Address & Contact Edit
36 Thomas Rd
Armstrong VIC 3377
Phone: +613 5355 0200
Email: council@ararat.vic.gov.au
Web: http://www.ararat.vic.gov.au
Armstrong, originally named Armstrongs, is a rural locality and former gold mining village on the Western Highway, 9 km north-west of
Ararat and about t18km south-east of
Stawell.
The Armstrong area was first occupied by white settlement when the Allanvale pastoral run was taken up in 1844. The run was acquired by
John Armstrong in 1854, who occupied it when gold was discovered there in 1855.
Armstrong was overshadowed by
Ararat and by Great Western which is in the direction of
Stawell. The school was the sole enduring social centre, being used for church
services, local sporting activities and by the fire brigade. It closed in 1948.
During the height of the Depression a railways relief
camp was established at Armstrong, working on the
Melbourne to
Adelaide railway line. In 1938, Armstrong was the site of an experimental installation of a radical form of railway safeworking intended to bring about cost savings. It resulted in seven years of tortuous bureaucratic decision making.
At it height, Armstrong had a
population of over 500. Today it is little more than a locality, with a recorded
population in 2016 of 88.