See also:
List of cities in Australia
List of Australian highways
Murray River
Yarra River
Protected areas of Victoria (Australia)
Gippsland Region
Boolara
Boolara is located in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, 21 km south of Morwell. The town was established in 1884 with the construction of the Morwell-Mirboo North Railway Line. The main industry, apart from farming, was timber cutting, particularly palings and blackwood logs. Boolarra is aboriginal for 'plentiful' or '20'. It has a population of 490.
Tourism:
- Mirboo North-Boolarra Rail Trail
- Morwell River Falls
Cowes
Foster
Leongatha
Korumburra
Mallacoota
Main article: Mallacoota, Victoria
Mallacoota has a regional airport YMCO (XMC) consisting of a grass field for private light planes.
Orbost
Main article: Orbost, Victoria
Stratford
Main article: Stratford, Victoria
Traralgon
Main article: Traralgon, Victoria
Grampians Region
Mallee Region
Mornington Peninsula
Victorian Alps
The Wimmera Region
Dimboola
Main article: Dimboola, Victoria
Yarra Valley Region
Aireys Inlet
Main article: Aireys Inlet, Victoria
Alexandra
Alexandra is a town in Victoria. It is in the Murrindindi Shire local government area.
Anakie
Anakie is a rural township near Geelong, Victoria.
Anglesea
Anglesea is a town in Victoria. It is in the Surf Coast Shire local government area.
Apollo Bay
Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway , and is along the Great Ocean Road. Originally a fishing village, it now makes an income from tourism, though is smaller and quieter than other tourist destinations such as Lorne. Apollo Bay also is host to the annual Apollo Bay Music Festival .
Ararat
Main article: Ararat, Victoria
Avenel
Avenel is a town in north-eastern Victoria. It is in the Strathbogie Shire local government area, and it's situated on the Hume Highway.
Avoca
Main article: Avoca, Victoria
Bannockburn
Bannockburn is a rural township near Geelong in southern Victoria.
Benalla
Main article: Benalla, Victoria
Castlemaine
Main article: Castlemaine, Victoria
Charlton
Main article: Charlton, Victoria
Churchill
Churchill is located 8 km south of Morwell. As Gippsland's university town, Churchill is a centre for technology and research, with a multicultural richness drawn from the diversity of international students attracted to the Monash University (GippsIand) campus. It is a gateway to the spectacular Morwell National Park and the scenic Jeeralangs. It has a population of 5000.
Tourism:
- Hazelwood Pondage: warm water for boating, windsurfing
- Art Resource Collective - Yinnar
Colac
Colac is a town in the western district of Victoria, situated on the southern shore of Lake Colac . The area was first settled by Hugh Murray in 1837 and proclaimed a town in 1948.
Casterton
Located 450km west of Melbourne, Casterton is one of two major towns along the Glenelg highway between Hamilton in Victoria and Mount Gambier in South Australia. It has a population of 2,250.
Daylesford
Daylesford is a town of rural Hepburn Shire in Victoria, some 70 minutes northwest of Melbourne, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. It is noted for its mineral springs, and has long been a spa resort. The Daylesford Spa Country Railway passes through Daylesford.
Drouin
Drouin is a major service town located 97 km east of Melbourne. Drouin Nature Reserve has 3 km of walking tracks set in 14 hectares of natural bush land, featuring a boardwalk surrounded by Scrambling Coral and Soft Tree Ferns. It has a population of 4,500.
Tourism:
- Fruit and berry farm - Fisher Rd,
- Drouln West Angora & alpaca farm - Fisher Road
- Drouin West Drouin Nature Reserve
- Drouln South Gourmet Deli Trail (see scenic drives)
Echuca
Echuca in Victoria is a town of about 10,000 people lying on the Murray River (Moama is on the northern side in New South Wales.
Echuca, an aboriginal name meaning "Meeting of the Waters" is indicative of the role rivers have played in the town's existence. Echuca is situated close to the junction of the Goulburn, Campaspe and Murray Rivers.
Echuca was founded by one of the most enterprising characters of the early colonial days, an ex-convict named Henry Hopwood . In 1850 he bought a small punt which operated across the Murray River near the Campaspe junction. The relatively small settlement known as "Hopwood's Ferry" became Echuca as the town grew. Echuca has a regional airport YECH (ECH).
Tourism:
External links
Euroa
Euroa is a town in the Shire of Strathbogie in North-East Victoria. It is roughly midway between Melbourne and Albury-Wodonga as the crow flies. The area is geographically very flat, as the town is located in the huge Goulburn Valley, however the impressive Strathbogie Ranges are not far away. The name Euroa comes from an Aboriginal word in the old local dialect meaning "joyful".
Euroa's population of 2,800 has changed very little in the last couple of hundred years, but it has perhaps grown older. The town contains several retirement villages, one highschool, and two primary schools (one Catholic). Euroa's one and only claim to fame is that the bank there was robbed by Ned Kelly in 1878. Much of the region's wealth comes from sheep. A memorial honours pioneer sheep-importer Eliza Forlonge (nee Jack).
The main road from Melbourne northward is the Hume Highway. This by-passed Euroa about 15 years ago and since then Euroa has been a quiet town with little growth or business potential. It is, however, a significant stop on any long drive along the Hume for purposes of food, fuel, and a walk in one of the very nice parks.
Glenrowan
Main article: Glenrowan, Victoria
Hamilton
Hamilton is a town of 9000, three hours west of Melbourne. Self described as the "Wool Capital of the World", it boasts the Big Woolbales as a significant tourist attraction. Hamilton has a regional airport YHML (HLT).
Heyfeild
Heyfeild is located 206 km east of Melbourne. An early settler first described the district as resembling a 'field of waving corn', and so called it 'Heyfield'. The town grew up as a stopping point for diggers on their way to the GippsIand gold fields and is today known for its agriculture and timber production. Two of eight timber mills still operate. Located on the Thomson River, Heyfield is an acknowledged gateway to the High Country. It has a population of 1,600.
Tourism:
- Heyfield Flora Reserve - 2km north
- Thomson Valley Races
Inverloch
Located 143km South-East of Melbourne, this area was opened for selection in the 1870s and from the early 1900s grew as a seaport. It is sheltered behind Andersons Inlet. Inverloch has a population of 2,100.
Tourism:
- Shell Museum - Cnr. Ramsay Blvd and The Esplanade
- Inverloch to Cape Patterson Scenic Rd
- Dinosaur diggings tours.
- Inverloch Fun Festival - Australia Day weekend.
- Inverloch Jazz Festival - Labour Day Weekend.
Jeparit
Jeparit, population 370, is situated on the Wimmera River in Western Victoria, 370 kilometres north west of Melbourne.
The area had been home to the Gromiluk Aboriginal people prior to European settlement, which began in the 1880s, when German Lutheran immigrants began to settle and grow wheat. The town was gazetted in 1889. The name Jeparit is believed to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning “home of small birds”. Jeparit’s most famous son is former Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, who was born in the town in 1894. He is commemorated by a local park and spire, which is inscribed:
This spire has been erected by the people of Jeparit and district, to honour Sir Robert Menzies. The spire symbolises the rise to world recognition of a boy who was born in Jeparit and who rose by his own efforts to become Australia's Prime Minister and a statesman recognised and honoured throughout the world.
Kyneton
Kyneton is a town in Victoria. It's local governing area is the Macedon Ranges Shire. It has its own railway station (terminus for some peak trains) and has a population of approx. 5,000.
External links
Lorne
Main article: Lorne, Victoria
Minyip
Minyip is located 302 kms Northwest of Melbourne. The Minyip Post Office building was the first Post Office built in Australia by the Australian Commonwealth Government after Federation in 1901. Minyip is also known as "Coopers Crossing" the location for the popular Crawford Production's TV show "The Flying Doctors". The population of Minyip in 2001 was 436 people.
Murtoa
Murtoa developed around the 20 hectare Lake Marma Reserve which has well designed walking tracks. The park's entrance is guarded by Memorial Gates, erected in 1920 in honour of the locals who died on World War I battlefields. The town’s museum and centrepiece stuffed bird collection are housed in an old 13m water tower.
Nyah West
Nyah West is a border town on the Murray river, bordering Victoria and NSW. It is on the Murray Valley Highway, 371 km north-west of Melbourne and 27 km north-east of Swan Hill. It is the business and commercial centre of a prosperous irrigation district which produces wine and dried fruit, as well as vegetables and wool.
Nhill
Nhill is a town in western Victoria. It is located on the Western Highway, half-way between Adelaide and Melbourne. The area has been home to the Wotjobaluk Aboriginal people for thousands of years and was first visited by Europeans in 1845.
Nhill is the administrative headquarters for Hindmarsh Shire and its 2000 residents are mainly employed in either farming or food processing. Tourism is another local industry; Nhill services both the highway traffic passing through and is a gateway to the Little Desert National Park. The name Nhill comes from the Wotjobaluk word meaning 'the abode of spirits'.
The release of the film "The Road to Nhill" in 1997 briefly placed Nhill in the national spotlight, as did hometown boy Jason McCartney, an Australian Rules footballer, who was so severely injured in the 2002 Bali terrorist bombing that he was given last rites before recovering enough to make an emotional comeback to AFL football. Nhill has a regional airport YNHL.
Portland
Main article: Portland, Victoria
Portland has a regional airport YPOD (PTJ).
Rainbow
Rainbow is a town in North West Victoria 340 km. from Melbourne. It is part of the Hindmarsh Shire. The nearest large towns are Dimboola and Nhill to the south. In 1898 the railway line was extended from Jeparit to a town site named Albacutya, but this was later changed to Rainbow Rise after a nearby horse-shoe or rainbow-shaped feature. Town blocks in Rainbow were sold in October, 1901. Rainbow was part of the Dimboola shire until 20 January, 1995, when the shire was united with the Lowan shire. Populations: 1,303 (1911), 916 (1933), 829 (1954), 587 (1991).
Rochester
Rochester is a small town in country Victoria. It is located 180km north of Melbourne with a mixture of rural and semi-rural communities in the northern Goulburn River Valley, between Bendigo and the Murray River port of Echuca. It has a co-educational public Secondary College with 470 pupils in 2004.
The town is famous as the birthplace in 1904 of Australian racing and endurance cyclist, Sir Hubert Opperman, affectionately known as Oppy. There is a musuem dedicated to Oppy in Moore street, and a statue of him winning the 24 hour Bol D'or race in Paris in 1928. On his 90th birthday Oppy donated one of his trusty Malvern Star bicycles to the museum.
Rosedale
Rosedale is located 187 km east of Melbourne. It was first established as a service centre in the middle of Snake Ridge Run at the point where the track crosses the Latrobe River. The first inhabitants were probably shepherds. The town was named Rosedale in 1855 when the town became the nearest point to the Baw Baw and Stringers Creek goldfields. Once a dairy and mixed farming district, it is now mainly grazing with the largest employer being Rosedale Leather who established a large tannery in the early 1990s. It has a population of 760
Tourism:
- The Holey Plain State Park - 5km S.E.
- The Holey Plain Historic Homestead
- Antique and bric-a -brac shops.
Rutherglen
Rutherglen is a small town in northeastern Victoria, near the Murray River border with New South Wales. The town was named after the Scottish town of Rutherglen which lies just outside Glasgow.
The surrounding region is well known for its vineyards, particularly so for the production of fortified wines such as port, muscat and tokay, the best of which are regarded by many as Australia's and some of the world's finest. However, it also produces good-quality red and white wines, notably shiraz, as well as the relatively uncommon production of sparkling red wine —red wine with carbon-dioxide induced bubbles made in a similar process to champagne.
Seymour
Seymour is a town in north-east Victoria, 97 kilometres North of Melbourne, it was established in 1839 at the crossing of the Goulburn river on the Melbourne-Sydney route where an inn was first built. The railway arrived in 1872 along with substantial infrastructure to support it. Its population of 7000 people service the nearby military base of Puckapunyal and the surrounding agricultural industries, primarily sheep, cattle and wine production.
Stawell
Stawell is a town in the Wimmera District of Victoria. The site was first settled during the gold rush of 1853 and named Pleasant Creek but was renamed to honour Sir William Foster Stawell (1815-1889), the Chief Justice of Victoria. The town was created a borough in 1869.
Stawell is famed for the Stawell Gift , the most prestigious foot race in Australia. Stawell has a regional airport YSWL (SWC).
Terang
Terang is a town of population 2,000 situated in Victoria, in the Shire of Corangamite. It lies on the Princes Highway between Camperdown and [[Warrnambool. It was settled around 1840. Magnificent avenues of trees were planted and several of these are now under the protection of the National Trust. There is a Heritage Trail walk which points out these trees and many of the historic buildings and features of the town.
Features to see are the historic Post Office and with its clock tower (1903-4), the war memorial, the rose gardens with the band rotunda, and the town's first church. There is also a beautiful golf course at the western entrance to the town.
There is a lake behind the Town Hall. In 1933, while dry, the peat bed of the lake caught fire and caused some concern and publicity. The lake is now dry and the land is used by the golf club, pony club and croquet club.
Tallangatta
Main article: Tallangatta
Torquay
Main article: Torquay, Victoria
Venus Bay
Located 165 km from Melbourne, Venus Bay is notable for superb surf beaches and ti-tree covered sand dunes. This popular coastal village is located on Victoria's longest sandspit on the 22km coastline, overlooking the Cape Liptrap Coastal Park and Anderson Inlet. Venus Bay only has a population of 600.
Tourism:
- Abundant bird life at Point Smythe
- Surfing Surf and inlet fishing
- Trails - Point Smythe.
Walhalla
Walhalla is a historic township in the Victorian Alps. It was one of Victoria’s great gold mining towns in the 19th century. Gold was discovered there by Ned Stringer in 1863.
Wedderburn
Wedderburn is a rural town located in Victoria on the Calder Highway approximately 240Kms north of Victoria's capital city, Melbourne. As of the 1996 census, the town had a total population of about 900. It is mainly a farming community but its early residents were gold miners and prospectors. It is still a popular spot for hopefuls with gold detectors who are still finding the occasional nice nugget.
One of the main attractions for tourists is Hard Hill Reserve where with a bit of imagination one can feel a sense of what it was like in the old days living in tents on the goldfields. Apart from gold a number of Eucalyptus Stills used to operate in the district and a replica Still has been situated on the site and is fired up, by arrangement, for tourist buses. On site is one of the original Batteries for crushing the ore and removing the gold. A puddler is also on site and a demonstration of it working can be seen during the annual Gold and Heritage Festival held round about the end of February and the beginning of March.
Wonthaggi
Wonthaggi evolved from the disastrous NSW coal strikes around the turn of the century, which prompted the Victorian Government to exploit the district's black coal reserves, as a national emergency. It is located 132 km South-East of Melbourne. Between 1919 and 1931 the mine produced over a million tonnes of coal and helped to keep the State rail system viable. The State Coal Mineclosed in 1968 and is now operated by Parks Victoria as a visitor experience, complete with underground tours and a well-presented museum. Wonthaggi has a population of 6,700.
Tourism:
- State Coal Mine - Garden St.
- Cape Patterson - 8km south.
- Wonthaggi-Bass Valley Agricultural Show - January.
Woodside
Woodside is a town in Victoria. Near Woodside there is the tallest construction of the southern hemisphere, the aerial mast of the VLF Transmitter Woodside.
Yackandandah
Yackandandah is a small town in northeast Victoria. It is located near the industrial towns of Albury-Wodonga, and is close to the tourist town of Beechworth .
Last updated: 05-19-2005 02:10:32
