Mansfield Shire

About the area

Key Statistics

Location

Mansfield Shire is bounded by the Strathbogie Shire, Benalla and Wangaratta in the north, Wellington in the east, Baw Baw Shire in the South and Yarra Ranges and Murrindindi Shire in the west.

Included Areas

Mansfield Shire includes the suburbs of Mansfield, Bonnie Doon and Surrounds, Jamieson – Goughs Way – Upper Goulburn, and Merrijig – High Country. Mount Buller Alpine Resort as an overlay geography.Mansfield Shire includes the localities of Ancona, Barjarg, Barwite, Bonnie Doon, Boorolite, Bridge Creek, Delatite, Gaffneys Creek, Goughs Bay, Howes Creek, Howqua, Howqua Inlet, Jamieson, Kevington, Lake Eildon, Macs Cove, Maindample, Mansfield, Merrijig, Merton, Mountain Bay, Piries, Sawmill Settlement, Tolmie, Woodfield, Woods Point.

Land Use

Agriculture and horticulture remain central to Mansfield Shire’s economy with cattle and sheep farming, seed production, grape and tomato production significant contributors. Industry clusters related to servicing the agriculture sector are also prevalent.The Shire encompasses a total land area of 3,842 square kilometres, including the Mount Buller Alpine resort area. Over 60% of land in Mansfield Shire is publicly owned and managed.

Name Origin

Mansfield Shire is named after the main town of Mansfield. In early colonial days the settlement was known as Mount Battery, but on becoming a township in 1851, it was renamed Mansfield. There is debate whether this was after a large market town in Nottinghamshire in England, or an early European settled Edward Mansfield.

Indigenous Meaning

The original inhabitants of the Mansfield Shire area were the Taungurung people.

Settlement

The first Europeans to visit Mansfield were Hume and Hovell, who passed through the area on their trek from New South Wales to Port Phillip. Within 15 years much of Mansfield Valley had been appropriated by the Hunter and Watson Pastoral Company with the first farming run established in 1839. Farm workers were the first European settlers from that time and by 1846 a small settlement at Mansfield grew as a stock route camp.The Mansfield town was first surveyed in 1851 and flourished as a service and supply centre for gold mining camps to the south, which grew in numbers during that decade. The population grew steadily with the first school in 1858. Two churches were built in the mid-1860s. The area became a shire in 1866.Arguably the Shire’s greatest claim to fame came in 1878 when Ned Kelly and his gang had a gunfight with the local police, killing three constables. Kelly had been working as a timber labourer in the area for the prior three years. The Kelly gang were subsequently outlawed, and a £500 reward was offered for each man, alive or dead.Mansfield was connected by railway from Tallarook in 1891 (the service was closed in 1978).In 1919, Mansfield Shire was pulled into the neighbouring Shire of Howqua, the area being renamed Howqua Riding. More recently in the mid-1990s, Mansfield hit the headlines for bucking the Local Government amalgamation when it successfully resisted government’s plan for it to join with Benalla. Initially the Shire was amalgamated with Benalla and Warrenbayne to become the Shire of Delatite, but the new shire was abolished in 2002 and the Shire of Mansfield was reinstated along largely the same boundaries as pre-amalgamation.

Major Features

Major features of the Shire include the Great Victorian Rail trail, Mansfield Botanic Park, the National Alpine Museum at Mt Buller, the Mansfield Zoo, the High Country Huts, Buller Ski Resort, Lake Eildon and the Alpine National Park.

Transport

Mansfield Shire is served by the Midland and Maroondah Highways.

Mansfield Shire Council

economic profile