Bung Bong is a locality in

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 ...

between the towns of Avoca and Maryborough. The locality is divided, with the Western section in the

Pyrenees Shire The Shire of Pyrenees is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 7,353. It includes the towns of Avoca, Beaufort, Lexton and ...

and the Eastern section in

Shire of Central Goldfields Central Goldfields Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018 had a population of 13,209. It includes the towns of Bealiba, Carisbrook, Dunolly, Mar ...

. The

Bet Bet Creek Bet Bet Creek in west Victoria starts below Ben Major, Victoria (west of Lexton) at an elevation of 479m and ends at an elevation of 165m flowing into the Loddon River at the Laanecoorie Reservoir. The Bet Bet Creek drops around 314m over its 8 ...

(which separates the two Shires) runs towards the north through the middle of the locality and then into the

Loddon River The Loddon River, an inland river of the northcentral catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Loddon Mallee regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwater ...

. Bung Bong is located on the

Pyrenees Highway Pyrenees Highway is a rural highway in western Victoria, Australia, linking Glenelg Highway in Glenthompson to Calder Highway in Elphinstone. It intersects with the region's major road freight route, Western Highway in Ararat, in addition ...

. It is reported that the name 'Bung Bong' derives from the aboriginal words for 'swamp' or for 'swamp grass'. Bung Bong is also a region, which has a large range of native flora and fauna, South-East of the locality is the ''Bung Bong Nature Conservation Reserve'' which is used by bush walkers and bird watchers.

Activities

In 1878 the Bung Bong Farmers' Club held their first "ploughing match". There were 18 entries in the competition to plough, "virgin soil, of a rich chocolate colour". It was reported, "that although the ploughmen were new to competitive trials, they showed by the excellence of their work their fitness for their calling." For the 1886 (and ninth) ploughing match there were 22 entries. It was held on the Abbott property, half a mile from the Bung Bong railway station and "the attendance was large". This time, 10 entrants used double furrow ploughs with one entrant, "exhibiting Gilsman's patent rotary harrows, which attracted great attention, and were pronounced excellent implements". At the Wareek Hall there is an Honour Roll, of those from the Bung Bong district, who fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It contains 19 names, including 5 names of those who did not return. Local volunteers have fought major bushfires in the region in December 1880, January 1881, January 1985 and the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. Bung Bong horse,

Richmond Lass Richmond Lass won 31 races as a harness racer and went on to win the 1969 Inter Dominion Pacing Championship. The horse was owned by Fred Miller, from Richmond House, Bung Bong, Victoria and driven by "respected local horseman Jack Moore." Ric ...

, won 31 races and went on to win the 1969

Inter Dominion Pacing Championship :''for winners of the trotting event see: Inter Dominion Trotting Championship'' The Inter Dominion is a harness racing competition that has been contested since 1936 in Australia and New Zealand. The Inter Dominion was the brain child of Western ...

. The horse was owned by Fred Miller of Richmond House. Gold has been extracted in the Bung Bong region and along the

. In 2018, commercial gold exploration has resumed.

Infrastructure

Copies of the land titles for Bung Bong, located on what subsequently became the

, at the Bet Bet Creek, for 1863 and for 1873 are available. The locality is now designated as the ''Bung Bong Streamside Reserve''. Bung Bong Post Office opened on 1 February 1864 and closed in 1961. The old

Glenmona Bridge Glenmona Bridge is a riveted wrought iron lattice-girder deck-truss road bridge on the old route between the Ararat and central goldfields over the Bet Bet Creek at Bung Bong, Victoria. History The bridge was built in 1871 to replace an 1857 t ...

was built over the

in 1871 and is the third oldest of its type in Victoria, (after the Hawthorn Bridge and the Redesdale Bridge). Its location is directly south of the new bridge over the Bet Bet on the Pyrenees Highway. The Pyrenees Shire Council has documented a number of significant properties in the Bung Bong - Homebush region in the ''Avoca Heritage Study: 1864 - 1994'' - Volume 3.

Railway

Bung Bong is on the

Avoca railway line The Maryborough–Avoca–Ararat railway is a railway line in western Victoria, Australia. It is one of the few railway lines in the state to have been closed and then reopened. Today it is a standard gauge branch line connecting the Western ...

, to the north of the locality, where ballast was loaded from nearby basalt quarries. There was a Post Office at the Bung Bong station which opened in October 1877 and closed in June 1940. In 2017, there is a proposal entitled the, ''Murray Basin rail project'' designed to link

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

to Portland with standard gauge track to carry grain and mineral sands. This upgrading will include the Maryborough to Ararat section of the line, past the site of the disused Bung Bong station. ( Coordinates ) Community action has been successful in keeping a railway

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

on a key arterial road open, after commencement of the new rail link. The Avoca line was reopened in 2018 after a complete rebuild as part of the

Murray Basin Rail Project The Murray Basin Rail Project is a major railway project in the north-west of Victoria, Australia. The project includes the conversion of a substantial portion of the Victorian freight rail network from the historical broad gauge to the standard ...

, which also extended the reach of the standard gauge network in Victoria.

Bung Bong, Wareek Cemetery

The cemetery is located at 413 Bung Bong-Rathscar Rd, Wareek VIC 3465. ( Coordinates ) and in 2017 is being upgraded by the community with new fences and facilities. Information on the interments, with more details and images of the headstones - here.

Schools

There was a Primary School (No. 1056) at Bung Bong which operated on the same block as the Church of England between 1872 and 1921. Approximately 5 km south of Bung Bong, on the Moore's Flat Road, is the now abandoned locality of Moore's Flat. There was a Moore's Flat Primary School (No. 1575).

Hall

The Bung Bong Temperance Hall was established by the

Independent Order of Rechabites The Independent Order of Rechabites (IOR), also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab, Alan Axelrod ''International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders'' New York; Facts on File, inc 1997 p.206 is a fraternal organisation ...

as 'Tent' 138. It is located on the Pyrenees Highway. ( Coordinates ) It was built in 1876 on land donated by Mr Miller and was used for community activities including meetings of the 'Farmers Club'. The building was subsequently used as the Bung Bong Church of England. While the building is now unused, the site has become a popular stopping place for caravans. BungBongChurch1

References

External links

Avoca and District Historical Society

Prior website of the Avoca and District Historical Society

Glenmona Bridge 1

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia)