of Mines and Forests in 1909 was of "''many fine specimens of Oregon, American spruce, Californian redwood, yellow pine, and Himalayan'' ''cedar''". Cool-climate trees like
cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.
The word ''cypress'' ...
,
larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...
, cedar and
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
thrived at the high altitude; deciduous species of
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
,
ash and
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
grew well, as did native
eucalypts
Eucalypt is any woody plant with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia:
''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', ''Allosyncarpia'', '' E ...
and
casuarina
''Casuarina'', also known as she-oak, Australian pine and native pine, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Casuarinaceae, and is native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and e ...
s.
The majority of the trees that were propagated at the nursery were of European and English varieties with which the landowners were familiar, hence the unique character of many of the early avenues in nearby towns such as
Gisborne and in the grand gardens of
Mount Macedon
Mount Macedon ( ; or ) is a dormant volcano that is part of the Macedon Ranges of the Great Dividing Range, located in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The mountain has a ...
. Trials of the cultivation of other crops such as tea and tobacco were undertaken, with little success.
This nursery also provided training & employment for many of the former timber industry workers and to boys and young men through the Boy's Farm School that operated at the government nursery from around 1882 to 1885.
Perhaps as a consequence of its success, Macedon Nursery periodically received complaints of unfair competition from the nursery industry until it was closed by the Government in 1995.
Timber Plantations
There are a number of established commercial timber plantations around Macedon in the Black Forest. The plantations were established by the
State Government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
in 1880 and were privatised through the sale of the
Victorian Plantations Corporation in 1998 to Hancock Timber Resource Group for $550 million to form Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP).
The Macedon Black Forest plantations are now owned and operated by a private company HVP Plantations.
Climate
Film and television industry
Macedon is often known as the town from "
Picnic at Hanging Rock", the 1975 mystery movie based on the
novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
of the same name.
Parts of the 2009
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Nicolas Cage, various accolades, including an Academy A ...
film "
Knowing" was shot around Macedon, most notably the local petrol station which was renovated to appear more like an American gas station. Most of the film was also shot nearby in
Mount Macedon
Mount Macedon ( ; or ) is a dormant volcano that is part of the Macedon Ranges of the Great Dividing Range, located in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The mountain has a ...
.
The television series 'Chris Humfrey's Wild Life' was filmed in Macedon. The series aired in March 2011 on the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
.
The 2018 remake of
Picnic at Hanging Rock was filmed in the region, and the award-winning score was composed in the region by local producer
Jan Skubiszewski.
The Macedon Reservoir was used as the location for the trailer park in the opening sequences of the
Liam Neeson
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFT ...
film
Blacklight
A blacklight, also called a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or ultraviolet light, is a lamp that emits long-wave ( UV-A) ultraviolet light and very little visible light. One type of lamp has a violet filter material, either on the bulb or in a se ...
in 2020. Filming was undertaken with access to the area controlled as part of local
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
restrictions.
References
External links
Macedon Cemetery deceased records and online mapat Chronicle Cemetery Map
{{authority control
Shire of Macedon Ranges