Shepparton

Shepparton (ˈʃɛpɚtən) (Yortayorta: Kanny-goopna) is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, including the adjacent town of Mooroopna, was 53,841. 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 one of the area's first European settlers, Sherbourne Sheppard, and not, as is sometimes imagined, from Shepperton, England. The Yorta Yorta name for the area is 'Kanny-goopna' with 'goopna' meaning 'deep waterholes by which people camped'. The name for the junction of the Broken and Goulburn rivers is 'Marangan', meaning deep pond or lagoon in an unknown Eastern Kulin language. Colloquially (and not inconsistent with the Australian propensity for name-shortening or diminutives ), the city is also known as "Shepp" (ˈʃɛp), as adopted by community entities that incorporate the abbreviated form into their name. eg. The Shepparton Agricultural Society "Sheppshow". For example: "Are you going to Shepp for the holidays?" "I'm off to Shepp for work." "My family comes from Shepp." "I'm a Shepp town boy" Hip Hop group Shepp Town Boy — Young Ugess Prior to the European settlement of Australia, the area was inhabited by the Yorta Yorta, the indigenous Australian people whose country covers the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day northern Victoria and southern New South Wales.