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Charlton "The Friendly River Town", is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is a small agricultural community straddling the Avoca River, located at the junction of the Calder Highway (A79) and Borung Highway (C239) and positioned in the last of the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. Its location, almost halfway between Melbourne and Mildura, makes Charlton a popular stop along the way for tourists. ==History== The original inhabitants of the region were the Jaara Aborigines. After extensive travels throughout the region by Major Thomas Mitchell, settlement by Europeans occurred in 1848 when Robert Cay and William Kaye established a station and named the region after a town in Greenwich, England. Unlike many other towns in the region, Charlton was not established as a result of gold mining, but for pastoral purposes and the proximity to a permanent water supply (the Avoca River). The original town was named East Charlton due to its location on the eastern banks of the Avoca River, and the fact that another town in the Victoria was named Charlton (renamed Chute in 1879). The East Charlton Post Office opened on 21 December 1876 (renamed Charlton in 1879) replacing an earlier (1854) office nearby named Yowen Hill. The first bridge to cross the river was erected in 1867 by James Paterson, allowing for expansion on both sides of the river. Throughout the history of Charlton, the Avoca River has been known for its spontaneous flooding after heavy rain showers, resulting in many floods that often surrounded the town or on rare occasions flooded the town. Levee banks were constructed to their present levels in the 1950s, however parts of the town were flooded in September 2010. One of the town's most prominent landmarks is the former hotel, the "Vale of Avoca", which was built on the site of an early bark hut inn by James & Elizabeth Egan in 1879. Built on a reef of stone, Mrs Egan named the building as being in the 'vale' or valley of the nearby Avoca River. It was delicensed as a hotel in 1942, restored in the 1990s and currently operates as a Bed and Breakfast. The first issue of the local newspaper, the ''Tribune'' was published on 20 May 1876, the founders being H. T. Henningsen and his step-son, R. M. Klunder. For many years the ''Tribune'' was published twice weekly — Wednesdays and Saturdays — but during the Second World War shortage of staff and paper necessitated the change to a weekly paper. In 1925 the business was purchased by Messrs Hogan and Gardiner and then followed other proprietors, Herbert Davies and John S. Richardson, and by his widow, Rena M. Richardson, after his death in 1954. In February 1960, Rena Richardson married William Wood and in 1961 she sold the ''Tribune'' to Ian and Coral Cameron. In 1981, the newspaper was sold by the Camerons to the ''St. Arnaud Mercury'' and the ''Mercury'' and the ''Tribune'' were combined to become the ''North Central News''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charlton, Victoria」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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