Metropolitan Hotel in the main street

Maffra (including Briagolong)
Substantial service town in West Gippsland.
Maffra is 224 km east of Melbourne via the Princes Highway, and 26 m above sea level. Its first known European visitor was Angus McMillan, who explored the region on behalf of New South Welshman, Lachlan Macalister. Macalister, who was interested in new grazing land for his cattle, established a pastoral run 11 km north of present-day Maffra, at what is now Boisdale. The run was named after a place on one of the Outer Hebrides islands.

The property was sold to John Foster, who arrived in Gippsland in the 1840s and established himself as a supplier of beef to England. His son, Askin Morrison Foster, who built Port Albert's Derwent Hotel (see entry on Port Albert), married the daughter of Scottish-born philanthropist Francis Ormond, who was responsible for the establishment of Melbourne University's Ormond College and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Foster constructed numerous buildings on his property, in an attempt to achieve self-sufficiency. He later subdivided the property, adding red-brick dwellings, a dairy factory and a blacksmith's shop for his tenants. The village of Boisdale arose when the estate became decentralised as a result of the continual influx of settlers. Boisdale House, with its outbuildings and water tower, was built by Foster in 1892 of handmade bricks. The roof was constructed from oregon pine and covered with tiles from Marseilles.

Angus McMillan also settled in the vicinity, 3 km north of what is now the township of Bushy Park, on the road to Briagolong. A cairn marks the spot where he built his homestead. The house itself is now at Sale's Gippsland Folk Museum.

Maffra began as an out-station of the Boisdale run. The village was founded in the 1850s; the name deriving from Maffra in New South Wales, which was, in turn, named by a veteran of the Peninsular Wars, after Mafra in Portugal.

The rotunda in the main street

The construction of a punt over the Macalister River boosted the settlement by increasing the flow of human traffic through the town by facilitating access to the goldfields. Victorian premier, and Australian deputy prime minister from 1904-1905, Allan McLean, formed a stock and station agency in the town in 1872.

An architectural survivor of the early days is 'Mewburn Park', on the Tinamba Road. Built in the 1840s for Captain Johnson-Boe, an early pastoralist and North Gippsland MP, the original shingle-roofed, V-shaped structure with an encompassing timber verandah underwent significant alteration in the 1930s. The brick stables were not a part of the initial layout.

The township was proclaimed in 1875 and soon became one of Gippsland's major cattle markets. The railway arrived in 1888 and, the following decade, Australia's only sugar beet plant was set up.

More recently, the Macalister Irrigation Scheme (a scheme which dammed the Macalister River to form Lake Glenmaggie and which has resulted in the greatest concentration of dairy farms in Australia) has enabled the town to develop primary industries such as milk production, sheep, cattle, and the cultivation of maize and lucerne, as well as the logging of timber.

Today it is an important service centre in the heart of West Gippsland. The Gippsland Harvest Festival is held in March at Powerscourt Country House.

Things to see:  

Maffra Sugar Beet Museum

Maffra Sugar Beet Museum
Australia's only sugar beet plant was set up in the 1890s and despite faltering success, it operated until 1946. The former factory office and weighbridge have been converted into the Maffra Sugar Beet Museum. It was moved from its original location on Sale Road to its current position beside the Macalister River, off River Street, and is open 1.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m. on Sundays or by appointment (03) 5147 6280.

Wa-De-Lock Vineyard
The Wa-De-Lock Vineyard, established in 1987, produces sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, chameleon white/pinot and pinot noir. The cellar door is open from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Friday to Monday and at other times by chance. There is a picnic and barbecue area. The vineyard is located on Stratford Rd, tel: (03) 5147 3244. Five-star accommodation and a restaurant are adjacent at Powerscourt Country House, tel: (03) 5147 1897.

Local Lookouts
The dairy country around Maffra can best be viewed by turning off the highway at Traralgon and approaching the town along safe, well-signposted roads, via Heyfield. 6 km north of Heyfield is Glenmaggie Reservoir (see entry on Heyfield), less than half an hour's drive from Maffra.

Briagolong
Briagolong, 20 km north, past Boisdale and Bushy Park, has a number of historic buildings, including the primary school (1873), the Mechanics Institute (1874), the Briagolong Hotel (1880), and an attractive private residence, 'Mount View', with its verandah valances, bay windows, flagstone paving and decorated timber gable boards. This house was built near Freestone Creek in 1872 for Irish immigrant and former police sergeant of the Walhalla goldfields, Michael Feely, who developed methods to increase the proficiency of local dairying. The floor of Australia House in the UK was made of yellow stringybark from this region and local sawmills were used to cut the red-gum paving blocks which once adorned Melbourne's streets. A scenic drive along the Briagolong to Cobannah Road follows Freestone Creek to the Quarries picnic reserve.

Strathavon
'Strathavon' at Nuntin is a four-room house, considered to be in the Scottish vernacular style, with a circumferential timber verandah, a cellar and a steep and narrow staircase leading to a gabled attic. It was built in the late 1850s from locally-produced bricks on the property of Scottish immigrant, John McMillan. It is probably indicative of an early Victorian pioneer's home. It is a private residence and not open to the public.

	Motels
	Maffra Motor Inn 184 Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 2111 Facsimile: (03) 5141 1450 Email: maffra.motor.inn@i-o.net.au Rating: ***
	Hotels
	Macalister Hotel 2 Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1054
	Maffra Hotel 122 Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1865 Rating: *
	Metropolitan Hotel 97 Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1809 Rating: *
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Powerscourt Country Guesthouse Maffra-Stratford Rd RMB 6095 Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1897 Rating: ****
	Caravan Parks
	Maffra Caravan Park 187 Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1323 Rating: **
	Restaurants
	Chinese Chopstick Restaurant 115 Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 3333
	Jumbunna BYO Restaurant & Coffee Lounge Johnson St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 2003
	Powerscourt Country House RMB 6095 Stratford Rd Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1897
	The Fig Tree Restaurant McLean St Maffra VIC 3860 Telephone: (03) 5147 1985