Town by town snapshot: Linton

The size of Linton is approximately 65 square kilometres for ABS data collection purposes and has six parks covering nearly 3.2% of total area.

The population of Linton in 2011 was 591 people and by the 2016 Census the population was 591 showing a stable population in the area during that time. Linton is located 34 kms south-west of Ballarat in the Golden Plains Shire, formerly the Shire of Grenville.

European settlement in the Linton area dates back to 1839, when Mary and Joseph Linton and their three young daughters arrived to establish a pastoral run comprised of 15,000 acres which they called Emu Hill.

Gold was discovered on the northern portion of the Emu Hill pastoral run in 1855 and within months, there were hundreds of men and women of many different nationalities there, including many Chinese, digging holes, felling trees, erecting tents, and creating a settlement where before there had just been a forest of eucalypts.

This became known as ‘Linton’s Diggings’, which subsequently became ‘Old Linton’s’ when a new township was built on Surface Hill in 1860 which was the beginning of the town we know today as Linton.

The town’s largest ever official population was 1,969 people recorded in 1861.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Linton is 60-69 years with households in Linton being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying $1,000 – $1,399 per month on mortgage repayments and in general, people in Linton work in a trades occupation.