Winton 3673 Winton 3673

Winton is a rural village and locality on the route between Melbourne and Albury. It is between Benalla and Glenrowan, and is situated on Seven Mile Creek which crosses the Hume Highway and enters Lake Mokoan (originally Lake Winton) to the north. Winton is in mostly flat country with little tree cover.

Its name was goven by Assistant Surveyor J. G. Wilmot who re0surveyed the road to Gelnrowan and surveyed the township lots in 1857. He named the township after his birthplace, Wintpon, Westmorland, North England. Settlers, many of who were Irish, came to the Winton dsitrict in the 1860s. A Catholic school was opened in 1869, and was replaced by a government school in 1877. The earliest settler who stayed and rose to lcoa prominence, however, was George Chandler who opened a store on the Melbourne-Albury road in the 1850s. He became hotel-keeper, postmaster and later the Benalla shire's rate collector.

Winton railway station was opened in 1877 on the Melbourne-Albury railway line (1873). It had a firewood siding for transport of fuel. The cutting down of trees coincided with a decline in local rainfall, which resulted in a move from dairying to meat and wool produciton. Before the turn of the century Winton had Presbyterian (1879-1950), Methodist (1868-1964) and Anglican (1900-60) churches, a butter factory, race club, hotel, school and public hall. The closure of the churches charts Winton';s fading as a district centre, proabbly because of its proximity to Benalla.

Winton has become better known for recreation and water sport on Lake Mokoan and for motor racing on the Winton Racing Circuit. Originally the Winton Swamp north of the Hume Highway, the swamp was formed as a water storage in 1971 and anmed Mokoan after an early pastoral run. The racing circuit is next to the Winton village, and both are bypassed by the Hume Freeway which runs between them and Lake Mokoan.

Further north, on the other side of the lake, is the village of Thoona. Its census population has never exceeded 200, but the current district population is probably near Winton's. Thoona has a school (1878), two churches, a hall and a recreation reserve. At the turn of the century it also had a butter factory, brickworks, foundry, mechanics' institute and dramatic and choral societies. The village and the school were named Mokoan until 1886. The name Thoona is thought to be an Aboriginal word meaning village surrounded by hills. There is forested, hilly country north of Thoona.

Winton's census populations have been 62 (1861), 279 (1911), 220 (1933) and 164 (1961).

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