The Macedon Ranges is a region in Central Victoria, known for its expansive native forests, vibrant arts scene, thriving food and wine industries (including weekly farmers' markets) and natural attractions such as Hanging Rock and

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 ...

. It is located in between the cities of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It includes the towns of Clarkefield, Gisborne South, Gisborne,

Kyneton Kyneton ( ) is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of central Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east. The town has three main streets: Mollison Street, Piper Street and High Street. Piper Street has ...

, Lancefield,

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 ...

, Malmsbury,

, New Gisborne, Riddells Creek,

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is situated northwest of Southampton, southwest of Winchester and southeast of Salisbury. It sits on the outskirts of the New Forest, just over northeast of ...

and Woodend. It is governed and administered by the Macedon Ranges Shire Council.

Population

At the 2016 Census, the region had a population of 46,100. The median age of people in Macedon Ranges is 42 years, and the most common ancestries were English 29.1% Australian 28.8%, and Irish 10.6%. The majority of the region's residents were professionals, with education and medicine/allied health being the most cited professions. The region has, per capita, more working artists than anywhere else in Victoria. Macedon Ranges was one of the highest-rated areas in Australia in the Quality of Life Index 2008, and was the highest rated in Victoria (outside Melbourne), ranking 13th of 590 Australian local government areas. About 35 per cent of people who live in Macedon Ranges live outside a town boundary in a rural setting, preferring to live sustainably through the use of rainwater, solar panels and home-grown vegetables, fruit and eggs.

Geography

The Macedon Ranges is characterized by dramatic undulating landscapes, expansive forests and granite-strewn pastoral vistas. Much of the region is designated as

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

and protected from development. National Parks in the region include Hanging Rock Reserve,

Wombat State Forest The Wombat State Forest (locally: Bullarook) is located west of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, between Woodend, Victoria, Woodend and Daylesford, Victoria, Daylesford, at the Great Dividing Range. The forest is approximat ...

, Macedon Regional Park and Black Hill Reserve. The region covers an area of 1,747 square kilometres (675 sq mi). The highest peak in the region is

's Camel's Hump, which is often covered in snow in winter due to its high elevation (1,011 metres or 3,317 ft). The area experiences colder winters and hotter summers than the state capital Melbourne.

History

The original inhabitants of the Macedon Ranges are the Kulin nation - 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 people, who have lived there continually for at least 26,000 years. The Kulin lived by fishing and domestical agricultural practices, making a

sustainable living Sustainable living describes a lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources by an individual or society. Its practitioners often attempt to reduce their ecological footprint (including their carbo ...

from the rich natural environment. Their communities are still active today. Europeans arrived around 1834 when explorer John Aitken came to the area now known as Gisborne, bringing merino sheep to the area from Tasmania. Many pastoralists followed Aitken's lead and began arriving from both Tasmania and New South Wales. Early interactions between Kulin Aboriginal people and European settlers were mixed: while there were reports of cooperation between the groups, there were also several massacres of Aboriginal people reported in the 1830s and 40s. 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 north of the Macedon Ranges in the areas now known as Castlemaine,

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

and

in the Victorian Goldfields. As the Macedon Ranges is located between the state capital

and the Goldfields, Middle Gully, now

, 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. 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. As a result, many grand Victorian homes with extensive ornamental gardens were established as summer residences. The proliferation of historic gardens and iconic architecture helped make the region a popular destination for holiday houses and tourists - a designation which remains today.

Today

In recent years, the region's popularity has soared to new heights: proximity to

, boutique bed and breakfast accommodation, burgeoning food and wine industries and thriving arts scene have made the region highly sought after, drawing tourists but also large numbers of new residents, making the local population growth rate among the fastest in regional Victoria. In fact, the towns of Gisborne and Woodend saw increases in property prices of 14.91% and 21% in 2019 respectively, while property prices in the rest of Australia were in free fall. 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.

Film and television

The region's iconic landscapes and its proximity to

have made it a destination for film and television production.

was depicted in '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'', the 1975 mystery movie based on the novel of the same name. Scenes in '' Where the Wild Things Are'' were filmed in the forest surrounding

. 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 in Macedon and nearby in

Transport

The towns of the Macedon Ranges are easily accessible from Melbourne's CBD via the

Calder Highway Calder Highway is a rural highway in Australia, linking Mildura and the Victoria/New South Wales border to Bendigo, in North Central Victoria. South of Bendigo, where the former highway has been upgraded to freeway-standard, Calder Freeway li ...

and the Bendigo railway line.

Education

Most of the towns in the region have at least one local government primary school, including some of the most elite government schools in Victoria. Candlebark Primary School and Alice Miller High School (both of whose principal was John Marsden, renowned Australian author and educator) provide alternative education options. Secondary school options include Braemar College east of Woodend (Ecumenical, co-educational), Kyneton Secondary College, Sacred Heart College (Catholic), and

Gisborne Secondary College Gisborne Secondary College is a co-educational secondary school located in Gisborne, Victoria, established in 1981. The current enrolment is 1071 students. Students attend from years seven to twelve. The college serves a large proportion of the s ...

Notable residents

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having been most ...

- 14th Prime Minister of Australia * Frederick McCubbin - painter * Carl Valeri - Australian Soccer Player * John Marsden - author and educator * Arthur Streeton - artist * Lloyd Williams - businessman and racehorse owner * Jan Skubiszewski - Composer and Record Producer * Caroline Chisholm - Social Reformer, Philanthropist and early advocate of Universal Suffrage File:Mt Macedon.JPG, Forest at Mount Macedon File:Picnic hanging rock.jpg, At the Hanging Rock by William Ford, 1875 File:Kyneton Mineral Springs Rotunda.JPG, Kyneton Mineral Springs Rotunda File:Gisborne Presbyterian Church VIC 3437.jpg, Gisborne Presbyterian Church File:Braemar House Mt Macedon - source NLA Trove scan - The Australasian Saturday 2 March 1895.jpg, Braemar House Mt Macedon

References

{{reflist Geography of Victoria (state)