Mallee Highway (formerly Ouyen Highway in Victoria) is a highway in south-eastern

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and north-western

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 ...

, running mostly across the Mallee plains. It forms part of the shortest route between

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Route

Mallee Highway begins at the intersection with

Dukes Highway Dukes Highway is a 190 kilometre highway corridor in South Australia which is part of the link between the Australian cities of Adelaide and Melbourne. It is part of the National Highway (Australia), National Highway system spanning Australia, a ...

just south-east of

Tailem Bend Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina. It is linear in layout s ...

in South Australia and runs east as a dual-lane, single-carriageway road, through cereal-growing farmland at the southern end of the

Murray Mallee The Murray Mallee is the grain-growing and sheep-farming area of South Australia bounded to the north and west by the Murray River (in South Australia, "River Murray"), to the east by the Victorian border, and extending about 50 km south ...

to Pinnaroo near the border with Victoria, where it crosses the

Ngarkat The Ngarkat is a recorded title of a tribal group from South Australia. The Ngarkat lands had linked the mallee peoples of Victoria and South Australia to the river peoples of the Murray River Murraylands. Ngarkat language has been loosely groupe ...

and Browns Well Highways. It continues east into Victoria through

Ouyen Ouyen is a town in Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, located in the Rural City of Mildura at the junction of the Calder Highway and Mallee Highway, south of Mildura, and northwest of Melbourne. At the 2016 Australian census, 2016 censu ...

, where it crosses the

Calder Highway Calder Highway is a rural highway in Australia, linking Mildura and the Victoria/New South Wales border to Bendigo, in North Central Victoria. South of Bendigo, where the former highway has been upgraded to freeway-standard, Calder Freeway link ...

, via

Manangatang Manangatang ( ) is a town in north-west Victoria, Australia. At the , Manangatang had a population of 309. It is sometimes noted for its unusual name, from an Aboriginal term - "manang" meaning ''land'' and "kaaiti" meaning ''water''. Transport ...

and eventually to

Piangil Piangil, once frequently spelled "Pyangil", is a town in the Mallee region of northern Victoria, Australia. It is approximately north west of the state capital, Melbourne and north west of the regional centre of Swan Hill Swan Hill is a ...

, where it meets with the

Murray Valley Highway Murray Valley Highway is a state highway located in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. The popular tourist route mostly follows the southern bank of the Murray River and effectively acts as the northernmost highway in Victoria. For all b ...

, then along Tooleybuc Road two kilometres to the north where it continues east until it meets the

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 ...

border and 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 ...

Tooleybuc Tooleybuc is a town in the western Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located on the Mallee Highway, southwest of the state capital, Sydney and north west of Melbourne. Situated on the banks of the Murray River acr ...

, where the highway officially ends; the road continues through

eventually to meet the

Sturt Highway Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions situated adjacent to the r ...

Balranald Balranald is a town within the local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town of Balranald is located where the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee River in a remote, semi-desert ...

History

The passing of the ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924'' through the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...

provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the

Country Roads Board The Country Roads Board was a government authority responsible for the construction and maintenance of main roads in the state of Victoria, Australia between 1913 and 1983. History The Country Roads Board (CRB) was formed to take over responsi ...

(later

VicRoads VicRoads is a government joint venture in the state of Victoria, Australia. In the state, it is responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration. It is owned and operated through a joint venture between the Victorian government and a c ...

). The Ouyen Highway was declared a State Highway within Victoria in the 1947/48 financial year, from the

via Murrayville to the South Australian border (for a total of 81 miles); before this declaration, the roads were referred to as Ouyen-Pinnaroo Road. With the passing of the '' Transport Act of 1983''State of Victoria, ''An Act to Re-enact with Amendments the Law relating to Transport including the Law with respect to Railways, Roads and Tramways...'' 23 June 1983
/ref> (itself an evolution from the original ''Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924''), the name was later changed to the Mallee Highway and extended east along the former Ouyen-Piangil Road and Tooleybuc Road to

in December 1990. The highway was signed as National Route 12 between

and

in 1955, later extended with the road to Piangil in 1990. With both states' conversion to their newer alphanumeric systems in the late 1990s, its former route number was updated to B12 in 1997 (within Victoria) and in 1998 (in South Australia). The passing of the ''Road Management Act 2004'' granted the responsibility of overall management and development of Victoria's major arterial roads to

: in 2004, VicRoads re-declared the road as Mallee Highway (Arterial #6650), beginning at the South Australian border at Panitya and ending at the New South Wales border in

Major intersections and towns

References

External links

Highways in Australia Highways in South Australia Highways in Victoria (Australia) Mallee (Victoria) {{Australia-road-stub

Route

History

Major intersections and towns

See also

References

External links