Stawell, Victoria towns in Victoria (Australia)]] [[Category:Populated places established in 1853]] [[Category:1853 establishments in Australia]] Stawell, Victoria Stawell (pronounced /stɔːl/, "Stawl"), is an Australian town in the Wimmera region of Victoria west-north-west of the state capital, Melbourne. Located within the Shire of Northern Grampians local government area, it is a seat of local government for the shire and its main administrative centre. At the , Stawell had a population of . It was founded in 1853 during the Victorian gold rush and is one of few towns in Victoria retaining an active gold mining industry. Stawell is famed for the Stawell Gift,
Victoria (Australia) and plasma products, among others. Victoria also plays an important role in providing goods for the defence industry. Victoria proportionally relies on manufacturing more than any other state in Australia, constituting 8.6% of total state product; slightly higher than South Australia at 8.0%. However, this proportion has been declining for three decades; in 1990 at the time of the early 1990s recession manufacturing constituted 20.3% of total state output. Manufacturing output peaked in absolute terms in 2008, reaching $28.8 billion and has slowly fallen over the decade to $26.8 billion in 2016 (-0.77% per annum). Since 1990, manufacturing employment has