Tallarook is a town the

Shire of Mitchell The Shire of Mitchell is a local government area in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia, located North of Melbourne. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 44,299. It includes the towns of Broadford, Kilmore, Seymour ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

in central

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. The town is in on the

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

, north 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 met ...

. At the , Tallarook had a population of 789. Tallarook Post Office opened on 1 April 1861. The town is known in Australia for the

colloquialism Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

, "Things are crook in Tallarook", believed to date to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and unemployed travellers seeking work. The phrase became the basis of a song composed by

Jack O'Hagan John Francis "Jack" O'Hagan OBE (29 November 189815 July 1987) was an Australian singer-songwriter and radio personality. Early life O'Hagan was born as John Francis O'Hagan, in Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne. He was the son of Pat O'Hagan ...

—''Things Is Crook in Tallarook''. The main North East railway opened through the town in 1872 along with the local railway station, and a branch railway to Mansfield was started in 1883, extended to

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

in 1891, and

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 ...

in 1909, before being closed on 18 November 1978. Tallarook came to public attention in 1880 with the discovery of a recluse living in the ranges nearby. Dubbed ''A Wildman at Tallarook'', emigrant Henricke Nelsen was arrested and jailed, causing quite a sensation in the region. He is the subject of a 2008 book''They Called Me The Wildman'' 2008 by Robert Hollingworth. While this book fictionalises Nelsen's life, much of the region's early history is also detailed. The town is home to a cricket club competing in the Seymour District Cricket Association. The industrialist

Essington Lewis Essington Lewis, CH (13 January 18812 October 1961) was a prominent Australian industrialist. He was the Director-General of the Department of Munitions during World War II. Biography Early life Essington Lewis was born in Burra, South Austr ...

settled near Tallarook on his property, ''Landscape'' in his later years until his death in 1961.

References

External links

Community websiteGoulburn River High Country Rail Trail
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Lower Hume Shire of Mitchell 1861 establishments in Australia Hume Highway