Katandra and District Squatters

Squatters moved into unoccupied Victorian countryside from both the North (southern NSW areas) and the South (Port Phillip Bay and Portland). Squatting began soon after October 1835 when “overlanders” Hawdon, Gardiner and Hepburn drove the first cattle from NSW down the central corridor, roughly following Major Mitchell’s line. The Murray region started to be taken up from 1835 with a peak uptake in 1843, dropping to nil in 1849. (* from “Victorian Squatters” by Spreadborough and Anderson.)