Mount Beauty is a small town in north-eastern

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 ...

. The town lies alongside the

Kiewa River Kiewa River, a perennial river that is part of the Murray catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Alpine bioregion, in the Australian state of Victoria. The Kiewa River is also known by several variations on its name in i ...

, at the junction of the

Kiewa Valley Highway The Kiewa Valley Highway is a minor highway of which traverses the Kiewa Valley near the alpine regions of Victoria, Australia. In the 1950s the road was sealed and realigned to Mount Beauty to permit the transport of materials for the const ...

and Bogong High Plains Road in the

Alpine Shire The Alpine Shire is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and in 2022 had a population of 13,235. It includes the towns of Bright, Dinner Plain, Mou ...

local government area.

History

The town was originally established by the

State Electricity Commission of Victoria The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV, ECV or SEC) is a government-owned electricity supplier in Victoria, Australia. It was set up in 1918, and by 1972 it was the sole agency in the state for electricity generation, transmission, ...

to house construction workers from the

Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme The Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme is the largest hydro-electric scheme in the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria and the second-largest in mainland Australia after the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The ...

in 1949, passing to the control of the local shire council in 1967 after construction was completed. Post Offices opened at Tawonga South (to the north) on 15 April 1943 and at Mount Beauty on 17 February 1947. Post Offices known as No 2 Camp, No 4 Camp, and No 5 Camp, Mount Beauty were open in the 1949-1953 period.

Attractions

The climate of Mount Beauty is truly seasonal, with chilling winters, cool wet springs, warm summers with blue skies and colourful autumns. Each season has its own attractions, including skiing, bushwalking, horse riding, gliding, bike riding (mountain and road) as well as fishing (river and lake). Mount Beauty has its own annual music festival, mountain bike competition and regular weekend markets on the first Saturday of each month. There are also many four wheel drive tracks in the local area. The town is a launching point for trips to the Falls Creek

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

resort, and to the

Bogong High Plains The Bogong High Plains (), part of the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, are a section of plains located in the Alpine National Park in the Australian state of Victoria and are situated south of Mount Bogong. In winter this area is ...

. To this end there are several ski hire shops, eateries, and a bus company doing daily trips to and from the resort at Falls Creek, 32 km distant. This town also has great views to the mountains, such as

Mount Bogong Mount Bogong, , located in the Alpine National Park and part of the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, is the highest mountain in Victoria, Australia, at above sea level. The Big River separates the massif of the mountain from ...

and the peaks that are of interest to many of the tourists coming through the town.

Climate

The town has a very prominent winter rainfall maximum, with a yearly average of . It features 142.2 rainy days per year, which are heavily concentrated between May and October. On account of its southern latitude nearing the 37th parallel, summers have a notable chill about them when compared to more northerly towns such as

Corryong Corryong is a small town in Victoria, Australia east of Albury-Wodonga, near the upper reaches of the Murray River and close to the New South Wales border. At the , Corryong had a population of 1,348. The post office opened on 1 February 18 ...

, with a particularly strong seasonal lag from springtime through to high summer (in line with its rainfall pattern). The station is at an altitude of above sea level.

Sports

The town in conjunction with neighbouring township Dederang 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, Dederang-Mount Beauty, competing in the

Tallangatta & District Football League The Tallangatta and District Football League (TDFL) is an Australian rules football competition in north-east Victoria and the southern border area of Riverina region of the New South Wales. The clubs compete across four competitions, two of ...

. Golfers play at the Mount Beauty Golf Club on Tawonga Crescent. A hang gliding competition, the Bogong Cup, is held in January each year. Mount Beauty also sport a Dragon Boat team, who train on one of local pondage lakes. Mt Beauty Pano, Vic, jjron, 09

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Central Hume Alpine Shire Company towns in Australia