Maffra is a town 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 ...

, Australia, east of

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 ...

. It is in the

Shire of Wellington The Shire of Wellington is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 44,019. It includes the towns of Heyfield, Rosedale, Maffra, Sale ...

local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the site of one of Murray-Goulburn Cooperative's eight processing plants in Victoria. Maffra is a detour off the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

and is near Sale, Stratford,

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

Tinamba Tinamba is a dairy farming town in Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, located on Traralgon - Maffra Road between Heyfield, Victoria, Heyfield and Maffra, Victoria, Maffra, in the Shire of Wellington. It has a country pub, a church, enginee ...

Heyfield Heyfield is a town in Victoria, Australia, with a population of 1,993. It is east of Melbourne, in the Shire of Wellington local government area. Located on the Thomson River, Heyfield is a gateway to the Victorian High Country. History In 1 ...

and Rosedale. 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 ...

, Maffra had a population of 4,316.

History

The town began as an outstation of the region's first cattle run, Boisdale, named by pioneer grazier Lachlan Macalister after a village on the island of

South Uist South Uist ( gd, Uibhist a Deas, ; sco, Sooth Uist) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the ...

in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The town appears to have taken its name from a group of squatters from Maffra, a village in the

Monaro region Monaro ( ), once frequently spelled "Manaro", or in early years of settlement "Maneroo" is a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro. While t ...

of NSW, with its location between current Maffra and

being written on an early map. The squatters moved on, but the name remained. The Monaro Maffra was probably connected to

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. ...

, a town in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The township was settled in the 1860s, the Post Office opening on 20 July 1864.

Maffra railway station Maffra was a major station located in the town of Maffra, on the now closed Maffra railway line in Victoria, Australia. It was 212 km from Southern Cross station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street stat ...

on the

Maffra railway line The Maffra railway line is a closed railway line in Victoria, Australia. The line provided an alternative route to East Gippsland than the current route to Sale. The line was closed in stages from Traralgon to Cowwarr in 1986, and from Cowwarr ...

opened in 1887. The last regular passenger service ran in 1977. The station precinct is now an industrial precinct and the former station building is used for community purposes. Maffra was long the beef cattle capital of West Gippsland and, for many years, the only

beet sugar A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wit ...

processing center in the country. The Beet Museum, set in the Port of Maffra Park, has relics from the defunct sugar beet industry. The building is a relocated historic weighbridge building, and is lined with pine boards from the home of Charles and Grace Quirk, one of Maffra's first cottages.

Today

Maffra hosts a Mardi Gras every March, the Maffra and District Agricultural, Pastoral and Horticultural Show in October and a tennis tournament at

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. The Wellington Shire Council removed a row of 100+ year old trees that line the main street because of disease, but has since replaced them with young oaks. Maffra has two primary schools, the Maffra Primary School and St Mary's Primary School (Catholic). Maffra also has a public secondary school,

Maffra Secondary College Maffra Secondary College is a Year 7 to Year 12 government secondary college situated in the Gippsland town of Maffra, Victoria. It has around 700 students enrolled from Year 7 to 12, and takes in students from Maffra and surrounding towns, incl ...

, which has a student enrolment of around 700. Maffra Secondary has a strong academic program and is involved in a number of community service programs.

Plant toxicity for dogs

In July 2021,

had over 50 pet dogs suffering liver toxicity, with 14 dogs known to have died from the condition. The source of the issue was traced to

indospicine Indospicine is an amino acid not found in proteins, which occurs in ''Indigofera'' species. The chemical resembles arginine. It is toxic to mammals and causes liver damage and abortion. Dogs are particularly sensitive to the toxic effect and can ...

sourced from Indogofera plants. Many of the dogs had eaten raw pet food sourced from a

knackery A knacker (), knackerman or knacker man is a person who removes and clears animal carcasses (dead, dying, injured) from private farms or public highways and renders the collected carcasses into by-products such as fats, tallow (yellow grease ...

Maffra Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the sit ...

. No specific source for the contamination was immediately identified, as these plants are not normally found in southern Australia.Victorian dog deaths caused by toxin from native plant, but link to food still unclear
Emma Field,

ABC News Online ABC News, or ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting within Australia and the rest of the world, the service covers both local and world affairs. The division of ...

, 2021-07-21 This toxicity has previously been seen in dogs fed meat from Australian feral camels, common in northern Australia.

Sport

The town has an

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 ...

team competing in the

Gippsland Football League The Gippsland League (formerly known as the West Gippsland Latrobe Football League) is an Australian rules football and netball league in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is considered the only AFL Victoria major league in Gippsla ...

. Its senior side was at one point the most successful in the league, winning 6 premierships in the early 2000s. Maffra is also home to a

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

club, fielding junior, women's and men's teams in the

East Gippsland Hockey Association Hockey Victoria (HV) is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Victoria, Australia. It is responsible for the administration of intrastate competitions, state representative teams, officials and the financial position of the sport. It ...

playing at Cameron Sports Complex, Morison Street. Also at this complex, is Maffra's Amateur Basketball Association. This hosts junior and senior teams, as well as Men and Women's CBL teams. Golfers play at the course of the Maffra Golf Club on Fulton Road.

Notable people

Bill Bennett William Richards Bennett, (April 14, 1932 – December 3, 2015) was the 27th premier of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986. He was a son of Annie Elizabeth May (Richards) and former Premier, W. A. C. Bennett. He was a 3rd cousin, twice removed, ...

, AFL player, member of

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

* Sam Berry, AFL player with

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

* John Butcher, AFL player with

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...

* John Hipwell, Australian architect *

Shane Watts Shane Watts (born 7 November 1972), is an Australians, Australian former professional motorcycle enduro racer. He won the 1997 125cc World Enduro Championship as well as several Australian and American national off-road championships during his c ...

former world champion off-road motorcycle racer

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Central Gippsland Shire of Wellington