Bruthen is a small town located alongside the Tambo River between

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at Ju ...

and Ensay on the

Great Alpine Road } The Great Alpine Road (B500) is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, and passing through the Victorian Alps. The road was given its current name because it was considere ...

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres (14%) of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: East Gippsland (Sta ...

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 ...

. At the

2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

, Bruthen had a population of 814. Bruthen is east of Bairnsdale and east of the state capital

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 ...

History

The origin of the name Bruthen is disputed. One version has it as an anglicisation of the Scotts-gaelic word 'Sruthán' meaning 'creek' or 'small stream', given to the location where Deep Creek flows into the Tambo River by Angus McMillan in 1840. Another version has it as named after one of the last of the indigenous traditional elders of the GanaiKurnai Brabiralung tribe of the immediate area, Bruthen-munji, who died in approximately 1862. The area was later renamed Tambo, and changed again to Wiseleigh when the township of Bruthen was established at the new permanent location. Alfred Howitt claimed the proper name for the area around Bruthen was ''Murloo'', meaning ‘pipeclay’.

Angus McMillan Angus McMillan (14 August 1810 – 18 May 1865) was a Scottish-born explorer, pioneer pastoralist, and perpetrator of several of the Gippsland massacres of Gunai people. Arriving first in New South Wales in 1838, McMillan rose swiftly in Aus ...

, first passed through the area of what is now Bruthen on 14 April 1840 from the

Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 Australian census, 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from a ...

region. The Post Office opened on 15 January 1862 and the first school opened in 1872. On 27 November 1958 an

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Avon-Sabre Fighter Jet crashed on the outskirts of Bruthen, narrowly missing the populated area of town.

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

Ralph Oborn was flying from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to the RAAF base in Sale when his engine ‘flamed out’. Oborn ejected at 500 ft, suffering only minor injuries, and became the first person to safely eject from an aeroplane in Australia. The Bruthen Court of Petty Sessions closed in 1969.

Facilities

Bruthen has a small shopping centre, including a general store (established in 1860 and it continues to be run out of a period building), bakery,

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, service station, as well as speciality stores and cafes. One of the new local features is the Bullant Brewery which offers meals and a variety of locally brewed Victorian beers. Bruthen also has a

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

station,

State Emergency Service The State Emergency Service (SES) is the name used by a number of organisations in Australia that provide assistance during and after major incidents. Specifically, the service deals with floods, storms and tsunamis, but can also assist in oth ...

and Country Fire Authority (CFA) branches, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

and a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. A railway line used to pass through town, with the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

just to the east of the township; the station site remains as does a former railway tunnel under the main road and a railway bridge, the Storer Bridge, over the Tambo River, these facilities remaining in use as part of the shared use

East Gippsland rail trail The East Gippsland Rail Trail is a rail trail located in East Gippsland in Victoria, Australia. The trail is a popular cycling route, beginning in Bairnsdale and extending to Orbost, following the route of the former Orbost railway line. The ...

Activities

The Bruthen community holds a number of activities throughout the year. These include the "Mixed Bag" art exhibition, the Bruthen Village Markets (every 4th Saturday of the month), annual Parish dance, and the Bruthen Blues & Arts Festival on the 3rd weekend of February each year. The

, which runs from

Orbost Orbost is a historic early settlers town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, east of Melbourne and south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about from the surf and fishing seaside t ...

, passes through Bruthen, providing an excellent facility for cycling, walking and horse-riding. In November 2012, 3,500 cyclists spent their first night in Bruthen as part of the nine-day Great Victorian Bike Ride from Lakes Entrance to Phillip Island. Geocachers will enjoy a visit to Bruthen, there is an active group of Geocachers in the area with plenty of individual caches and multis near the town.

Sports

Australian rules football 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 ...

the Bruthen Football Club competes in the

Omeo & District Football League The Omeo and District Football League (ODFL) is an Australian rules football League based on the Omeo Region of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The ODFL has existed in some form since 1893, and operates under the auspices of the Victoria ...

(ODFL), and has the nickname ‘The Bulldogs’. The club has won six premierships (1979, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, and 2003) since joining the league in 1978. The affiliated Bruthen Netball Club competes in the associated netball competition. The Bruthen colours are red, white and blue. Bruthen football jumpers consist of red and white hoops on a blue background, essentially the design of what was formerly Footscray, and now the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

club. The netball club wears a white shirt with red stripe and navy blue skirt. Other sports in the town include

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

and shooting clubs.

Geocaching Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...

is also popular in the Bruthen area with a range of single and multiple caches to be found!

Service Clubs

The Bruthen Lions Club actively participate in local events and constantly raise a substantial amount of money for local causes each year. File:Bruthen Mechanics Institute.JPG, Bruthen Mechanics Institute

References

*Gardner, P.D. (1997) ''Names of the Great Alpine Road Between Bairnsdale and Omeo.'' Ensay: Ngarak Press.

External links

Australian Places - BruthenBruthen Blues & Arts Festival
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in East Gippsland Shire of East Gippsland