Longerenong

Longerenong Victoria
Longerenong
Coordinates	36°41′02″S 142°20′02″E
Population	237 (2021 census)
Postcode(s)	3401
LGA(s)	Rural City of Horsham Shire of Yarriambiack
State electorate(s)	Lowan
Federal division(s)	Mallee

Longerenong is a locality in the Rural City of Horsham and the Shire of Yarriambiack, Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Longerenong had a population of 237. The agricultural college Longerenong College is located in Longerenong. The name is derived from a Jardwadjali word meaning "the dividing of the waters."

History

In 1844, William Taylor and Dugald McPherson established a pastoral run near the division of the Wimmera River, where one branch forms the Yarriambiack Creek. By 1848, Taylor became the sole proprietor of his portion, naming it Longerenong. He sold the run in 1856 to brothers Charles and Samuel Wilson, the latter of whom built the Longerenong Homestead in 1862 and later funded Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne. In the 1870s, parts of the run were opened for farming, and a short-lived school operated from 1877 to 1879. In 1889 when the Victorian Council of Agricultural Education established an agricultural college on 966 hectares of fertile loamy land. Longerenong Homestead was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 1974.