An agricultural town on the Glenelg River that is central to a pastoral district producing wool, fat lambs and milk. It is also remembered as beinb the birthplace of the Kelpie breed of dog.
Location: 66 km west of Hamilton on the Glenelg Highway.
Origin of name: the area was first taken up by the pastoralists the Henty Brothers in 1837. It is believed the name was given to their run here, and recalls the Lakes District town in Cumbia, England. It is an old English name meaning 'camp' or 'camp town'.
Brief history: the area was first settled in 1837, but trouble between whites and Kanalgundidj Aborigines who occasionally fed upon the white's sheep, which gradually displaced their traditional food sources, culminated in a massacre of kooris a year later on their corroboree site now known as Murdering Flat. Iy 1857 Protector of Aborigines, George Robinson, observed that "The tribe is nearly extinct" and he reflected upon the degree to which alcoholism had spread through the community as the traditional culture collapsed. The townsite of Casterton, which emerged on a crossing place along the Glenelg River, was surveyed in 1840. By 1880 the large squatting runs were being broken up for closer settlement by selectors. The railway arrived in 1884 and Casterton became the western terminus of the state's rail service.
Natural features: Glenelg River (scenic launch trips, fishing, water skiing) Dergholm State Park; Tooloy and Lake Mundi State Game Reserve and Fauna Reserve (35 km north-east); Dergholm State Park (boasting Australia's largest river red gum, Bilstons Tree, which is believed to be more than 800 years old, stands over 40 metres in height, has a girth of seven metres and is estimated to contain 258 cubic metres of timber).
Heritage features: 'Warrock' homestead and 40 original outbuildings (1843-63); 'Muntham' homestead and barn (1837); 'Dunrobin' homestead (c.1856)
