Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

Stanley, Victoria

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Population
  
324 (2006 census)

LGA(s)
  
Shire of Indigo

Elevation
  
800 m

Local time
  
Sunday 11:33 AM

Postcode(s)
  
3747

State electorate(s)
  
Benambra

Postal code
  
3747

Federal division
  
Division of Indi

Stanley, Victoria stanleyvictoriacomauwpcontentuploads201202

Location
  
296 km (184 mi) NE of Melbourne 49 km (30 mi) E of Wangaratta 12 km (7 mi) SE of Beechworth

Weather
  
23°C, Wind N at 8 km/h, 56% Humidity

Stanley is a small town approximately 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from Beechworth in Victoria noted for its apple & nut farms. At the 2011 census, Stanley had a population of 324.

Contents

Map of Stanley VIC 3747, Australia

The town was formerly known as Snake Gully and Nine Mile Creek. Many parts of this rural community have the remains of gold diggings from the Victorian gold rush of the mid-1800s.

Gold rush era

The district has an important historic gold mining past and produced some colourful people during that heyday. Among them was John Scarlett (1824-?), a Scottish miner. Scarlett was involved in all things associated with writing to the newspapers, calling meetings and voicing his opinions. Originally a dry miner, he advocated rights for this type of operator, then on acquiring access to water he became an advocate for wet miners to the exclusion of the dry operators. He stood for mining board elections and then Victorian parliament in 1859. He appears in two historical works of the district: Woods, Beechworth and more so in O'Brien, Shenanigans. Scarlett eventually became the Secretary for the local roads board. No known photo of him exists. In her book, Carole Woods termed Scarlett the "Nine Mile Warrior". O'Brien's work with the local 1850s papers uncovered an advertisement against Scarlett and much doggerel verse: a local paper christened Scarlett a "water squatter".

During the gold era, the Stanley region comprised a higher proportion of miners from Scotland, in comparison to other localties in the surrounding area. (O'Brien) The gold mining carried out in the district involved (wet) sluicing operations.

Like many goldfields in northeastern Victoria there was a Chinese presence at Stanley.

Stanley today

The town centre includes the Old Store Cafe (Closed), Stanley Pub, Primary School (currently not used as a school), CFA Fire Shed, Uniting Church, Recreational Reserve, Town Hall and Athenaeum (library). A store was built by Syd Mathieson (circa 1852),The Post Office was officially recognised and opened on 1 October 1857 as Nine Mile Creek and was renamed Stanley the next year. but ceased trading in 2010.

There remain only two of the original buildings in Stanley, they being the store and powder magazine at the rear and the old police lock-up on Collins Road.

There are limited building permits being issued for Stanley to allow for controllable use of services such as water (there is no town water, just private bores and water tanks; some residents pump from local creeks.)

References

Stanley, Victoria Wikipedia