Mount Macedon, Victoria
Mount Macedon is a small town north-west of Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria. The town is located below the mountain of the same name, which rises to . At the 2016 census, Mount Macedon had a population of and is best known for its collection of 19th-century gardens and associated extravagant large homes, which is considered to be one of the most important such collections in Australia. Features and location. Mount Macedon township was largely established by Melbourne's wealthy elite in the post-gold rush era of the mid to late 19th century  who used it as a summer retreat. The post office opened on 18 July 1870, known as Upper Macedon until 1879 and Macedon Upper until 1936. An earlier (1843) post office (previously) named Mount Macedon is located in Kyneton. It was renamed Kyneton (post office) on 1 January 1854. Kyneton. Due to its relatively high elevation of approximately , the area experiences much cooler temperatures on average relative to nearby Melbourne. The area also receives high rainfall relative to the surrounding plains and much of the Melbourne area. This combination of geographic factors have contributed to the town's reputation as  a resort town and wine region. Snowfall is a fairly regular feature on the higher elevations of the mountain, although the peak of the mountain is marginally too low for snowfalls to lie on the ground for more than a few days in most instances. Occasionally, the lower parts of the town experience snowfalls and on occasion these have been substantial. The gardens and homes of Mount Macedon are well known for their size and scale, some of which contain collections of exotic plants that are rare in cultivation. Mountain. The mountain is known as "Geboor" or "Geburrh" in the  Aboriginal Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people. The Mount Macedon area also comprises a second important peak, the Camel's Hump or Camels Hump, rising to above sea level. The volcanic trachyte rock of the crag is used by rock climbers and the mountain has become a sport climbing venue due to its proximity to Melbourne. History. The mountain was sighted by Hamilton Hume and William Hovell on their 1824 expedition to Port Phillip from NSW. They named it Mount Wentworth. It was renamed Mount Macedon by explorer Major Thomas Mitchell who ascended the mountain in 1836. He named it  after Philip of Macedon in honour of the fact that he was able to view Port Philip from the summit. Several other geographic features along the path of his third "Australia Felix" expedition were named after figures of Ancient Macedonia including the nearby Campaspe River and Mount Alexander near Castlemaine (named after Alexander the Great). Heritage. Government house. The newspaper proprietor, David Syme, built 'Rosenheim' on 24 hectares in 1869. It was acquired in 1886 for successive Victoria Governors. The state parliament approved funds of £12,000 to purchase a Government house near the top of Mount Macedon as the  location of the official summer residence of the Governor of Victoria in the late 1880s. It was renovated in 1892. By the 1930s the residence was commonly referred to as Government Cottage. The residence was described in 1933 as an ""estate consists of slightly more than 54 acres at Upper Macedon, two and a half miles from the Macedon railway station. There is a two-storied wooden building of 31 rooms, besides four bathrooms and six storerooms, as well as six detached rooms for servants' quarters, an entrance lodge containing, four rooms and stabling and garage."" The official residence and  land was sold for £5,600 in 1934 via public auction to raise funds in the post-Depression economy and as the Premier at the time, Sir Stanley Argyle, said ""the estate no longer justified itself because none of the recent Governors had made much use of it"". See section below in Notable Houses. Barbours Tramway and Log Chute. The heritage-listed Barbours Tramway and Log Chute is located on the northern slopes of Mount Macedon inside the Macedon Regional Park. It was constructed around 1856, to remove logs from the plateau down to Robert Barbour's Black Forest Sawmill . The tramway brought logs to the head of a chute above the mill. Remnants of the tramway includes ""a substantial cutting and embankment, and a well-defined chute impression extending about 500 metres down the mountain"". The site is the oldest known log chute in Victoria and one of the oldest extant sections of tramway in Victoria Macedon Sanatorium for Consumptives. Mount Macedon was the site of the controversial Macedon Sanatorium for Consumptives, which treated Tuberculosis patients in the early 20th century. It was opened in 1898 and was described in The Age at the time ""on the slope of  one of the hills in Upper Macedon, about 2500 feet above sea level, in a climate which has been tested for many years, and proved exceedingly efficacious in cases of lung disease"". Annis and George Bills Horse Trough. Situated on Mt Macedon Road is an example of an Annis & George Bills Horse Trough which was installed by a memorial trust set up by Mr George Bills. It is one of 500 horse troughs donated free of charge to towns across NSW and Victoria to grant Mr Bills wish that he wanted "no animals to go thirsty". Attractions. Memorial Cross. One  of the major attractions of Mount Macedon is the high memorial cross which stands near the summit of the mountain. This structure was established by early resident William Cameron in 1935 as a memorial to those who died in World War I. The view from the summit of Mount Macedon takes in Melbourne city, the Dandenong Ranges and the You Yangs near Geelong. Forestry. Another attraction of the Mount Macedon area is the extensive native forests which cover the mountain and surround the town. Intense harvesting of the native timber on the slopes of Mount Macedon for building and use  in the gold mining industry in the early 19th century resulted in the rapid deforestation of the area, to the extent that efforts to replant the forests were undertaken in the late 1880s. Much of the forest on Mount Macedon consists of wet sclerophyll communities which are more commonly associated with areas east of Melbourne. Alpine Ash ("Eucalyptus delegatensis") occurs here at the western extent of its range and Mountain Ash ("Eucalyptus regnans") at the northwestern extent of its range, Snow Gums ("Eucalyptus pauciflora") are also found on the highest peaks. A large area of the Macedon Ranges forest is  included in the Macedon Regional Park, managed by Parks Victoria. The area was devastated by the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, including 80 hectares of Snow Gum ("Eucalyptus pauciflora") and Alpine Ash ("Eucalyptus delegatensis") and 150 hectares of soft wood timber plantation, however the forests and gardens have since regrown. Film industry. Mount Macedon has been used as a filming location by some US film production companies, due to lower costs associated with filming outside the US, and the architecture and horticulture of the area closely resembling places in the Northern Hemisphere with an abundance of deciduous trees. The 2009 Nicolas  Cage film "Knowing" was filmed in locations in the township, along with nearby Macedon, and "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" was also filmed in the town over the 2009 winter. Scenes in "Where the Wild Things Are" were filmed in the forest surrounding Mount Macedon. Sport. Golfers play at the course of the Mount Macedon Golf Club on Mount Macedon Road. An annual tennis tournament was held in January in Mount Macedon for a period in the 1930s. Fox hunting in the surrounding forest was popular in the early nineteenth century, although native animals were frequently encountered and  killed.