A house and monument in Jeparit

Jeparit
Wheatbelt service town famous as the home of Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister.
Jeparit's great claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Sir Robert Menzies, prime minister of Australia from 1939-1941 and 1949-1966. A small and tidy town of some 500 people, it is located by the Wimmera River, 370 km north-west of Melbourne and 35 km north of Dimboola in an area given over to the production of wheat, wool, barley and oats.

Prior to white settlement the area was occupied by the Gromiluk, a branch of the Wotjobaluk tribe. The first European in the immediate vicinity was explorer Edward Eyre who camped at nearby Lake Hindmarsh in 1838 while searching for an overland route from Melbourne to Adelaide. The area which includes the Jeparit townsite was taken up by Robert von Stieglitz in 1846 while, just to the north, was 'Halbacutya', established in the same year by John Coppock. Bushranger Dan Morgan held up the latter station in 1868. A rabbit plague struck the area in the late 1870s.

Closer settlement proceeded when selectors, many of them German Lutherans from South Australia, arrived in the 1880s. They changed the course of land usage from grazing to wheat-growing. A village began to develop at this time, leading to a survey in 1883. The town was gazetted in 1889 as 'Jeparit', from an Aboriginal word said to mean 'home of small birds'.

During the great drought of 1901-1903, emus apparently wandered the streets of Jeparit in search of food. Another local curiosity was the discovery, in 1916, of a subterranean chamber with a hidden entranceway. Inside were German newspapers dating back to 1914. It was assumed to be the refuge of escapees from the POW camp at Langwarrin. Jeparit also received some notoriety when it was used as the setting for Peter Carey's 1985 novel Illywhacker.

The town's Beach Carnival is held at Lake Hindmarsh in January and the Agricultural Show in October.

Things to see:  

Tourist Information
Horsham Visitors' Centre, tel: 1800 633 218.

The R.G Menzies Memorial in Jeparit

Menzies Memorials
The prominent Liberal politician Sir Robert Menzies who was born in Jeparit in 1894. His father was a local shopkeeper . Menzies was educated at the local school. His life is commemorated by a particularly uninspiring 18-metre grey steel column with a thistle on the top. It is called the Robert Menzies Spire and stands at the corner of Charles St and Sands Ave at the entrance to Sir Robert Menzies Park. At night it is floodlit. The inscription reads: 'This spire has been erected by the people of Jeparit and district, to honour Sir Robert Menzies. The spire symbolises the rise to world recognition of a boy who was born in Jeparit and who rose by his own efforts to become Australia's Prime Minister and a statesman recognised and honoured throughout the world.'

It is worth remembering that, although the town is the birthplace of Sir Robert Menzies, neither his home nor his father's shop remain. One was burnt down and the other was demolished. Menzies Square is located where the house and store once stood at the corner of Charles and Roy Sts. There is a plaque and a gazebo.

The Shepherds Hut at the Wimmera-Mallee Pioneer Museum

Wimmera-Mallee Pioneer Museum
The Wimmera-Mallee Pioneer Museum is one of the best of its type in Australia. It is located adjacent the Wimmera River in Charles St at the southern entrance to town. A conducted tour of the site is well worthwhile as it covers four hectares and contains numerous interesting and unusual buildings relating to the colonial era, including structures from one of the area's first stations - 'Halbacutya', which stretched from Lake Hindmarsh to the northern end of Lake Albacutya. It was established in 1846 by John Coppock. The log cabins were erected in the late 1840s. Coppock died in 1865 and the first stage of the homestead was built in 1868 when the first white woman arrived at the property. Bushranger Dan Morgan held up the station that year, forcing the staff into the kitchen which is the bark-roofed structure at the rear of the homestead. The outbuilding is in a vernacular style indigenous to the region - split Murray pine half-logs dropped between squared posts. Albacutya is furnished with period items and surrounded by various artefacts of station life - a pegless clothesline, old fences, wool presses etc.

Other buildings include the Werrap hall, a blacksmith's shop from Antwerp, a straw-roofed shed, Woorak church, a chemist's shop with dispensary and patent medicines, Detpa's one-roomed country school with contemporary educational items, a lock-up, a transport shed, and the decorative ceilings, iron lacework and wide verandah of Briarley House (1909) from Mildura which serves as the entrance-administrative-sales office.

An enormous machinery display gives some indication of the technology at the disposal of the European pioneers and the techniques used to clear the Wimmera for agriculture. They include mallee rollers, a push harvester and early tractors. There are also many beautiful antiques - a 1790 bed, Edison gramophone, cylinder player, early household equipment and musical instruments - as well as a collection of Aboriginal artefacts.

The complex is open weekdays from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. and between 1.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. on weekends. There are picnic and barbecue facilities, tel: (03) 5397 2101.

Lake Hindmarsh
The back road from Jeparit to Rainbow (sealed) heads west then north, looping around Lake Hindmarsh in a semi-circle to Rainbow. The first white man in the area was Edward Eyre who camped here in 1838 while exploring an overland route from Melbourne to Adelaide. He named it after Sir John Hindmarsh, Governor of South Australia.

The largest freshwater lake in Victoria, Hindmarsh is very beautiful with lots of wildlife and Australian flora. Four-Mile Beach, on the southern shore of the lake, is a popular spot for fishing, swimming, boating and waterskiing. There are camping facilities, a boat ramp and hot showers. Picnic Point beach and a waterskiing club can be found on the south-eastern shore. Schulze's Beach also has a boat ramp and lies on the western shore while Williamson's Beach is located on the north-western shore.

Near the north-eastern corner of the lake, Pioneer Lane, a good dry-weather gravel road, heads off to the right (it is the first right after you cross Outlet Creek). If you follow this road a short distance you will come to an intersection where you will find the gravesite of John Coppock who, in 1846, became the first European settler in the Rainbow area. The headstone reads: '1865. John Coppock. An honest man'.

Birdcage Reserve
At the north-western tip of the lake, the back road from Jeparit to Rainbow separates the lagoon (to your right) from Birdcage Flora and Fauna Reserve (on your left). The name derives from the number of Mallee birds which are contained within the reserve's floodplain and Big Desert communities. There are also some rare butterflies. No real access roads into Birdcage exist but you can park the car and take a walk through the wildflowers, undertake some nature studies or camp in the bush. For further information ring (03) 5083 3411.

	Motels
	Hopetoun House Motel/Hotel 31 Roy St Jeparit VIC 3423 Telephone: (03) 5397 2051 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Hindmarsh Hotel 50 Roy St Jeparit VIC 3423 Telephone: (03) 5397 2041 Rating: *
	Caravan Parks
	Four Mile Beach Foreshore Reserve Lake Hindmarsh Jeparit VIC 3423 Telephone: (03) 5382 6645 or (03) 5397 2070 Rating: *
	Sir Robert Menzies Caravan Park Peterson Ave Jeparit VIC 3423 Telephone: (03) 5397 2193 Rating: *
	Restaurants
	Hindmarsh Hotel 50 Roy St Jeparit VIC 3423 Telephone: (03) 5397 2041
	Hopetoun House Motel/Hotel 31 Roy St Jeparit VIC 3423 Telephone: (03) 5397 2051