Seymour, Victoria
Seymour () is a historic railway township located in the Southern end of the Goulburn Valley in the Shire of Mitchell, Victoria, Australia and is located north of Melbourne. At the , Seymour had a population of 6,327. The township services the surrounding agricultural industries (primarily equine, cattle, sheep and wine) as well as the nearby military base of Puckapunyal (population 1,176), which is an important training centre for the Australian Army. Other important sectors of employment in Seymour include retail, light engineering, agricultural services support, medical services, and education. History. The Taungurung people are the traditional 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 Thomas Mitchell crossed the Goulburn at Mitchellstown and soon afterwards overlanders and other early settlers began to use this crossing place on the Melbourne–Sydney route (now known as the Hume Highway). 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 21 December 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 railway arrived in 1872 along with substantial infrastructure to support  it, establishing the town as an important rail hub for the Goulburn Valley, the Melbourne–Sydney railway and North Eastern Victoria. It was one of the first Victorian examples of the railway town phenomenon, in the heyday of the railway it employed 400 men and along with their families comprised one-third of the town, or 1500 people. In 1871 the Shire of Seymour was established which also included the towns and localities of Avenel, Mangalore, Tallarook, Whiteheads Creek, Trawool, Hilldene and Northwood .It was proclaimed The Rural City of Seymour in 1993, in 1994 The Rural City of Seymour  was abolished and incorporated into the Shire of Mitchell. Puckapunyal Army base. The Australian Army first established a large training camp east of the township during the First World War. During the Second World War, the eastern camp diminished in importance and a substantially larger and more permanent military township was established to the west at Puckapunyal. Puckapunyal is the centre for the Australian Army's Land Warfare Development Centre (LWDC) and Headquarters Combined Arms Training Centre (HQ CATC), with three of the Army's five Schools located on site. Additionally, there are smaller training centres and facilities as well  as the Road Transport Wing of the Army Logistic Training Centre's Army School of Transport based in Puckapunyal. The base is also home to the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Memorial and Army Tank Museum. Wine. Seymour is located at the southern end of the Goulburn Valley wine region. The main influencing factors in the Goulburn Valley wine region are the hills of the Great Dividing Range and the Goulburn River which mitigates lengthy and warm summers. Top varieties: Shiraz, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling and Marsanne Soil types: sandy clay loams, clay loams and gritty, gravelly quartzose sands There are  several wineries in and near the township which include Wine x Sam, Tahbilk, Mitchelton Winery, Fowles Wines, Kensington Wines and several other boutique vineyards Box Grove vineyard, Brave Goose vineyard, Somerset Crossing vineyard, Vitto Oles Wines and Traawool Valley wines. Each year "Tastes of the Goulburn" food and wine festival is hosted in Seymour, showcasing the best local produce from the Goulburn Valley. Seymour also hosts the Victorian Wine Show. Education. 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 (STHS), Seymour  Primary School (SPS) Seymour East Primary School (SEPS) and Seymour Special School (SSS) located in Loco Street. St Mary's College is a Prep to Year 10 Catholic school located in High Street. The Seymour campus of the Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, opened in 1998, provides a variety of short courses and vocational education and training. Transport. Seymour is located adjacent to the junction of the Hume and Goulburn Valley Highway. The Hume Highway crossed the Goulburn River and diverted all Melbourne-Sydney bound traffic though the township for over 100 years until a freeway bypass was opened routing  all non-local and interstate traffic around the township in 1982. Seymour station is served by regular V/Line hourly services to and from Melbourne Southern Cross station as well as services on the Albury and Shepparton lines. The station was once a major freight marshalling location and the home of a significant locomotive depot. Victoria's electronic ticketing system, Myki, was implemented on rail services between Seymour and Melbourne on 24 June 2013. Community. Seymour is host to many community and service groups including Freemasonry (established in Seymour in 1883), Rotary, the Lions Club, Scouting, Apex Clubs of Australia  and Probus. In addition, local advocacy groups include The Seymour We Want, locally based offices of statewide organisations including Berry Street and Closing The Health Gap (amongst others). Sport. Seymour is well equipped with sporting facilities that include an indoor multi-purpose sports and aquatic centre, outdoor pool as well as a number of large playing fields for athletics, cricket and football. Seymour has a number of successful and well resourced sporting clubs including Cricket, Tennis, Football, Lawn Bowls, Kick Boxing, Basketball and Netball. Eastern Hill Cricket Club whose home ground is at Kings Park, compete in the Seymour and  District Cricket Association fielding 3 senior and 3 junior teams. Seymour Football Club compete in the Goulburn Valley Football League. Seymour has a horse racing club, the Seymour Racing Club, which schedules around twenty race meetings a year including the Seymour Cup meeting in October. Golfers play at the course of the Seymour Golf Club on Yea Road. Media. Television. Local Free-to-Air TV channels in Seymour are available from Shepparton and broadcast from a relay transmitter located south of Seymour on West Falls Road at Meadows Hill. Viewers located on the outskirts of Seymour and nearby towns can  receive reception from the Mount Major transmitter east of Shepparton or Bendigo via the Mount Alexander transmitter.