GOORAMBAT
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Goorambat village (population 350) is located about 17km north of Benalla, on the route between Benalla and Yarrawonga; the name for the village came from the Goorambat pastoral run.
Selectors took up land in this area, including nearby Broken Creek and Devenish in the mid-1800s, following on from the knowledge gained by the explorations of Major Mitchell.
A township eventually formed around these land holdings, and a church was built in 1865, and a school in 1866.
The area became more settled when the railway was extended from Benalla to Yarrawonga, via Goorambat, in 1883.
The line, however, was laid east of the original settlement and a new part of Goorambat developed around the Railway Station.
A series of wheat silos and a flour mill were subsequently built alongside the Station.
A hotel, and a Post Office were opened at ‘old’ Goorambat in 1879, and the Railway Hotel was opened opposite the newly built station in 1884; the Mechanics Institute was built in 1888.
It was a big day, when the Queen visited Goorambat in 1954, as part of her Australian Tour, and stayed over in the royal carriage for a night.
In the modern era, attractions at Goorambat include an excellent meal at the Railway Hotel, as well as the murals that have been painted on the wheat silos by Jimmy DVate.
The main mural is of a ‘barking owl’ a threatened species in Victoria, with the North-east being its last known habitat.
Benalla Visitor Information Centre
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