Barnawartha is a small town located on the

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

in regional north-east

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, approximately from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on the banks of Indigo Creek which runs into the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...

to the north. Barnawartha commercial centre is located around the High Street, the indigo creek park accessed via High Street fronts the creek of the same name and includes a recently rebuilt public toilet, BBQ facilities and a walking track.

History

The township was surveyed in 1857 by Assistant Surveyor

William Snell Chauncy William Snell Chauncy (11 August 1820 – 3 July 1878) was an English civil engineer responsible for a number of important engineering works including the first steam railway opened in Australia. Early life and work William Snell Chauncy was b ...

. It was settled in 1860, the Post Office opening on 1 August 1860. Gustav and William Baumgarten were large land owners in Barnawartha prior to the township being settled. After serving prison time for receiving stolen horses from the infamous

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...

, William developed a large winery called Bogong, on the

Historic resources

The town contains a few historic buildings, such as the Indian owned and ran general store and Cheesely's Bootmakers shop (now used to store

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

) a burnt and rebuilt pub, and a post office.

Education

There is a primary school located in Barnawartha that provides education from prep to year 6.

Sports

Golfers play at the Barnawartha Golf Club at the Havelock Street Recreation Reserve. Barnawartha is also home to the local Indigo Creek Fishing Club. ;Barnawartha Football Netball Club Barnawartha has an

Australian Rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

football team that currently competes in the

Tallangatta & District Football League The Tallangatta and District Football League (TDFL) is an Australian rules football competition in north-east Victoria and the southern border area of Riverina region of the New South Wales. The clubs compete across four competitions, two of ...

(T&DFNL) and the club's first recorded match was in 1894 against Gooramadda. The club played a few friendly matches most years against other local towns between 1894 and 1909 prior to joining the Ovens and Murray Junior Football Association in 1910 and lost the 1911

Rutherglen & District Football Association Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

grand final to Howlong. Barnwartha then played in the

Chiltern & District Football Association The Chiltern & District Football Association was first established in 1912 from the following Australian Rules Football clubs - Barnawartha, Chiltern, Chiltern Valley, Christmastown, Southern and Wodonga, in North Eastern Victoria, Australia and w ...

from 1912 to 1915, 1920 to 1940, 1945 to 1957. The club then joined the T&DFNL in 1958.

Attractions

Nearing Barnawartha and covering 21,565 hectares, Mt Pilot National Park includes the striking Mt Pilot Range, Woolshed Falls, box-ironbark forests and several historic goldmining sites. local waterways and mountains include Frying Pan Creek, Indigo Creek and Mount Lady Franklin. In the nearby area there are several nearby public accessible river access and camping grounds, this includes Richardson's bend often referred by the locals as Richos is a Dispersed bush camping ground along the bank of the Murray. this provides close to the entrance to the reserve water access for boating

References

Links

Barnawartha FNC website1939 - Barnawartha FC team photo1946 - Barnawartha / Chiltern FC team football
Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Upper Hume Shire of Indigo Hume Highway {{Hume-geo-stub