Wonwondah

Wonwondah is a rural district in western Victoria, 20 km south of Horsham and 260 km north-west of Melbourne. It was named after the Wonwondah pastoral run (1843) and it is thought that the word was derived from an Aboriginal expression describing a small bush or swamp. The district is mainly flat, crossed by the Mackenzie River and other creeks from the foothills of the western Grampians. In the 1990s VicRoads atlases there were four Wonwondah place names, but in the 2007 edition there was none.

The Wonwondah pastoral station (50 sq km) was subdivided into Wonwondah North and Wonwondah South, both of which have continued as local district names. There is also Wonwondah East which was described in the 1903 Australian handbook:

In 1881-82 both stations were subdivided for farm selections. The Wonwondah South homestead and woolshed (1854), of vernacular slab construction, are on the Register of the National Estate.

Three small district schools were opened during 1877-81, an indication of the short period in which the selections were taken up. There was, however, no single community centre, the schools or farm barns serving as meeting places until the next century. Wonwondah East had a short-lived Tucker village settlement during 1892-94, the first of several such settlements organised by the Anglican clergy, Horace Tucker, for the relief of unemployed persons during the 1890s financial depression.

The district's population peaked during the 1920s when football, cricket and tennis clubs were formed. A Presbyterian church was opened at Wonwondah North in 1932, and it has been there that community facilities have lasted longest. It has a hall and a CFA station. The church closed in 1982 (worshippers later using the hall) and the school closed in 1986. The other schools had closed in 1949 (Wonwondah East) and 1969.

The district's census populations have been: