Barmah Victoria | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coordinates | 36°01′03″S144°57′55″E / 36.01750°S 144.96528°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 282 (2016 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 3639 | ||||||||||||||
Location |
| ||||||||||||||
LGA(s) | Shire of Moira | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Shepparton | ||||||||||||||
Federal division(s) | Nicholls | ||||||||||||||
|
Barmah is a town in the state of Victoria, Australia.
Barmah has the distinction of being located north of the border with the state of New South Wales. New South Wales is north of Victoria, with the border being the westward-flowing Murray River. However, just downstream of Barmah the Murray winds to the south and east for a short distance before resuming its westward course. The land within this length of river results in a small part of New South Wales being to the south of the Victorian town.
Barmah is near the largest river red gum forest in the world. The Barmah National Park is on the floodplain of the Murray River, and when it floods is an important breeding ground for Murray cod. The flood is enhanced by the geological features of the riverbed, as the channel narrows at an area known as the Barmah choke.
The Barmah Forest is listed under the Ramsar Convention for wetlands and, with various state forests in New South Wales, has been identified as an Important Bird Area. It is rich in bird species and is the breeding ground for the superb parrot, a species listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
The Barmah area was first settled in 1856 by Joseph Waldo Rice who established the Murray Fishing Company to supply fish for the gold mining region of Bendigo, Victoria. Barmah was, for a time beginning in the early 1880s, a prosperous centre, whose chief industry was sawmilling. There were two major sawmills; that of Robert Barbour on the N.S.W. side of the river, and James MacIntosh's and E. Whitely's on the Victorian side. Much of the timber was exported to India for piles and railway sleepers until a government prohibition of the export of redgum, which forced closure of the Barmah mills. Trade picked up later, with the expansion of the railway network and a new sawmill was opened by R. Evans, who shipped the sawn timber to Echuca on his steamboat, the Edwards. [2]
A Barmah Post Office opened on 16 September 1876 and was renamed Barmah East in 1907, closing in 1951. Barmah Township Post Office opened on 2 May 1902. [3]
At the 2021 census, Barmah had a population of 229. [4] 87.8% of people were born in Australia and 90.8% of people only spoke English at home. [4]
The geography at Barmah is explained by a geological event that occurred 25,000 years ago, when an uplift of land along the Cadell Fault forced the Murray River onto a new course for 500 km. The river had to force its way through the Barmah choke taking over the Goulburn River in the process. [5] The uplifted land that led to these changes is noticeable as a continuous, low, earthen embankment along the road leading into Barmah from the west, which may appear to the untrained eye as man-made.
The Murray River is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at 2,508 km (1,558 mi) extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia. Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray–Darling basin, which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region.
The Shire of Gannawarra is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of 3,735 square kilometres (1,442 sq mi) and, in August 2021 had a population of 10,683.
Yea is a town in Victoria, Australia 112 kilometres (70 mi) north-east of the state capital Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Melba Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. In an area originally inhabited by the Taungurung people, it was first visited by Europeans of the Hume and Hovell expedition in 1824, and within 15 years most of the land in the area had been taken up by graziers. Surveyed in 1855, the township grew as a service centre for grazing, gold-mining and timber-getting in the area.
Eucalyptus camaldulensis, commonly known as the river red gum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to Australia. It is a tree with smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers and hemispherical fruit with the valves extending beyond the rim. A familiar and iconic tree, it is seen along many watercourses across inland Australia, providing shade in the extreme temperatures of central Australia.
Orbost is a historic early settlers town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, 375 kilometres (233 mi) east of Melbourne and 235 kilometres (146 mi) south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about 16 kilometres (10 mi) from the surf and fishing seaside town of Marlo on the coast of Bass Strait and 217 km drive to Hotham Alpine Resort. Orbost is the service centre for the primary industries of beef, dairy cattle and sawmilling. More recently, tourism has become an important and thriving industry, being the major town close to several national parks that are between the east access to either the surf or the snow, including the famous Snowy River National Park, Alpine National Park, Errinundra National Park, Croajingolong National Park and Cape Conran Coastal Park.
Strathmerton is a town in Victoria, Australia.
Nathalia is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located within the Shire of Moira local government area on the banks of Broken Creek and on the Murray Valley Highway. At the 2021 census, Nathalia had a population of 1,982.
Ulupna Island, a river island, lies at the eastern end of Barmah National Park which is a part of the largest river red gum forest in Victoria, Australia. The island is bounded by the Murray River and its anabranch, Ulupna Creek. Ulupna Island is part of the flood plain of the Murray River.
The superb parrot, also known as Barraband's parrot, Barraband's parakeet, or green leek parrot, is a parrot native to south-eastern Australia. It is a dimorphic species and one of three species in the genus Polytelis.
The Alexander Arbuthnot is the last paddle steamer built as a working boat during the riverboat trade era on the Murray River, Australia.
Barham is a town in the south-western Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located 823 kilometres south west of the state capital, Sydney and 303 kilometres north west of Melbourne. Situated on the banks of the Murray River across from Koondrook in the neighbouring state of Victoria, Barham had a population of 1,159 at the 2016 census. The town is in the Murray River Council local government area.
Koondrook is a town situated on the Murray River, Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Gannawarra local government area, 301 kilometres (187 mi) north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Koondrook had a population of 832.
The Yorta Yorta, also known as Jotijota, are an Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally inhabited the area surrounding the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.
The Barmah National Park, formerly Barmah State Park, is a national park located in the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The park is located adjacent to the Murray River near the town of Barmah, approximately 225 kilometres (140 mi) north of Melbourne. The park consists of river red gum floodplain forest, interspersed with treeless freshwater marshes. The area is subject to seasonal flooding from natural and irrigation water flows.
The Hero is a paddle steamer that was built at Echuca in 1874 by George Linklater. The working life of Hero first ended in 1957, but it was later restored c2000 as a first class luxury paddle steamer finely fitted-out for private charters.
The Barmah-Millewa Important Bird Area is a 2635 km2 tract of land in south-eastern Australia which has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because of its significance for the conservation of a range of bird species.
The Bethanga Bridge is a steel truss road bridge that carries the Riverina Highway across Lake Hume, an artificial lake on the Murray River in Australia. The dual heritage-listed bridge crosses the border between the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, linking the Victorian towns of Bellbridge and Bethanga with the regional New South Wales city of Albury.
The Cadell Fault is a north-south trending intra-plate geological fault in the Riverina area of New South Wales and Victoria, in Australia. It straddles the Murray River and, in quite recent geological times, has affected its course, as well as the courses of the Edward River, Wakool River, Goulburn River and Campaspe River. The Cadell Fault is notable due to that impact and has been described as one of the most significant examples of seismic activity changing the course of rivers. The fault is visible as a continuous earthen ridge along the Cobb Highway between Deniliquin and Echuca, and extends further south into Victoria. The fault is likely named after Francis Cadell, an early European pioneer of the Murray River and river trader.
The Tooleybuc Bridge is a dual heritage-listed road bridge that carries Tooleybuc Road across the Murray River, located in Tooleybuc, New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1925. The bridge is owned by the Transport for NSW, and is also called the Tooleybuc Bridge over Murray River. The bridge was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 20 June 2000 and the Victorian Heritage Register on 10 July 2008.
Pseudoraphis spinescens, called spiny mudgrass or Moira grass is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous aquatic or semi-aquatic perennial grass, with ascending stems forming loose, floating mats in water to 1 m deep or more, or with stems to 50 cm high when not submerged. Moira grass was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown as Panicum spinescens, and subsequently transferred to Pseudoraphis by Joyce W. Vickery in 1950.
Media related to Barmah, Victoria at Wikimedia Commons