Paynesville is a tourist/holiday

resort town A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...

in the

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It cove ...

region of Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Paynesville had a population of 3,480. The town is located by road east of the state capital,

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 me ...

. It is known as the boating capital of Victoria.

History

Paynesville was originally called Toonalook, which is an aboriginal name for "place of many fish". The post office opened on 8 November 1879 as Toonalook and was renamed Paynesville in 1886 by the Dickson family, who still reside in the area.

Raymond Island

Raymond Island Raymond Island ( Gunai/Kurnai language: Bunjil-baul) is a small island in the Gippsland Lakes in eastern Victoria, Australia, about from Melbourne. The island is approximately long by wide, and is just off the coast, across from the town ...

is a small island accessible via the

Raymond Island Ferry Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

. The island is predominantly residential and is well known for its large koala population. It has been at the centre of continued local debate over the construction of a bridge to allow for better access and further development.

The town today

Paynesville is a thriving town well served by a range of shops, cafes, a bank and a newly built community centre and library. Much of the town's recent growth has stemmed from the development of a network of canals and prestige homes which have created two artificial islands within the township. Burrabogie Island is north of the waterfront shopping district, and Fort King Island is a residential area north of Burrabogie Island. Although Burrabogie and Fort King Island are separated only by an approximate 45-metre-wide man-made canal, they are the most distant points in Paynesville by road.

Sports

Paynesville is also well represented in the sporting arena, with sailing, bowls, tennis and netball clubs in the town, as well as a thriving local football and cricket club, the latter having won back to back Grand Finals in the Bairnsdale Cricket Association for 2007 and 2008. The town has an

Australian Rules 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 ...

football team competing in the East Gippsland Football League. The team last won a premiership in 2013. Th
Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club (GLYC), established in 1938
whose facilities include a fully licensed bar, club rooms with lake views, launching area with ramp, crane, and mooring jetties. The club has wet berth, hardstand and undercover boat storage. Classes raced include Flying 15s, Mosquitos, Sabres, Castle 650s, Sonata 6/7s, Magnum 8.5s, Timpenny 770s, and a mixed fleet of dinghys, trailer-sailers and keelboats. The club conducts sail training and sailability programs.

Fishing

It is located on the eastern end of Lake Victoria, near Lake King, two of the larger

Gippsland Lakes The Gippsland Lakes are a network of coastal lakes, marshes and lagoons in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an overall area of about between the rural towns of Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale and Sale. The largest of the lakes ar ...

and is a good launching point for exploring the lakes. It provided access to some of the best fishing to be found in Victoria, however, fish stocks have been significantly depleted through over-fishing, nutrient run-off and destruction of sea-grass habitat.

Tourism

Other tourist attractions in the area include: * Paynesville Maritime Museum *

- well known locally for its large

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the ...

population. * Ninety Mile Beach - accessible by boat from the town. * The Lakes National Park Nearby towns include

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at ...

, Metung, Eagle Point, and

Lakes Entrance Lakes Entrance is a seaside resort and fishing port in eastern Victoria, Australia. It is situated approximately east of Melbourne, near a managed, artificial channel connecting the Gippsland Lakes to Bass Strait. At the 2016 census, Lakes E ...

Education

Carey Baptist Grammar School (With Courage and Faith) , city = Kew & Donvale , state = Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, co-educational, Christia ...

has an outdoor education camp near Paynesville called Carey Toonallook (sic).

References

External links

Official East Gippsland tourism website
* {{authority control Fishing communities in Australia Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in East Gippsland Shire of East Gippsland