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Warrnambool
Victoria
View from Pickering Point, Warrnambool.JPG
Warrnambool foreshore from Pickering Point
Warrnambool is located in City of Warrnambool
Warrnambool
Warrnambool
Location in City of Warrnambool
Population 35,214 (2018)
Established 1855
Postcode(s) 3280
Time zone AEST (UTC+10)
 • Summer (DST) AEST (UTC+11)
Location
  • 265 km (165 mi) SW of Melbourne
  • 114 km (71 mi) W of Colac
  • 115 km (71 mi) SE of Hamilton
  • 106 km (66 mi) E of Portland
LGA(s) City of Warrnambool
State electorate(s) South-West Coast
Federal Division(s) Wannon
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
19.0 °C
66 °F
8.5 °C
47 °F
738.0 mm
29.1 in

Warrnambool (Maar: Peetoop or Wheringkernitch or Warrnambool) is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At June 2016, Warrnambool had an estimated urban population of 35,214. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Allansford) marks the western end of the Great Ocean Road and the southern end of the Hopkins Highway.

History

The word Warrnambool originates from the local Indigenous Australian name for a nearby volcanic cone. It is interpreted to mean many things including land between two rivers, two swamps or ample water.

A popular legend is that the first Europeans to discover Warrnambool were Cristóvão de Mendonça and his crew who surveyed the coastline nearby and were marooned near the site of the present town as early as the 16th century, based on the unverified reports of local whaler's discovery of the wreck of a mahogany ship. The ship's provenance has been variously attributed to France, China, Spain and Portugal. There is no physical evidence to suggest that it ever existed.

The first documented European discovery of Warrnambool occurred under Lieutenant James Grant, a Scottish explorer who sailed the Lady Nelson along the coast in December 1800 and named several features. This exploration was followed by that of the English navigator Matthew Flinders in the Investigator, and the French explorer Nicholas Baudin, who recorded coastal landmarks, in 1802. The area was frequented by whalers early in the 19th century.

The first settlers arrived in the 1840s in the Lady Bay area, which was a natural harbour. The town was surveyed in 1846 and established soon after, the Post Office opening on 1 January 1849.

During the Victorian Gold Rush, Warrnambool became an important port and grew quickly in the 1850s, benefiting from the private ownership of nearby Port Fairy. It was gazetted as a municipality in 1855, and became a borough in 1863. Warrnambool was declared a town in 1883, and a city in 1918. Post Offices opened at Warrnambool South in 1937 (closed 1973), Warrnambool East in 1946, and Warrnambool North in 1947 (closed 1975).

Geography

Climate

Warrnambool has an oceanic temperate climate. Summers are slightly cooler than in Melbourne, while winters are slightly warmer. On average, rainfall is greater than in most of Victoria.

Climate data for Warrnambool
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 44.4
(111.9)
43.5
(110.3)
40.0
(104.0)
34.4
(93.9)
30.7
(87.3)
23.1
(73.6)
22.5
(72.5)
24.0
(75.2)
29.5
(85.1)
33.8
(92.8)
38.9
(102.0)
42.5
(108.5)
44.4
(111.9)
Average high °C (°F) 22.2
(72.0)
22.3
(72.1)
21.1
(70.0)
18.6
(65.5)
16.1
(61.0)
13.9
(57.0)
13.3
(55.9)
14.1
(57.4)
15.7
(60.3)
17.4
(63.3)
19.0
(66.2)
20.7
(69.3)
17.9
(64.2)
Average low °C (°F) 12.8
(55.0)
13.3
(55.9)
12.3
(54.1)
10.4
(50.7)
8.7
(47.7)
6.9
(44.4)
6.2
(43.2)
6.7
(44.1)
7.7
(45.9)
9.0
(48.2)
10.1
(50.2)
11.6
(52.9)
9.7
(49.5)
Record low °C (°F) 5.6
(42.1)
4.2
(39.6)
3.7
(38.7)
1.7
(35.1)
−0.9
(30.4)
−0.6
(30.9)
−1.9
(28.6)
−1.6
(29.1)
1.1
(34.0)
1.0
(33.8)
1.7
(35.1)
4.2
(39.6)
−1.9
(28.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 32.9
(1.30)
34.3
(1.35)
47.6
(1.87)
60.3
(2.37)
77.5
(3.05)
76.9
(3.03)
88.3
(3.48)
85.6
(3.37)
73.7
(2.90)
63.7
(2.51)
54.8
(2.16)
44.4
(1.75)
741.9
(29.21)
Average precipitation days 7.7 7.7 9.9 13.3 17.0 17.0 19.6 19.2 16.8 15.1 12.6 10.8 166.8
Source: Bureau of Meteorology.

Cityscape

The original City of Warrnambool was a 4x8 grid, with boundaries of Lava Street (north), Japan Street (east), Merri Street (south) and Henna Street (west). In the nineteenth century, it was intended that Fairy Street – with its proximity to the Warrnambool Railway Station – would be the main street of Warrnambool. However, Liebig Street has since become the main street of the central business district (CBD). The Warrnambool CBD is particularly notable for its number of roundabouts.

Warrnambool
War memorial

Outside the CBD, the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens feature wide curving paths, rare trees, a lily pond with ducks, a fernery, a band rotunda, and was designed by notable landscape architect, William Guilfoyle.

Eleven suburbs surround the CBD of Warrnambool: North, South, East and West Warrnambool, Brierly, Sherwood Park, Merrivale, Dennington, Woodford, Bushfield and Allansford, though only the four latter are recognised as localities of the city.

Culture

Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum
Overview of the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum
Warrnambool lighthouse
Lighthouse at the Maritime Museum
Flagstaff Hill Museum
Looking up from the water at the Maritime Museum

During the end of June and the start of July every year, Warrnambool is the home to the children's festival FunWithKids. It is held next to the Lighthouse Theatre in the CBD.

Wunta Fiesta, a festival held in Warrnambool over the first weekend of February annually, is one of south-west Victoria's major community festivals. It incorporates a wide range of entertainment (mostly music) for all ages.

The Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum is in Warrnambool built on Flagstaff Hill that also holds the original lighthouses and Warrnambool Garrison. Its most prized item in its collection is the Minton peacock salvaged from the Loch Ard. Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village is built around the original lighthouses and now operates as a heritage attraction and museum for the Great Ocean Road. [1] Winner of three Victorian Tourism Awards – Tourist Attraction, it houses an extensive collection of shipwreck and maritime trade artefacts in both a museum and village setting.

The Lady Bay Lighthouse complex is on the Victorian heritage register due to its significance as an example of early colonial development. There has been a flagstaff on top of Flagstaff Hill since 1848, and the current lighthouses were moved to the site in 1878. They still operate as navigation aids for the channel into Warrnambool harbour.

The Warrnambool foreshore is a popular swimming area, and is adjacent to the Lake Pertobe parklands. A number of caravan parks are also located in the area.

Baritone Robert Nicholson recorded the song Back to Warrnambool in 1929.

Media

Warrnambool is served by one daily newspaper, the Warrnambool Standard, which is owned by Fairfax Media. The local commercial radio stations are 882 3YB and 95.3 Coast FM, both owned by Ace Radio. There is also a community radio channel, 3WAY FM.

Sport

Warrnambool is home to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, a race which attracts Australian and international drivers on the Australia Day long weekend.

The city is also the finishing point of the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic cycle race. It is the longest one-day bicycle endurance race in the world, held every October since 1895 to be the world’s second oldest bike race.

Warrnambool has a horse racing club, the Warrnambool Racing Club, which schedules around twenty race meetings a year including the Warrnambool Cup and Grand Annual Steeple three-day meeting in the first week of May. The Woodford Racing Club also holds one meeting at Warrnambool racecourse. The Grand Annual steeplechase has 33 jumps, more than any other horse race and is one of the longest steeplechases in the world.

Warrnambool is home to the Premier Speedway, a 410 metres (450 yd) dirt track oval speedway located approximately 5 km east of the town. As well as hosting various Victorian state championships, Premier Speedway has hosted Australian championships for Sprintcars, Super Sedans and Street Stocks. Premier Speedway has also regularly hosted rounds of the World Series Sprintcars, being one of only five tracks to host a round of every series run since its inception in 1987. Since 1973 the speedway has been home to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, the biggest single Sprintcar meeting in Australia outside of the Australian Championship. The Classic is traditionally run the weekend before the national title meeting. The speedway has hosted the Classic / Australian Championship double on six occasions - 1979, 1986, 1994, 1999, 2003 and 2011, with Sydney's 10 time Australian Champion Garry Rush the only driver to win the double at Warrnambool in 1986 when he won his 6th Classic and a week later his 7th national title.

The Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club also holds regular meetings.

From 1 to 3 September 2008, the city hosted, along with Melbourne, the 2008 Australian Football International Cup, featuring 14 nations from around the world playing Australian rules football. The sport is highly popular in Warrnambool which has a competitive local league and is the origin of many high-profile AFL players. The city has three Australian Rules football teams playing in the Hampden Football League (North Warrnambool, South Warrnambool and Warrnambool), and many more in the Warrnambool District Football League

Golfers play either on the 18 hole course at the Warrnambool Golf Club a public access course ranked in Australia's top 100 courses, or at the 9 hole course at the Deakin University Warrnambool campus.

Demographics

15.9% of Warrnambool residents were born outside Australia, which is significantly less than the Australian average of 33.3%. 98.7% speak English at home and 1.6% are Indigenous.

Transport

Warrnambool is situated on the Princes Highway between Port Fairy to the west and Terang to the east as well as at the south-western terminus of the Hopkins Highway. The Great Ocean Road terminates 13 km east of Warrnambool, near Allansford.

Rail services operate to Melbourne and Geelong. V/Line passenger train services call at Warrnambool's two stations, Warrnambool in the city and Sherwood Park in the city's outer east, seven days a week. A daily container freight service is being run by Pacific National for local container handler Westvic.

Local buses under the Transit South West brand cover Warrnambool's city and suburbs and extend to the nearby towns of Port Fairy and Koroit. V/Line coaches connect Warrnambool with Mount Gambier, Ballarat, Ararat, Casterton and the Great Ocean Road to Geelong.

Sister city

  • Miura, Kanagawa, Japan

Economy

Warrnambool-harbour
Warrnambool Harbour looking north from the breakwater

Warrnambool attracts many visitors each year, and is a comprehensive regional service centre. The town's tourism benefits from the views from the Great Ocean Road, and its nearby beaches, some of which are used for surfing. In the winter months, Southern Right whales can be seen in the waters near the city at the Logan's Beach nursery, and boats make whale-watching tours. Visitor levels are usually higher during the winter school holidays due to Australia's Biggest Children's Festival, the Fun4Kids Festival.(now cancelled from 2018)


The mainstay of the economy is agriculture and its support industry – particularly dairy farming and associated milk processing. Other major industries and services include retail, education, health, meat processing, clothing manufacture and construction. The Fletcher Jones and Staff Pty Ltd clothing factory opened in 1948 and was closed in 2005.

Education

Primary

There are many primary schools in Warrnambool, including:

  • Warrnambool Primary School
  • Warrnambool East Primary School
  • Warrnambool West Primary School
  • Merrivale Primary School
  • Allansford and District Primary School
  • Woodford Primary School
  • Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School (Catholic)
  • St Joseph's Primary School (Catholic)
  • St Pius X Primary School (Catholic)
  • St John's Primary School, Dennington (Catholic)
  • Kings College (primary and secondary)
  • Merri River School (formally Warrnambool Special Development School) (primary and secondary)

Secondary

Warrnambool has two public high schools:

  • Brauer College
  • Warrnambool College

In addition, there is:

  • Emmanuel College, a Catholic school
  • King's College, a private Presbyterian school

Tertiary

The city's only university facilities are at the Deakin University Warrnambool campus. The South West Institute of TAFE and SEAL both provide vocational education.

Notable people

  • Airbourne, hard rock band
  • Tom Ballard (b. 1989), comedian
  • Ben Barber (b. 1984), actor
  • Josh Beames (b. 1988), photographer
  • Smoky Dawson (1913–2008), country music performer (born in Collingwood, raised in Warrnambool)
  • Alex Dyson (b. 1988), radio presenter
  • Sir John Eccles (1903–1997), Nobel Prize winner in physiology or medicine, 1963
  • Brian Fitzpatrick (1905–1965), Australian economic historian
  • Danielle Green, Member of Victorian Parliament was raised and educated in Warrnambool
  • Dave Hughes (b. 1970), comedian
  • Paul Jennings (b. 1943), children's author – (resides in Warrnambool)
  • Sally Walker, Law Professor, Vice-Chancellor and President of Deakin University
  • Axle Whitehead (b. 1980), musician and TV personality

Sportspeople

  • Jonathan Brown (b. 1981), Leon Cameron (b. 1972), Paul Couch (1964–2016), Simon Hogan (b. 1988), Jordan Lewis (b. 1986), Brent Moloney (b. 1984), Noel Mugavin (b. 1956), Kevin Neale (b. 1945), Matt Maguire (b. 1984), Billie Smedts (b. 1992), Wayne Schwass (b. 1968), Michael Turner (b. 1954), Sam Dwyer (b. 1986), Martin Gleeson (b. 1994), John Burns (b. 1949) Australian rules football players
  • Marc Leishman (b. 1983), golfer
  • Christian Ryan (b. 1977), Olympic Silver Medallist, rowing 2000
  • Nathan Sobey (b. 1990), basketball player
  • Tim Ludeman, cricket player

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Warrnambool para niños

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