The area was first settled by Europeans in 1840, when a John Brown was forced to stop to repair a wagon axle that broke when he attempted to ford a creek.[4] Lismore was surveyed and named in the 1850s, by which point the settlement had developed to include a public house and a number of houses.[5] Lismore Post Office opened on 1 December 1864.[6] Lismore since grew to become a prosperous service town for the surrounding fine wool producing properties.
The town today
The town is situated on the Hamilton Highway, just a few kilometres from the northernmost lakes in the Colac Lakes system, which includes Lake Corangamite and Lake Colac.
The town features one of the state's oldest private chapels, a Gothic revival style building built by Scottish emigrant Adam Robertson in 1867 from bluestone. There is also large wool-shed built by Robertson.[7]
The town and surrounding area produces wool, lamb, cereals, and oilseed canola. Businesses include three cafes, a hotel, a B&B, a service station, a grain dealer, a farm machinery dealer, a stock and station agent, a post office and newsagent, a sawmill, several craft shops and a supermarket. There is a community health centre with a visiting doctor. There is also a swimming pool and several playgrounds. Nearby Derrinallum has a preschool, a primary school, and a P-12 college.
Sport in Lismore, includes golf, netball, football, cricket, squash, lawn bowls, and croquet. The town, in conjunction with neighbouring township Derrinallum, has an Australian Rules football team, Lismore-Derrinallum, who compete in the Mininera & District Football League. The Lismore Oddfellows Cricket Club was formed at the White Sean Hotel as the Lismore Cricket Club in 1888 and currently competes in the Grenville Cricket Association.
Nearby geographical points of interest include Lake Tooliorook and Mount Elephant, as well as a number of other lakes, some of which have been Ramsar-listed.
2006 train accident
A level crossing accident occurred on 25 May 2006 at Lismore. A truck failed to stop at a crossing, derailing the train, and killing the truck driver.[8]
^Gifford, Peter, "Bryant, Gordon Munro (1914–1991)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2 September 2020
^"Tony Street address at the National Press Club on 4 September 1979 [sound recording]". Trove. Retrieved 2 September 2020. See left of webpage, where says: "Tony Street, a primary producer from Lismore, was the Liberal Party Member for the Federal House of Representatives for Corangamite, Victoria from 1966-1984 during which he held the position of Minister for Industrial Relations and Employment from 1975-1978, Industrial Relations 1978-1980, Foreign Affairs 1980-1983."
