History

Prior to European settlement, the region was occupied by the Taungurung people who continued to camp and hold corroborees on the town site into the 1860s. In 1824, explorers Hume and Hovell were the first white men to come to the area, but more significantly Thomas Mitchell's party crossed the Goulburn River to the north of the town site in 1836 and were followed soon after by over Landers & settlers. The mail service between Melbourne and Sydney was established in 1838 and followed Mitchell's route. In 1839 it was found that 16km could be saved by fording the river at a site to the south which became known as the "New Crossing Place"- the future town site of Seymour.

Inn Keeper, John Clarke, moved his business from the "Old Crossing Place" at Mitchellstown and set up a punt service and an inn at the new ford known as the Robert Burns Inn. The government regarded the new location as a more promising town site than Mitchellstown and so carried out a survey in 1843. Thomas Mitchell named the hamlet after British parliamentarian Lord Seymour, the son of the 11th Duke of Somerset. Town allotments went on sale in 1844.

As traffic increased a second inn called the Seymour Hotel, which also housed the first post office, was built on the western bank of the river. The site was besieged by bushrangers in the late 1840s and never really developed. Faced with competition, John Clark built a two-storey stone hotel in 1848, known as the Royal George Hotel and it now forms the rear portion of the still operating Royal Hotel in Emily Street.

When the gold rush era began in 1851, traffic on the Sydney road greatly increased to the town's benefit and the population began to grow. Small farms sprung up around the settlement adding to the prosperity of Seymour which by 1854 had a population of 138.

A National School opened in 1857 in Tallarook Street (on that site the building constructed in 1860 still forms part of the existing school) and a Methodist Church was built in 1860. In 1863 the Seymour Roads Board was formed (which later became known as Seymour Shire Council) and the same year saw the construction of an Anglican Church as well as the first bridge across the Goulburn. By 1865 the population had climbed to 450. The Colonial Bank was opened in 1868 followed by the Bank of Victoria in 1872 (this building is still standing today).

The arrival of the railway in 1872 had a profound impact on the town by providing employment and economic activity. As an important railway junction, with workshops and administration centre, the town started to expand commercially, demographically and geographically with the 'new town' developing around Station Street.

The rail connection, local terrain, good water supply and agreeable property owners made the area a convenient assembly point for inspections. Thus, when Lord Kitchener came to Australia in 1910 to advise the government on military matters, he inspected a major encampment at the racecourse and recommended it as a permanent military training area. When World War 1 arrived, a few years later, the permanent camp was set up and, in 1920, Seymour Shire became the chief military area in the state. This ultimately led to the establishment of the Puckapunyal camp in World War 11.

The association of the area with army training camps really began in 1887 with the formation of the Seymour Troop of the Victorian Mounted Rifles. After Federation this troop became part of the 7th Australian Light Horse camped at Site 17 (now the Australian Light Horse Memorial Park).  

Today, Seymour is still a growing and thriving community.

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