Penshurst is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is in the Shire of Southern Grampians local government area and is located at the foot of Mount Rouse, an extinct volcano. At the , Penshurst had a population of 461. Basic facilities include a hospital with an aged care residency and doctor's surgery, a pub, a hall and two schools – one a State school, the other a Catholic school – the State school has 10 students(2020), the Catholic school 26. History Kolorer gunditj people Before British colonisation, the area around Mount Rouse was the country of the Kolorer gunditj clan of Aboriginal people. Their title is derived from their name for Mount Rouse which was Kolor. The permanent spring that is now located within the Penshurst Botanic Gardens was a traditional meeting place for Aborigines in the region. Arrival of the British Major Thomas Mitchell travelled through the area in 1836, naming Mount Rouse. In late 1839 John Cox, who was a grandson of New South Wales Corps officer William Cox, arrived in the region and established a sheep station which he called Mount Rouse station. Conflict with the Aboriginal population soon followed and in May 1840 a manager at the property named Patrick Codd who had a significant history of violence against Aborigines, was killed. Revenge killings by the colonists resulted in up to twenty Aborigines being shot. A local Indigenous man named Figara Alkapurata (or Roger) was later arrested for Codd's murder and executed in Melbourne. Mount Rouse Aboriginal Protectorate In early 1842, the colonial government decided to create a reserve for Aboriginal people at Mount Rouse. John Cox was ordered off the land, moving to the neighbouring Weerangourt property. In February 1842, around 210 Aborigines from various tribal groups in the region arrived at Mount Rouse accompanied by Assistant Protector Charles Sievwright. The main buildings of the Protectorate were located at what is now the corner of Cox and Martin streets in Penshurst. In his role Sievwright attempted to safeguard the Aborigines assigned to him by reporting the massacres conducted by nearby settlers and by providing rations and shelter. However, these actions infuriated the local colonists who demanded the government replace him, and in September 1842 Dr John Watton was appointed to manage the protectorate. During this time, the Native Police were forcibly rounding up Aboriginal people throughout the Western District and ordering them to go to