Charlton is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is a small agricultural community straddling the Avoca River, located at the junction of the Calder Highway (A79) and Borung Highway (C239) and positioned in the last of the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. Halfway between Melbourne and Mildura, Charlton is a popular tourist stop. History The traditional owners of the region are the Jaara people, part of the Djadjawurrung language group of the Kulin nation. They called the area "Youanduk", meaning a basin in a rock, because there were a number of depressions in the local rocks providing a reliable water supply. The names of surrounding agricultural districts reflect the legacy of the First Nations inhabitants: Barrakee, Buckrabanyule, Woosang, Wooroonook and Yeungroon. After extensive travels throughout the region by Major Thomas Mitchell, settlement by Europeans commenced in 1848 when the squatters Robert Cay and William Kaye established a station and named the region after Charlton near Greenwich, England. Unlike many other towns in the region, Charlton was not established as a result of gold mining, but for pastoral purposes and the proximity to a permanent water supply provided by the Avoca River. The town was originally named East Charlton due to its location on the eastern banks of the Avoca River, and because another Victoria town was already named Charlton (renamed Chute in 1879). The East Charlton Post Office opened on 21 December 1876 (renamed Charlton in 1879) replacing an earlier (1854) office nearby named Yowen Hill. The first bridge crossing the river was erected in 1867 by James Paterson, allowing expansion on both sides of the river. Throughout the history of Charlton, the Avoca River has been known for its regular flooding after heavy rain. Floods have often surrounded the town or, on rare occasions, flooded the town itself. Levee banks were constructed to their present levels in the 1950s, but parts of the town were flooded in September 2010. Minor flooding occurred again in December 2010, with the highest-ever recorded flood level inundating the town in January 2011, some homes within the town being inundated by water more than 1.6 meters above floor level. A prominent landmark is the former hotel, the "Vale of Avoca", built in 1879 by James and Elizabeth Egan, on the site of an early bark hut inn. Constructed on a reef of stone, Mrs Egan named the building as being in the "vale"