The King Valley, or King River Valley is a wine-producing and agricultural region centred on the King River between Wangaratta and the Alpine National Park in the

North East Victoria North East Victoria is an Australian Geographical Indication for a wine zone in the Australian state of Victoria. It includes five named wine regions: * Alpine Valleys * Beechworth * Glenrowan * King Valley * Rutherglen Geography The North Ea ...

zone of the Australian state of Victoria. There are several small towns within the region including Cheshunt, Whitfield,

King Valley The King Valley, or King River Valley is a wine-producing and agricultural region centred on the King River between Wangaratta and the Alpine National Park in the North East Victoria zone of the Australian state of Victoria. There are a number ...

, Edi,

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

Moyhu Moyhu is a small town in North East Victoria, Australia. It is situated in the fertile King Valley, near the King River, which flows from the Victorian Alps and joins the Ovens River in Wangaratta. The town is about 2.5 hours drive from Melb ...

Byrne ' Byrne (also O'Byrne) is an Irish surname. It is derived from the Gaelic ''Ó Broin'' or ''Ó Beirn''. There are two Irish surnames which have Byrne as their English spelling; the most common comes from Ó Broin, which refers to the Leinster-b ...

, Docker and

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia **Oxley railway station, Brisbane ...

. King Valley was recorded as an Australian Geographical Indication protected name on 12 October 2007.

History

The fertile valley area has been used since the 1880s to grow a variety of crops, which include

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

alongside dairy and beef cattle production. A

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

was built between Wangaratta and Whitfield in 1889, and a government tobacco research farm was established in Edi and moved to Whitfield in 1902. Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a large number of Italian, Yugoslav and Spanish migrants settled in the area and established tobacco farms. Following the decline of the tobacco industry in the mid-80s to its demise in 2006 from government deregulation, local farmers branched out into other crops, such as

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

, and

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

, and several vineyards were established. The King Valley has a history that includes

bushrangers Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

, Chinese and Italian immigration. Chinese migrants came from the

Victorian Goldfields The Goldfields region of Victoria is a region commonly used but typically defined in both historical geography and tourism geography (in particular heritage tourism). The region is also known as the Victorian Golden Triangle. Description I ...

in the mid-19th century and began careers as market gardeners, tobacco growers and merchants. Many roads in the Valley today carry the names of the more prominent families, like Mahlooks, Honey, Laffy and Fosangs. Italian migrants came to the region in the 1940s and 1950s and similarly began tobacco farming. However, they would eventually switch to producing European wine varietals. The valley eventually gained a reputation as a wine region for

sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape i ...

, nebbiolo and barbera varieties, with the region containing some of the highest-altitude vineyards in Australia, which are around above sea level on the Whitlands Plateau at the southern end of the region.

Milawa Milawa is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on Snow Road, south-east of Wangaratta, in the Rural City of Wangaratta. At the , Milawa had a population of 588. It is at the northern end of the King Valley wine region, between the King Ri ...

is at the northern end with an altitude of . The

Whitfield railway line The Whitfield railway line was a narrow gauge railway located in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, branching from the main North East railway at Wangaratta to the terminus of Whitfield. Overview It was the first of four narrow gauge line ...

operated in the King Valley from 1899 to 1953. One of four

narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways The former Victorian Railways, the state railway authority in Victoria, Australia, built a number of experimental narrow-gauge lines around the beginning of the 20th century. Although all were closed by the early 1960s, parts of two have be ...

, the 50-kilometre line operated from Wangaratta (where it connected with the North East railway line) to Whitfield. Today, this route is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

. Whitfield and

are the larger townships in the King Valley, located along the road from Wangaratta or Mansfield. The two towns serve as major tourism centers within the Valley, and smaller hamlets are dotted throughout the King Valley region.

Sport

Whitfield has a nine-hole sand scrape public golf course, called the King Valley Golf Club situated on the King Valley Road. There was a King Valley Cricket Association that was established in 1948, comprising teams from - Carboor, Cheshunt, Dandongadale, Greta, King Valley, Myrrhee and Whitfield. There was an annual Whitfield Sports Day held annually on Boxing Day from 1905 onwards at the Whitfield Recreation Reserve, which included running, wood chopping and bike riding events. ;King Valley Football Association The King Valley Football Association (KVFA) was formed in 1920 and ran through until 1934. The Whitfield Football Club dominated this competition, playing in 12 grand finals and winning six premierships. The sides that competed in this competition were - Cheshunt, Edi, Greta, King Valley, Moyhu, Moyhu Rovers (Reserves), Myrrhee and Whitfield. In 1935, the remaining clubs in the KVFA merged to form King Valley United Football Club and entered the

Ovens & King Football League The Ovens & King Football Netball League is a minor country Australian rules football league based in North-Eastern Victoria in the vicinity of Wangaratta and more recently Benalla. History The ''Ovens & King Football League'' was formed on ...

and have played there ever since. King Valley have won two senior

football premierships in 1970 and 1981 and two A. Grade netball premierships in 2015 and 2016. The club's home ground is at the Whitfield Recreation Reserve. ;KVFA - Premiers / Grand Finals *1928 - Greta played an ineligible player and a second grand final was played.

References

External links

Australian Places - CheshuntKing Valley United Football Netball Club
{{coord, 36, 41, 41, S, 146, 24, 06, E, region:AU-VIC_type:landmark, display=title Wine regions of Victoria (state) Wangaratta