Hamilton is a large town in south-western Victoria, Australia, at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway. The Hamilton Highway connects it to Geelong. Hamilton is in the federal Division of Wannon, and is in the Southern Grampians local government area. Hamilton claims to be the "Wool Capital of the World", based on its strong historical links to sheep grazing which continue today. The town uses the tagline "Greater Hamilton: one place, many possibilities". History Early history Hamilton was built near the border of three traditional indigenous tribal territories: the Gunditjmara land that stretches south to the coast, the Tjapwurong land to the north east and the Bunganditj territory to the west. People who lived in these areas tended to be settled rather than nomadic. The region is fertile and well-watered, leading to an abundance of wildlife, and no need to travel far for food. Physical remains such as the weirs and fish traps found in Lake Condah to the south of Hamilton, as well as accounts of early white settlers support local indigenous oral histories of well-established settlements in the area. British colonisation On 12 September 1836, the explorer, Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to travel through the region. His reports of the fertility and abundance of ‘Australia Felix’ (as he called this region of Western Victoria) encouraged pastoralists to move to the area and set up large sheep runs. In 1839, squatter Charles Wedge and his brothers arrived in the area and established ‘The Grange' sheep station upon the banks of the Grange Burn rivulet where the town of Hamilton now stands. There soon followed significant conflict between Wedge's men and the local Aboriginal people. Wedge reported attacks on his shepherds and the loss of hundreds of sheep and other livestock. In 1840, the killing of Patrick Codd, who had been employed on The Grange, led to at least three separate punitive expeditions which resulted in the deaths of more than ten Aborigines. Wedge infamously had a swivel gun mounted outside his homestead to deter the Indigenous people from approaching and he claimed that the "depredations did not cease till many lives were sacrificed". The "frequent collisions" compelled the squatters of the area to request protection from the Government. In 1842 temporary protection came from troopers of the Native Police under Captain Henry Dana and from the Border Police under Captain Foster Fyans.