FACT SHEET
Wycheproof 2010 Inc. P.O. Box 8 WYCHEPROOF Victoria 3527 Website: www.wycheproof.vic.au
Wycheproof
The name of the town comes from the aboriginal word of the Wergaia language – witchi-poorp
meaning rushes growing on a hilltop.
First settled: 1867
Population: 815
Location: on the Calder Highway midway between Melbourne and Mildura and just 90 minutes
from major regional centres such as Bendigo and Horsham. The town is the gateway to the Murray
Mallee Sunset Country tourist route, just 60 minutes south of Swan Hill.
Industry: broad-acre cereal farming
Mt. Wycheproof
Mt Wycheproof rises 43m above the surrounding plain. It is the most northern of a unique group of
granite outcrops that includes neighbouring Mt Jeffcott. Mt Wycheproof is known geologically as a
‘metamorphic boss’ or a granite eruption, regarded as exceptional given the incredibly flat plains
surrounding them. These unique granite outcrops feature a very distinctive botanical composition,
quite different to that of the open country. The lightwood wattle, acacia implexa, is particularly
specific to granite bosses. Friends of Mt. Wycheproof oversee projects for the environmental
upkeep of the mount.
Wycheproof 2010
Wycheproof 2010 (W2010) is the town forum, similar to a progress association. Its aims are to
promote tourism and the local economy, conserve the natural environment, bring together and assist
volunteer organisations in Wycheproof, and liaise with Buloke Shire and other agencies. W2010 will
soon change its name to Wycheproof VISION, and the forum’s new name embodies its ethos to be
a vital, innovative, sustainable, inclusive, organisations network. W2010 supports subcommittees
including the Great Grain Festival Working Group, Music on the Mount, and the Wycheproof Rent
a Farmhouse Project.
King of the Mountain
From 1978 to 1988 Wycheproof hosted the King of the Mountain race, a footrace up the world’s
smallest registered mountain, Mt. Wycheproof, carrying a bag of wheat. Mt Wycheproof has a one
in six gradient and a bag of wheat weighs around 70kg, so it was a major feat to complete the race.
That King of the Mountain race was modeled on the work done by ‘lumpers’ who stacked bags of
wheat onto bullock drays and later trains, prior to the introduction of bulk wheat transport.
Hobsons Bay City Council and Buloke Shire Friendship Alliance
An award winning Alliance established in 2006 between Hobsons Bay City Council and Buloke
Shire Council. This is an Urban Rural Friendship Alliance that fosters and promotes links in
education, arts and culture, environment and business between the two communities. Websites:
www.hobsonsbay.vic.au www.buloke.vic.gov.au
Wycheproof 2010 Inc. P.O. Box 8 WYCHEPROOF Victoria 3527 Website: www.wycheproof.vic.au
