Shepparton, Victoria

Shepparton Victoria
Shepparton CBD, communications tower and "Mooving Art" display from Monash Park
Shepparton Location in Victoria
Coordinates	36°23′S 145°24′E / 36.383°S 145.400°E / -36.383; 145.400Coordinates: 36°23′S 145°24′E / 36.383°S 145.400°E / -36.383; 145.400
Population	49,371 (2015) (29th)
• Density	198.36/km2 (513.74/sq mi)
Established	24 September 1860 (1860-09-24)
Gazetted	28 September 1860
Area	248.9 km2 (96.1 sq mi) (2011 urban)
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)
• Summer (DST)	AEDT (UTC+11)
Location	184 km (114 mi) NNE of Melbourne 123 km (76 mi) NE of Bendigo 185 km (115 mi) SW of Albury 61 km (38 mi) W of Benalla 4 km (2 mi) E of Mooroopna
LGA(s)	City of Greater Shepparton
County	Moira
State electorate(s)	Shepparton
Federal Division(s)	Murray
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 22.4 °C 72 °F 8.6 °C 47 °F 441.6 mm 17.4 in

Shepparton (/ˈʃɛpərtən/) is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately 181 kilometres (112 mi) north-northeast of Melbourne. At June 2015, the estimated urban population of Shepparton, including Mooroopna, was 49,371.

It began as a sheep station and river crossing in the mid-19th century, before undergoing a major transformation as a railway town. Today it is an agricultural and manufacturing centre, and the centre of the Goulburn Valley irrigation system, one of the largest centres of irrigation in Australia. It is also a major regional service city and the seat of local government and civic administration for the City of Greater Shepparton, which includes the surrounding towns of Tatura, Merrigum, Mooroopna, Murchison, Dookie, Toolamba and Grahamvale.

The name of Shepparton is derived from the surname of the town's first European settler, Sherbourne Sheppard, and not, as is sometimes imagined, from Shepperton, England.

Prior to the white settlement of Australia, the area was inhabited by the Yorta Yorta, an indigenous Australian people traditionally occupying the land around the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day northern Victoria and southern New South Wales. The Yorta Yorta tribe which inhabited the Shepparton area were known as the Kailtheban.