Manangatang ( ) is a town in north-west

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 , 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

Manangatang is positioned on the

Robinvale railway line The Robinvale railway line is a freight only country railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. The line branches from the Mildura line at Dunolly, and at Inglewood the Eaglehawk – Inglewood line connects with the Piangil line out ...

. Manangatang was the terminus from 1914 until the line was extended in 1921. Passenger service to Manangatang railway station ceased in 1978. The

Mallee Highway Mallee Highway (formerly Ouyen Highway in Victoria) is a highway in south-eastern South Australia and north-western Victoria, Australia, Victoria, running mostly across the Mallee plains. It forms part of the shortest route between Adelaide, Sou ...

crosses the railway and the

Robinvale Robinvale is a town on the south bank of the Murray River in north western Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Euston on the other side of the river in New South Wales. At the , Robinvale had a population of 3,313, however a ...

– Sea Lake Road at Manangatang. 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 ...

is to be reopened (as of 2017) as standard gauge and upgraded to 21-tonne axle loads, with insertion of over 100,000 new concrete sleepers. The second reopening of this cross country line is primarily to allow for the carriage of

mineral sands Heavy mineral sands are a class of ore deposit which is an important source of zirconium, titanium, thorium, tungsten, rare-earth elements, the industrial minerals diamond, sapphire, garnet, and occasionally precious metals or gemstones. Heavy m ...

from Manangatang to a processing plant at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

History

A Mr A T Creswick, who held the Bumbang station, had a hut on or near the present township. Surveyed blocks, each of about one square mile in area, were available in 1911. Manangatang was proclaimed a town in 1915. In January 1919, the local police station was set up with mounted Constable E E Dunkley in charge. 1930 saw settlement by some Punjabi

emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

s. Mrs Della Dillon opened a store in the town in 1912. The first sale of township subdivision was in 1913 at prices ranging from 15 to 30 pounds. The post office opened on 6 January 1913 when the township was settled. Miss Alice McKinnon was the Post Mistress from that time until 1958 when she sold the premises. Her 44 years of service was recognised by the public at a gathering in her honour that year. A progress association was successful in having state School no 3263 opened on 26 September 1914.

Community

The local area consists mainly of farming, primarily wheat and sheep but also cows and birds such as

squab In culinary terminology, squab is an immature domestic pigeon, typically under four weeks old, or its meat. The meat is widely described as tasting like dark chicken. The term is probably of Scandinavian origin; the Swedish word ''skvabb'' mean ...

. The Manangatang Football Club, 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 then competing in the Mallee Football League, was made famous by a

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

of commentator

Lou Richards Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards, (15 March 1923 – 8 May 2017) was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the tea ...

; "They couldn't beat the Manangatang thirds." The town in conjunction with nearby township Tooleybuc, New South Wales now has an Australian rules football team competing in the Central Murray Football League. Manangatang has a horse racing club, the Manangatang Racing Club, which holds one race meeting a year, the Manangatang Cup meeting on

Caulfield Guineas The Caulfield Guineas is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held over 1600 metres (1 mile) at set weights for three-year-old horses at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia. Total prize money is A$3 million. The race ...

day in October. Golfers play at the course of the Manangatang Golf Club at the Recreation Reserve. The town possesses Victoria's smallest public hospital and nursing home. Manangatang also has a combined high school and primary school, a preschool and a tennis club. Manangatang has an Annual Reunion on the second Saturday of February at approx 10.30 am in the Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne. The gathering is near the Fairy Tree and the kiosk. This reunion has been going for over 75 years.

References

* Back to Manangatang Book Easter 1959

External links

Manangatang website maintained by the local school
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Mallee Rural City of Swan Hill