1.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
2.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
3.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
4.
Alexandra of Denmark
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Alexandra of Denmark was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII. At the age of sixteen, she was chosen as the wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. They married eighteen months later in 1863, the year her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX. She was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has held that title. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husbands family to favour Greek. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial involvement in charitable work, on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albert Edward became king-emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as queen-empress. She held the status until Edwards death in 1910 and she greatly distrusted her nephew, German Emperor Wilhelm II, and supported her son during World War I, in which Britain and its allies fought Germany. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, although she was of royal blood, her family lived a comparatively normal life. They did not possess great wealth, her fathers income from a commission was about £800 per year and their house was a rent-free grace. Occasionally, Hans Christian Andersen was invited to call and tell the stories before bedtime. In 1848, King Christian VIII of Denmark died and his only son, Frederick was childless, had been through two unsuccessful marriages, and was assumed to be infertile. A succession crisis arose as Frederick ruled in both Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein, and the rules of each territory differed. In Holstein, the Salic law prevented inheritance through the female line, Holstein, being predominantly German, proclaimed independence and called in the aid of Prussia. In 1852, the great powers called a conference in London to discuss the Danish succession, Prince Christian was given the title Prince of Denmark and his family moved into a new official residence, Bernstorff Palace. Alexandra shared a draughty attic bedroom with her sister, Dagmar, made her own clothes, Alexandra and Dagmar were given swimming lessons by the Swedish pioneer of womens swimming, Nancy Edberg. At Bernstorff, Alexandra grew into a woman, she was taught English by the English chaplain at Copenhagen and was confirmed in Christiansborg Palace. She was devout throughout her life, and followed High Church practice, Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were already concerned with finding a bride for their son and heir, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. They enlisted the aid of their daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Alexandra was not their first choice, since the Danes were at loggerheads with the Prussians over the Schleswig-Holstein Question and most of the British royal familys relations were German
5.
Easter
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It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension. The First Council of Nicaea established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified, these were worked out in practice and it has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March, but calculations vary. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, in many languages, the words for Easter and Passover are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the area of churches on this day. Additional customs that have associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally, however, it is possible that Bede was only speculating about the origin of the term since there is no firm evidence that such a goddess actually existed. In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Πάσχα, Pascha, the word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt. In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek, Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration. The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith, the resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteousness. For those who trust in Jesus death and resurrection, death is swallowed up in victory, any person who chooses to follow Jesus receives a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Through faith in the working of God those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation. Easter is linked to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the room during the Last Supper he prepared himself. He identified the matzah and cup of wine as his soon to be sacrificed
6.
Robert Menzies
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Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, KT, AK, CH, PC, QC, FAA, FRS, was the Prime Minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966. He is Australias longest-serving prime minister, serving over 18 years in total, Menzies studied law at the University of Melbourne and became one of Melbournes leading lawyers. He was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1934, and then transferred to federal parliament, subsequently becoming Attorney-General, in April 1939, following Lyons death, Menzies was elected leader of the United Australia Party and sworn in as prime minister. He authorised Australias entry into World War II in September 1939, on his return to Australia in August 1941, Menzies found that he had lost the support of his party and consequently resigned as prime minister. He subsequently helped to create the new Liberal Party, and was elected its leader in August 1945. At the 1949 federal election, Menzies led the Liberal–Country coalition to victory, after 1955, his government also received support from the Democratic Labor Party, a breakaway group from the Labor Party. Menzies won seven consecutive elections during his term, eventually retiring as prime minister in January 1966. Robert Gordon Menzies was born to James Menzies and Kate in Jeparit and he was the fourth of six children, with one sister and three brothers. His maternal grandfather, John Sampson, was a Cornish miner from Penzance who also came to seek his fortune on the goldfields and his father was elected to the Victorian State Parliament for the seat of Lowan in 1911 and moved with the family to Melbourne after selling the farm. His middle name, Gordon, was given to him in honour and memory of Charles George Gordon, Menziess formal education began at Humffray Street State School in Bakery Hill, Ballarat, then later at private school in Ballarat. He attended Wesley College in Melbourne and studied law at the University of Melbourne, when World War I began, Menzies was 19 years old and held a commission in the universitys militia unit. He resigned his commission at the very time others of his age and it was later stated that, since the family had made enough of a sacrifice to the war with the enlistment of two of three eligible brothers, Menzies should stay to finish his studies. Menzies himself never explained the reason why he chose not to enlist and it should be noted that the two brothers, James and Frank, who did enlist did not do so until 1915 after the landings at Anzac which belies the alleged reason. Subsequently, he was prominent in undergraduate activities and won prizes and declared himself to be a patriotic supporter of the war. In 1916 he became the editor of the Melbourne University Magazine, establishing a reputation as an unusually bright and articulate member of the undergraduate community. After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1916 with First Class Honours in Law, Menzies was admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in 1918. Establishing his own practice in Melbourne, Menzies specialised chiefly in Constitutional law which he had read with the leading Victorian jurist and future High Court judge, Sir Owen Dixon. In 1920 Menzies served as an advocate for the Amalgamated Society of Engineers which eventually took its appeal to the High Court of Australia, the case became a landmark authority for the positive reinterpretation of Commonwealth powers over those of the States
7.
Australian rules football
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The main way to score points is by kicking the oval-shaped ball between the two tall goal posts. The team with the score by the end of the match wins unless a draw is declared. During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field, the primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled, for example, throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch a ball from a kick are awarded possession, possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick or mark is paid. Players can tackle using their hands or use their body to obstruct opponents. The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of players and the ball and high scoring. The sports origins can be traced to matches played in Melbourne, Victoria in 1858. Its annual Grand Final is the highest attended club championship event in the world, the sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. The games rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFLs Laws of the Game Committee, there is evidence of football being played sporadically in the Australian colonies in the first half of the 19th century. The earliest such match, held in St Kilda on 15 June, was between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar. Born in Australia, Wills played a nascent form of rugby football whilst a pupil at Rugby School in England and his letter is regarded by many historians as giving impetus for the development of a new code of football today known as Australian football. Two weeks later, Wills friend, cricketer Jerry Bryant, posted an advertisement for a match at the Richmond Paddock adjoining the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was the first of several kickabouts held that year involving members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, including Wills, Bryant, W. J. Hammersley, trees were used as goalposts and play typically lasted an entire afternoon. Without an agreed code of laws, some players were guided by rules they had learned in the British Isles. Another significant milestone in 1858 was a match played under experimental rules between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College, held at the Richmond Paddock. This 40-a-side contest, umpired by Wills and Scotch College teacher John Macadam, began on 7 August and it is commemorated with a statue outside the MCG, and the two schools have competed annually ever since in the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, the worlds oldest continuous football competition. Since the early 20th century, it has suggested that Australian football was derived from the Irish sport of Gaelic football
8.
Yarra Ranges Football & Netball League
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The Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in Victoria to the east and northeast of Melbourne. The Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League was formed in 1966, from the amalgamation of the Mountain District Football League, south Belgrave transferred to the Eastern Football League for the 2008 season, followed by Silvan for the 2011 season. Thornton-Eildon Football Club went into recess at the start of 2011, clubs field football teams in seniors, reserves and under-18s. Clubs play in a two division structure in both the seniors and reserves, with the winning the senior flag in division two promoted and the bottom division one senior club relegated each season. Since 2013, the under-18s has been played as a single division, a netball competition was introduced in 2005, with the competition subsequently expanded to cater for A, B and C grades
9.
Thoroughbred racing in Australia
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The two forms of Thoroughbred horseracing in Australia are flat racing, and races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Horseracing commenced soon after European settlement, and is now well-appointed with automatic totalizators, starting gates, on an international scale Australia has more racecourses than any other nation. It is second to the United States in the number of starting in races each year. Australia is third, after the U. S. and Japan for the amount of money that is distributed annually. Racing in Australia is administered by the Australian Racing Board, with each states Principal Racing Authority agreeing to abide by, and to enforce, the Australian Rules of Racing. Besides being a sport, horseracing is also an industry, which provides full- or part-time employment for almost 250,000 people. About 300,000 people have a direct interest as individual owners of, or members of syndicates which own, there are bookmakers, over 3,600 registered trainers and more than 1,000 jockeys, plus farriers and veterinarians involved at race meetings alone. Race meetings are oraganised by approximately 374 race clubs that conduct about 2,694 meetings on 360 racecourses around Australia for over $427,245,000 in prize money, the Golden Slipper Stakes, Caulfield Cup and W S Cox Plate are also major attractions. The first horses that came to Australia arrived on the Lady Penrhyn with the First Fleet on 26 January 1788 and it is thought that they consisted of one stallion, one colt, three mares, and two fillies from Cape Town, South Africa. Rockingham was one of the first bloodhorses to be imported into Australia, in 1802, the stallion Northumberland and an English mare were imported, followed shortly thereafter by Washington, a stallion from America. Hector, was an important Arabian horse that was imported to Australia c.1803, Northumberland and Hector were the two leading sires in Australia until 1820. These sires and a number of other Arabian stallions contributed to the breeding up of the population prior to 1825. Manto, imported in 1825, was the first General Stud Book recorded Thoroughbred mare known by name to arrive in Australia and her family is still producing winners. In 1826 the Thoroughbred stallion Peter Fin, and mares Cutty Sark, the first recorded public auction of bloodstock took place in 1805. After the 1830s more English bred horses were imported for racing, malua, foaled in 1879, was the most versatile Australian Thoroughbred racehorse, winning classic races on the flat and the VRC Grand National Hurdle before becoming a good sire. The New Zealand bred Carbine was one of the champions of the Australian turf, and was later inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. His descendants, the New Zealand bred horses, Phar Lap, Bernborough, Kingston Town, Heroic and Makybe Diva were other champions that have been inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. On 31 March 2011 Black Caviar was rated the best Thoroughbred racehorse in the world by Timeform for the period of 1 October 2010 to 27 March 2011, Australian Thoroughbred breeding has long been involved in the importation of horses, especially from Europe and later the US
10.
Shire of Murrindindi
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The Shire of Murrindindi is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of 3,889 square kilometres and and it includes the towns of Alexandra, Buxton, Eildon, Flowerdale, Kinglake, Marysville, Molesworth, Strath Creek, Taggerty, Yarck and Yea. It was formed in 1994 from the amalgamation of the Shire of Alexandra, Shire of Yea, the Shire is named after the locality of Murrindindi, which is located near the geographical centre of the LGA. Parts of Murrindindi were badly affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, notably the towns of Marysville,106 people lost their lives across the Shire that day, including 38 in Kinglake and 34 in Marysville. The council is composed of five wards and five councillors, with one councillor per ward elected to represent each ward, the council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Alexandra Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the councils administrative activities. It also provides services at both its administrative centre in Alexandra, and its service centres in Kinglake and Yea. List of localities Murrindindi Shire Council official website Camping in Murrindindi Metlink local public transport map Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
11.
Goulburn River
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The river is impounded by the Eildon Dam to create Lake Eildon, the Eildon Pondage, the Goulburn Weir and Waranga Basin. The river rises below Corn Hill on the slopes of the Victorian Alps. The Goulburn has 41 tributaries including the Black, Jamieson, Howqua, Delatite, Big, Rubicon, Acheron, Yea, and Broken rivers, the river descends 1,100 metres over its 654-kilometre course. In addition to being the longest river in Victoria, the Goulburn also has the highest discharge, the area surrounding the river is very productive as a result of irrigated agriculture. The Goulburn accounts for 45% of the Murray-Darling Basins total runoff, by contrast, the Darling basin contributes just 31. 7% of the basins total runoff. Much of the flow is extracted, and the river is heavily regulated. With recent years being some of the driest on record in the basin, because of all this there has been much controversy over the construction of the North–South Pipeline, which will pipe 70 gigalitres of water annually to Melbournes water supply. The Goulburn Heritage River was declared in 1992 in recognition of its natural, recreational, scenic. In June 2010, the Victorian Government created the Lower Goulburn National Park to protect, Red River Gum forests line the Goulburn River for most of its length, reaching up to 45 metres in height and live more than 500 years. The trees need periods of flooding and can survive inundation for months and their seeds are washed onto higher ground during a flood and germinate and grow before the next flood reaches them. Hollows and broken branches provide nesting for galahs, cockatoos, cockatiels and various parrots, in the upper reaches, there are extensive forests of very tall mountain ash and mixed species and may be described as typical trout streams. In the Ngurai-illamwurrung language, the river is also called Omio, hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the area in 1824, naming the Goulburn River in honour of Major Frederick Goulburn, the first Colonial Secretary of New South Wales. Goulburn–Murray Water List of rivers of Victoria Murray Darling Basin Authority Goulburn River Valley tourism site, upper Goulburn River Catchment Local Management Rules. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014
12.
Seymour, Victoria
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Seymour is a township in Mitchell Shire in the state of Victoria, Australia and is located 98 kilometres north of Melbourne. At the 2011 census, Seymour had a population of 6,360, the township services the surrounding agricultural industries as well as the nearby military base of Puckapunyal, which is an important training centre for the Australian Army. Other important sectors of employment in Seymour include retail, light engineering, agricultural support, medical services. The Taungurung people are the owners and inhabitants of the area Seymour now occupies. Specifically it is the land of the Buthera Balug clan who occupied the area when Europeans first settled the region in the early 1800s, in 1824, Hume and Hovell on their return from Port Phillip, camped by the Goulburn River not far upstream of Seymour. In 1836 Major Mitchell crossed the Goulburn at Mitchellstown and soon afterwards overlanders, the mail service between Melbourne and Sydney had been operating for just a year when it was found that a better route was available using the New Crossing Place. The Robert Burns Inn was operating there by the end of 1839, in 1841 the Government decided that the new crossing place was the likely spot for a town. Plans were laid before the Executive Council of NSW and Mitchell proposed the name Seymour which was approved on December 21st,1843, the town was named after Lord Seymour, the son of the 11th Duke of Somerset. The Post Office opened on 1 July 1844, the Australian Army first established a large training camp 4 kilometres east of the township during the First World War. During the Second World War, the eastern camp diminished in importance, as of 2008 Puckapunyal is the centre for the Australian Armys Land Warfare Development Centre and Headquarters Combined Arms Training Centre, with three of the Armys five Schools located on site. Additionally there are smaller training centres and facilities as well as a transport squadron based in Puckapunyal. The base is home to the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Memorial, Seymour College is the government school, providing classes from Prep to Year 12. The college was created in 2010 through a merger of Seymour Technical High School, formerly Seymour High School, Seymour Primary School Seymour East Primary School and Seymour Special School. Major building works currently underway will ultimately see the school located on the one site in Loco Street, Seymour, previously shared by STHS. St Marys College is a Prep to Year 10 Catholic school located in High Street, a number of fraternal, service and community organisations are active in Seymour including Freemasonry, Rotary, the Lions Club, Scouting, and Apex Clubs of Australia. Seymour has an excellent indoor multi-purpose sports centre and indoor swimming complex as well as a number of playing fields for athletics, cricket. The township has a number of successful and well resourced sporting clubs including the Seymour Turf Club, the Seymour campus of the Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, opened in 1998, provides a variety of short courses and vocational education and training. Seymour is located adjacent to the junction of the Hume and Goulburn Valley Highway, Seymour station is served by regular V/Line hourly services to and from Melbourne Southern Cross Station as well as services on the Albury-Wodonga and Shepparton lines
