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29-509: The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria . It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social catchment of Horsham , its main settlement. The Wimmera district covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub , east of

58-436: A change of state government in 1992. The Little Desert National Park , south of Nhill and west of Dimboola, is a large wilderness area of sand dunes that were too infertile for productive farming even with superphosphate and trace elements. 37°27′S 142°27′E  /  37.45°S 142.45°E  / -37.45; 142.45 Grampians (region) The Grampians is an economic rural region located in

87-485: A number of important towns, such as Horsham , Warracknabeal , Dimboola , Stawell and Nhill . Almost all of these are largely dependent on the grain and sheep industries, and landscape is heavily dominated by flour mills and grain storage silos . The smaller towns in the area are dying due to the declining value of primary products that dominate the region's economy . Similarly, modern farm technology allows individual farmers to stay viable by farming more land, but

116-496: Is 41,963 square kilometres (16,202 sq mi). The area was inhabited by its Indigenous residents (and continues to be) when it was surveyed by the first European to do so Thomas Mitchell in the mid-1830s, and he is credited with naming the Grampians after a mountain range in his native Scotland, and naming the region as Wimmera, adapting a word from the local indigenous language meaning 'throwing stick'. The area contains

145-530: Is contained within all or part of the electoral divisions of Ballarat , Corangamite , Mallee , and Wannon . For the purposes of Victorian elections for the Legislative Assembly , the Grampians region is contained within all or part of the electoral districts of Buninyong , Lowan , Melton , Mildura , Murray Plains , Polwarth , Ripon and Wendouree . The region contains eleven local government areas , which are: The Grampians Region

174-457: Is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agricultural products. Healthy grain supply and trade is important to many societies, providing a caloric base for most food systems as well as important role in animal feed for animal agriculture . The grain trade is as old as agricultural settlement, identified in many of the early cultures that adopted sedentary farming. Major societal changes have been directly connected to

203-1151: Is home to one of Australia's longest running food and wine festivals, Grampians Grape Escape , held over the first weekend of May in Halls Gap every year. Launched in 1992, the Grampians Grape Escape is a hallmark event for Victoria and provides food and wine offerings by more than 100 local artisan producers, live music and family entertainment. The Grampians region contains the Grampians National Park and Little Desert National Park . Grain After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other staple foods , such as starchy fruits ( plantains , breadfruit , etc.) and tubers ( sweet potatoes , cassava , and more). This durability has made grains well suited to industrial agriculture , since they can be mechanically harvested , transported by rail or ship, stored for long periods in silos , and milled for flour or pressed for oil . Thus,

232-565: Is sometimes grown as a perennial . Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, Ceres . Cereals were domesticated in the Neolithic , some 8,000 years ago. Wheat and barley were domesticated in

261-501: The 2016 Australian census , the Grampians region had a population of 236,739, with almost half of the population located in the City of Ballarat . The principal centres of the region, in descending order of population, are Ballarat , Bacchus Marsh , Horsham , Ararat , and Stawell . For the purposes of Australian federal elections for the House of Representatives , the Grampians region

290-683: The Buloke , Hindmarsh , Horsham City , Northern Grampians , West Wimmera and Yarriambiack local government areas . The Victorian Government's Wimmera Catchment Management Authority serves the catchment of the Wimmera River , and that of the Yarriambiack Creek south of the Mallee. The Shire of Wimmera originally covered a large part of the Wimmera and southern Mallee, but retracted over time to cover only land near Horsham. It

319-747: The Fertile Crescent ; rice was domesticated in East Asia, and sorghum and millet were domesticated in West Africa. Maize was domesticated by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. In the 20th century, cereal productivity was greatly increased by the Green Revolution . This increase in production has accompanied a growing international trade , with some countries producing large portions of

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348-610: The South Australia border and north of the Great Dividing Range . Most of the Wimmera is very flat, with only the Grampians and Mount Arapiles rising above vast plains and the low plateaux that form the Great Divide in this part of Victoria. The Grampians are very rugged and tilted, with many sheer sandstone cliffs on their eastern sides, but gentle slopes on the west. The Wimmera does not include

377-486: The grain market is a major global commodity market that includes crops such as maize , rice , soybeans , wheat and other grains. Grains and cereal are synonymous with caryopses , the fruits of the grass family . In agronomy and commerce, seeds or fruits from other plant families are called grains if they resemble caryopses. For example, amaranth is sold as " grain amaranth ", and amaranth products may be described as "whole grains". The pre-Hispanic civilizations of

406-685: The Andes had grain-based food systems, but at higher elevations none of the grains was a cereal . All three grains native to the Andes ( kaniwa , kiwicha , and quinoa ) are broad-leafed plants rather than grasses such as corn, rice, and wheat. A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods . They include rice , wheat , rye , oats , barley , millet , and maize . Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat and quinoa , are pseudocereals . Most cereals are annuals , producing one crop from each planting, though rice

435-486: The Pyrenees Ranges, across the northern foothills of the Grampians then towards Lake Hindmarsh . Many streams in the region flow only after sustained heavy rainfall and are often dry for long spells. In recent years Rocklands Reservoir , the main water storage of the district, has been consistently at unusually low levels due to a succession of dry years. The Wimmera is renowned for its natural heritage. One of

464-653: The Wimmera is a sub-region of 2,145,380 hectares (5,301,300 acres) located within the Murray Darling Depression bioregion . The Wimmera is one of the nine districts in Victoria used for weather forecasting by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology . The Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries defines the Wimmera as a 30,000-square-kilometre (12,000 sq mi) region for agricultural production purposes encompassing

493-420: The cereal supply for other countries. Starchy grains from broadleaf (dicot) plant families: Pulses or grain legumes , members of the pea family , have a higher protein content than most other plant foods, at around 20%, while soybeans have as much as 35%. As is the case with all other whole plant foods, pulses also contain carbohydrates and fat. Common pulses include: Oilseed grains are grown primarily for

522-486: The creation of the first temporary settlements and the division of society into classes. This assumption that grain agriculture led to early settlements and social stratification has been challenged by James Scott in his book Against the Grain . He argues that the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to settled agrarian communities was not a voluntary choice driven by the benefits of increased food production due to

551-456: The decreasing population, and better transport, make smaller service centres less and less viable. The climate is semi-arid to sub-humid, with annual rainfall ranging generally from 380 millimetres (15 in) in the north to 580 millimetres (23 in) in the south. In the Grampians, annual precipitation can be as high as 1,150 millimetres (45 in) and snowfalls are not uncommon. Most rain falls in winter, though heavy summer falls can occur,

580-454: The extraction of their edible oil . Vegetable oils provide dietary energy and some essential fatty acids . They are also used as fuel and lubricants. Ancient grains is a marketing term used to describe a category of grains and pseudocereals that are purported to have been minimally changed by selective breeding over recent millennia, as opposed to more widespread cereals such as corn , rice and modern varieties of wheat , which are

609-735: The grain trade, such as the fall of the Roman Empire . From the early modern period onward, grain trade has been an important part of colonial expansion and international power dynamics. The geopolitical dominance of countries like Australia, the United States, Canada and the Soviet Union during the 20th century was connected with their status as grain surplus countries. Those who handle grain at grain facilities may encounter numerous occupational hazards and exposures . Risks include grain entrapment , where workers are submerged in

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638-543: The key preservation areas is contained within the Grampians National Park , which possesses many unusual wildflowers and the greatest diversity of flora and fauna in Victoria west of the Snowy River . The Grampians also possess many important Aboriginal artifacts. A local Aboriginal name Gariwerd was adopted by the National Park in 1991 in recognition of this fact; however, this change was soon reversed after

667-402: The long storage potential of grains, but rather that the shift towards settlements was a coerced transformation imposed by dominant members of a society seeking to expand control over labor and resources. The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat , barley , maize , and rice , and other food grains . Grain is an important trade item because it

696-455: The most famous of which was the thunderstorm that dumped 133.2 millimetres (5.24 in) on Nhill in mid-January 1974. Temperatures are hot in summer, ranging typically from a maximum of 30 °C (86 °F) to a minimum of 14 °C (57 °F), whilst extremes can be as high as 46 °C (115 °F). In the winter, maximums are 15 °C (59 °F), but mornings can be cool, averaging at Horsham 4 °C (39 °F). Most of

725-524: The product of thousands of years of selective breeding. Ancient grains are often marketed as being more nutritious than modern grains, though their health benefits over modern varieties have been disputed by some nutritionists . Because grains are small, hard and dry, they can be stored, measured, and transported more readily than can other kinds of food crops such as fresh fruits, roots and tubers. The development of grain agriculture allowed excess food to be produced and stored easily which could have led to

754-476: The soils are very infertile and many are sandy; however in a narrow belt between Nhill and Warracknabeal there are heavy grey Vertisols , that, although still deficient in phosphorus , are otherwise free of major nutrient deficiencies and are able to hold water very well. These grey soils are the principal wheat soils of Victoria. Red-brown earths are also used for wheat but do not give as high yields and require more fertilisation. The Wimmera River flows from

783-763: The southern Mallee area in the north part of the Shire of Yarriambiack (around Hopetoun ). It does include the southern part of the Shire of Buloke , which is not part of the Victorian government's aforementioned subregion (around Wycheproof , Birchip , Donald and Charlton ). This latter area, plus the St Arnaud area, makes up the East Wimmera region. In the context of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia ,

812-487: The western part of Victoria , Australia . The 48,646-square-kilometre (18,782 sq mi) region lies to the northwest of the western suburbs of Greater Melbourne , to the state's western border with South Australia and includes the Grampians National Park and significant gold mining heritage assets. The Grampians region has two sub-regions: the Central Highlands and Wimmera Southern Mallee . As at

841-549: Was later abolished, with most of being becoming part of the Rural City of Horsham . The federal government Division of Wimmera originally covered roughly the same area as the Division of Mallee does today, but ended its life covering only the Wimmera area. At the 2011 census , the six local government areas (LGAs) that are thought to comprise the Wimmera had a combined population of 54,645. The area of these same six LGAs

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