Moonambel is a town in the Pyrenees region of the Australian state of Victoria, situated along the Stawell-Avoca Road [about from the junction with the Sunraysia Highway]. The town is located in the Pyrenees Shire Local Government Area, near the heart of the Pyrenees wine region. The name 'Moonambel' is believed to be an aboriginal word meaning 'hollow in the hills'.
The population of Moonambel, as recorded at the 2016 Census, was 167 with a median age of 59. There were 116 private dwellings in Moonambel and the surrounding district.
In the 1850s the location of Moonambel was part of the âÂÂMountain Creekâ pastoral run, consisting of 80,000 acres. In 1853 âÂÂMountain Creekâ station was running about 16,000 sheep.
In December 1860 reports began to appear of a gold-rush at McKinnon's âÂÂMountain Creekâ station. By mid-January 1861 a visitor to âÂÂMcKinnonâÂÂs Goldfieldâ professed to be âÂÂutterly astounded at the extent of the diggingsâÂÂ, which were situated âÂÂat the head of a small creek, which runs from a spur of the Pyrenees into the Avoca RiverâÂÂ. On the flat at the head of the creek were âÂÂseveral hundred holes, from five to fifteen feet deep, yielding payable returnsâÂÂ. The writer claimed âÂÂthere are about 10,000 people on this diggings, including storekeepers, etc., and almost everyone is doing wellâÂÂ.
By May 1861 the township that had developed on the Mountain Creek diggings was named âÂÂMoonambelâÂÂ. In June 1861 sixty-one town allotments were offered for sale at Moonambel. On 21 October 1861 the âÂÂmunicipal district of Moonambel, on Mountain Creekâ was proclaimed.
In January 1865 the municipal councils of Avoca and Moonambel, as well as the Avoca Road Board, amalgamated to form the Avoca Shire Council.
In July 1865 a correspondent from Moonambel wrote that âÂÂthis little township has at last, after being latent for some time, begun to have rather a lively appearance in the way of future prosperity and successâÂÂ. It was expected that the nearby Slaughteryard Reef would have stone-crushing machinery installed. The writer added that âÂÂin agricultural matters⦠a vast number of beautiful farms are now under cultivationâÂÂ.
In the 1871 Census Moonambel is recorded as having a population of 280. In 1875 an Anglican school that had opened in 1861 at Moonambel was replaced by a government school in a substantial brick building.
In the Census of 1881 Moonambel is recorded as having a population of 604 inhabitants.
A description of Moonambel published in 1903 in the Australian Handbook contains the following details: âÂÂpopulation, about 250âÂÂ; three churches (Anglican, Roman Catholic and Wesleyan); the Commercial Hotel; a soap manufactory; âÂÂmining and farming are the chief employments of the inhabitantsâÂÂ; âÂÂthere is a flourishing vineyard and a Government crushing battery hereâÂÂ; âÂÂlighted with keroseneâÂÂ.
In the mid-1880s W. A. Adams had planted 40 acres of wine grapes on his âÂÂMountain Creek estateâ one mile east of Moonambel. The vineyard was acquired by John Kofoed in 1918 who set about re-working and revitalising the old and damaged vines. The varieties cultivated were Hermitage, Miller's Burgundy, Dolcetto, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Chasselas and Pedro, with one-third of the vineyard planted to Cabernet. In 1934 Kofoed was one of only two producers of the Cabernet variety in Victoria. Wines produced from John Kofoed's âÂÂMountain Creekâ vineyard were mainly sold on the domestic market, though some were exported to England.
In the Census of 1961 Moonambel had a population of 105.
Moonambel's location in a valley and in a sparsely populated part of the state resulted in poor mobile phone reception which impacted on local residents and tourists. A base station was funded under the Mobile Black Spot Program and built in 2017.