Minyip
Small Wimmera town famous for its association with The Flying Doctors TV series
Minyip is a small Wimmera town of some 500 people located in the wheat-growing shire of Dunmunkle, 305 km north-west of Melbourne and 30 km south-east of Warracknabeal. With its distinctive streetscape it became the setting for the TV series 'The Flying Doctors' in 1984. The impact of this now defunct series is still evident on various signs about town, including the one on Main St outside the Senior Citizens' Club which was used as the setting for the Coopers Crossing Flying Doctor Base.

The area was first settled by European selectors in the 1870s. The town became a railhead when the railway arrived from Murtoa in 1886. A grain shed was used to store local wheat until silos were built in 1939-40.

Things to see:  

St John's Lutheran Church
The German Lutherans, fleeing religious persecution, came to the area around Minyip in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. One group formed at the tiny village of Kirchheim, 6 km south-west of Minyip. They built a weatherboard church there in 1875 but it was destroyed by a violent storm in 1889. This led to the construction, in that same year, of the present timber building. In 1935 this building, which had an estimated weight of 50 tons, was moved by steam traction engine to its present site on the corner of Church and Carrol Streets. It took three days to move the structure the 6 km from its original foundations. On the way it very nearly toppled over when it reached a rabbit warren and the weight caused the warren to collapse.

St John's is a Gothic design which retains its fine octagonal steeple with belfry, 19th-century pipe organ, stained-glass lancet windows and pews, although the men no longer sit on the opposite side of the aisle to the women.

Historic Buildings - Main Street
The town's courthouse dates from 1886 and the old office of the local newspaper The Guardian (1885) has been converted into an historical research centre by the local historical society. The Club Hotel (1907), which featured in the 'Flying Doctor' show, and the Commercial Hotel (1908) are Edwardian buildings with wrought-iron lacework and leadlight windows. Violet's General Store dates from 1897.

Farrer Memorial
The citizens of Minyip have erected a memorial (outside the Senior Citizens Club in Main St) to William Farrer who pioneered the scientific breeding of wheat strains which were productive and resistant to diseases such as rust which devastated wheat harvests late in the 19th century. In all he developed 33 strains, including Federation which was extensively cultivated in western Victoria early this century. The exterior of the club was used as the setting for the Coopers Crossing Royal Flying Doctor base in the television series 'The Flying Doctors'.

	Hotels
	Club Hotel 95 Main St Minyip VIC 3392 Telephone: (03) 5385 7281 Rating: *
	Commercial Hotel 35 Main St Minyip VIC 3392 Telephone: (03) 5885 7271
	Restaurants
	Club Hotel 95 Main St Minyip VIC 3392 Telephone: (03) 5385 7281
	Commercial Hotel 35 Main St Minyip VIC 3392 Telephone: (03) 5885 7271