Rubicon is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

in Victoria,

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 ...

, located in the

Shire of Murrindindi The Shire of Murrindindi 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 June 2018, had a population of 14,478. It includes the towns of Alexandra, ...

. It is situated on the

Rubicon River The Rubicon ( la, Rubico; it, Rubicone ; rgn, Rubicôn ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just north of Rimini. It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, Crossing the Rubicon, famously ...

. In the 2021 census, Rubicon had a population of 44. Much of the locality consists today of forested protected areas, variously including the Yarra Ranges National Park, Rubicon State Forest, Rubicon Valley Historic and Cultural Features Reserve, Marysville State Forest, Mount Bullfight Nature Conservation Reserve and Cathedral Range State Park. It was once home to a significant timber industry, which was connected to the railhead at

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

by a network of tramways. It was severely damaged by the 1939 Black Friday bushfires and the local sawmill industry was phased out by 1953, though the forest continues to be used for logging to some extent. The Rubicon Hydro-Electric Scheme was established in 1928–29 to harness electricity from the Rubicon River and Royston River, and still functions today, though providing a far smaller proportion of the state's electricity than it once did. It is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...

. A small township, Tin Hut, servicing the timber and hydroelectric workers, was located at the corner of Royston Road and Herbs Road. It formerly had a state school (Rubicon Junction State School), post office and store. The 1947 post office and store building is the last surviving building from the settlement; it closed in June 1964 and is now privately owned. One of the three camping areas at Rubicon is located at the former townsite.

Climate

Located in the hills of central Victoria, Rubicon is frequently affected by heavy

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

and chilling rains throughout much of the year. Climate data are sourced from the old Rubicon S.E.C. Sawmill at an elevation of . Rubicon is one of the coldest localities by mean maximum temperature in mainland Australia, second only to Aberfeldy. On average there are 8.7 snowy days annually. It is the second wettest locality in Victoria behind Bogong, possibly the wettest anywhere in mainland Australia's temperate zone. Cloud cover is extremely heavy in the winter months, as evident by the afternoon relative humidity readings. There is a pronounced autumnal lag, with March being notably warmer than December.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Murrindindi