Terrick Terrick
Terrick Terrick is a rural district east of Pyramid Hill. The district’s chief feature, Mount Terrick Terrick and a surrounding public reserve, are 65 km north of Bendigo.
Terrick Terrick was a pastoral run taken up by William Mitchell in 1845. (Mitchell was appointed Chief Commissioner of Police during the gold rushes and was later knighted). There were also Terrick Terrick No 2 and Terrick Terrick Plains pastoral runs (1846-47), and it was on the former that the large Terrick homestead was built, using local granite and bricks. A fragment of the homestead remained in 1990.
‘Terrick Terrick’ is derived from Aboriginal words for which several meanings have been surmised. The one most accepted is two sisters, referring to the two rises in the Mount Terrick Terrick range.
Upon the occupation of farm selections in the Terrick Terrick district, a school was opened in 1876. The village of Terrick Terrick was west of Mount Hope Creek on Jungaburra Road. The Victorian municipal directory (1887) recorded a school, a police station and a Catholic church (1874-1948). Two hotels, two stores and a branch bank were also recorded. In 1953 the church building was moved to Pyramid Hill (St Patricks hall) and the school building was moved to Mologa East as early as 1902.
In 1903 the Australian handbook described Terrick Terrick:
The future centres of local settlement, however, were along the railway line through Mitiamo and Mologa to Pyramid Hill. The extension of stock water supply channels to the district, has maintained farm population numbers that would otherwise have fallen further.
Terrick Terrick State Park (1988) consists of 25 sq km of grassy woodland, considered to contain important ranges of fauna and flora (especially white cypress pine). There are outstanding views of the plains from Mount Terrick Terrick.
Terrick Terrick’s census populations have been:
census date | population |
---|---|
1911 | 282 |
1933 | 211 |
Further Reading
Helen Stevens, Rocks, pines and people: the Terrick Terrick, Sylvaterre, Bald Rock story, Pyramid Hill, 2001