Former hotel (now shops), Murchison

Murchison (including Tatura and Toolamba)
Small rural township on the Goulburn River
Murchison is a small rural town of some 600 people situated on the Goulburn River in the Lower Goulburn Valley Plains. Murchison East is located 145 km north of Melbourne on the Goulburn Valley Highway, between Nagambie and Shepparton. Murchison itself is just to the west, off the highway.

The Ngooraialum tribe (about 200 strong) occupied the land around Murchison before being devastated and dispossessed by the arrival of Europeans.

The first white men in the district belonged to the party of explorer Thomas Mitchell which crossed the Goulburn River to the south at what became Mitchellstown. The first Europeans to pass through the future townsite were probably the drovers Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney who were overlanding sheep and cattle from Mitchellstown to Adelaide along the river system in 1838.

An Aboriginal Protectorate was transferred from Mitchellstown to Murchison in 1840 with a school established that year and a native police force in 1841. Squatters also began taking up local land in 1840.

In 1850 the Protectorate closed and French vigneron Ludovic Marie settled at Murchison, establishing vineyards. The site became a river crossing used by goldminers travelling between the Bendigo and Beechworth fields in the early 1850s. Marie therefore established an hotel and a punt service over the Goulburn River (in 1860 he helped start Chateau Tahbilk which is still in operation and surveyed Nagambie).

A township, the first in the Lower Goulburn Valley, began to develop around the crossing which was surveyed and named in 1854 after a Captain John Murchison. A period of fairly rapid growth ensued.

The first post office was built in 1855, a flour mill in 1858 and a Presbyterian Church and school in 1859. Land along the Goulburn was first opened for selection in 1865 with small landowners moving into the area in the 1870s.

A bridge replaced the punt service in 1871 and the first newspaper was established in 1873. A courthouse and mechanics institute were built in 1874.

The town benefitted greatly from the river trade which began with the arrival of the first paddlesteamer in 1875. At that time it had six hotels, a number of general stores, two flour mills, a post office, a sawmill, cordial factory, two blacksmiths and numerous other stores and services.

In 1878 the Murchison police station temporarily became the base for operations against the Kelly bushranging gang.

The railway reached Murchison East in 1880. The building of the Goulburn Weir from 1887-90 dropped the water level and so finished off the dying river trade. It also enabled irrigation projects to proceed in the area, thereby enabling the agricultural development of Shepparton, Tatura and Dhurringile as Murchison declined. Murchison East grew as a wheat depot on the branch line.

Between 1941 and 1947 some 4000 POWs were interned at Murchison. These were overwhelmingly German, Italian and Japanese POWS although the German officers were held at the Dhurringile mansion to the north of town. By 1942 the POW camp was employing 675 people, including 64 officers, to guard the prisoners.

The prisoners were used as a local source of labour. In 1943 the Italians and Japanese were used to pick fruit and the Italians were also used to cut wood. There was such a suspicion of the Germans that they were not allowed out of the camp. The camp was closed in 1947 and the main hall and clubrooms were removed to Murchison for the use of the RSL.

A truly spectacular event in the town's history was a meteor shower in 1969 when fragments of the rarest known type of meteorite fell over a wide area to the sound of explosions and blinding flashes of light. An American analyst discovered five chemical components found in the genes of all living matter, thereby increasing the possibility that life could develop or have developed elsewhere in the universe.

Things to see:  

Tourist Information
Tourist Information can be obtained from Shepparton's Visitor Information Centre, tel: (03) 5831 4400 or free-call (1800) 808 839.

Chapel at Italian War Memorial

Murchison Italian War Memorial and Chapel
During the Second World War 4 000 Italian, German and Japanese POWs were detained at Murchison. Those who died at Murchison were buried in the local cemetery but floods in 1956 did major damage to the graves. A Mr Luigi Gigliotti persuaded Italian families living in the Goulburn Valley to pay for the building of a mausoleum. He also managed to persuade the authorities to bury all the Italian POWs and detainees who died in Australian prison camps in the mausoleum.

The mausoleum, completed in 1961, is Italian in style. It is built of Castlemaine stone with Roman roof tiles, a campanile and an altar of Italian marble. Each year, on Remembrance Day, mass is celebrated before a large gathering. There is also an Italian war memorial and chapel.

Elsewhere in the cemetery is the grave of King Charles Tattambo, the leader of the Goulburn tribe at the time of white arrival. He died in 1866. His son (the next leader) and widow were buried adjacent in 1874.

The cemetery is located at the southern end of town, by the Goulburn River, along the Murchison-Nagambie Rd.

Longleat Winery
Longleat Winery, established in 1975, is located 2 km south of Murchison in Old Weir Rd (the route is signposted from town). It is planted with shiraz, sauvignon, semillon, cabernet, Rhine riesling and pinot noir and is open from Monday to Saturday, 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., and on Sunday from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. There is a picnic area with barbecue facilities, tel: (03) 5826 2294.

Former Presbyterian (now Uniting) Church (1878)

Churches
The town's three churches are all in Impey St and all date from the 19th century. There is the Presbyterian (now Uniting) Church (1878), the Anglican church (1884) and St Brigid's Catholic Church (1900).

Campbell's Bend Picnic Reserve
Located at the eastern bondary of Murchison, Campbell's Bend Picnic Reserve is signposted off the road to Murchison East.

Murchison Gallery and Tea Rooms
Hand-made glasswork, tuned windchimes, wooden toys, turned woodwork, glazed porcelain, pottery and paintings can all be found in Robinson St from Thursday to Monday, tel: (03) 5826 2632.

Dhurringile Mansion
Dhurringile is a lavish 65-room mansion which was built in 1877 for pastoralist John Winter. In the Second World War it was used for the detention of German officers and it is now a low-security prison. With orchards adjacent it can clearly be seen adjacent the Tatura Rd, 11 km north of town.

Tatura Museum
22 km north of Murchison, via the Tatura Rd, is the settlement of Tatura. At the corner of Ross and Hogan Sts is the Tatura Irrigation & Wartime Camps Museum which features a display relating to local and irrigation history in the original Rodney Irrigation Trust building (c.1888). Another building contains memorabilia and photographs relating to the local POW camps which were established in World War II. They are open weekends and public holidays from 2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. or by appointment, tel: (03) 5824 1822 or (03) 5824 2111.

If you head west along the Rushworth Rd and turn right into Winter Rd you will come to the local cemetery where a number of German POWs are interred.

Avonlea Flowers
If you are heading north along the Mooroopna Rd you will soon pass the signposted turnoff to Avonlea Flowers, a wholesale-retail flower farm where you can view the process or buy the merchandise - fresh or dried, along with bulbs and crafts. They are open all year, tel: (03) 5826 2406.

Noorilim
'Noorilim' (c.1870), 6 km east on the Goulburn Valley Highway, is considered one of the grandest homesteads in the state. A two-storey Classical brick structure, it features a large central tower. It is only open to the public on an occasional basis, tel: 1800 808 839.

	Motels
	Murchison Motel High Rd Murchison VIC 3610 Telephone: (03) 5826 2488 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Calendonian Hotel Stephenson St Murchison VIC 3610 Telephone: (03) 5826 2450
	Railway Hotel Goulburn Valley Hwy Murchison VIC 3610 Telephone: (03) 5826 2257