Goroke
Population: 200
Distances:
Horsham - 67kms
Melbourne - 336kms
Goroke is a small pastoral and agricultural centre of some 200 people located 366 km north-west of Melbourne and 67 km west of Horsham.
The town was laid out in 1882 and named after the Aboriginal term for the district which apparently meant 'magpie'. In 1884 the population was recorded as about 50. It served as a supply centre for local selectors. By 1887 there was a flour mill, two stores, a school, a mechanics' hall, an hotel and a blacksmith's. The only linkage to Nhill and Kaniva was by a desert track. By 1891 the population had increased to 91. A railway line to Natimuk was completed in 1894.
Poet John Shaw Nielson (aged 8) and his family settled at Lake Minimay, 30 km north-west of Goroke, in 1880. He briefly attended school there and worked as a farm labourer. It was here that he began writing poetry, his work inspired by local landscapes. The family left for Nhill owing to drought in 1885.
