Whorouly is a town in northeast

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. Its name is possibly derived from an

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

word meaning a black (or red)

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the ord ...

, although another suggestion is that it means "underwater". The town is in the valley of the

Ovens River The Ovens River, a perennial river of the north-east Murray catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine and Hume regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the East ...

and in the

Rural City of Wangaratta The Rural City of Wangaratta is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and, i ...

local government area, north-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 met ...

and south-east of the regional centre of

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

. At the , Whorouly and the surrounding area had a population of 376. Prior to the 1994 council amalgamations by the Kennett Government (and the creation of the Rural City of Wangaratta), the township was in the disbanded

Shire of Oxley The Shire of Oxley was a local government area in Victoria, Australia, immediately to the south of the city of Wangaratta, which housed the shire's council chambers. Oxley covered an area of , and existed from 1862 until 1994. History The O ...

. The town can easily be missed, being sited off the two main valley highways, between the Snow Road (the C522 which runs from an interchange on the M31

Hume Freeway 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 ...

) and The

Great Alpine Road } The Great Alpine Road (B500) is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, and passing through the Victorian Alps. The road was given its current name because it was considere ...

(B500), which runs between Wangaratta and

Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 Australian census, 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from a ...

. It is, however, only five minutes from either road. The town was surveyed and proclaimed in 1868, adopting the name of a nearby

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

. Whorouly Primary School opened in 1874. The first European settlers established large grazing properties but after the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capita ...

, closer settlement took place. Land was released in lots, on the condition that part of the land was cleared for agriculture. Until the 1980s, much of the area along the Ovens River was planted with

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

. Other primary products in the area included beef and dairy cattle, orchards and market gardens. In recent years,

wine grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

growing has been introduced meaning that the area, being at the apex of the Ovens Valley and King Valley, is the centre of a significant food region, with many farm gate and cellar door sales. The local

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,

Whorouly Football Club Whorouly is a town in northeast Victoria, Australia. Its name is possibly derived from an Aboriginal word meaning a black (or red) cockatoo, although another suggestion is that it means "underwater". The town is in the valley of the Ovens River ...

, competes in the

Ovens and King Football League The Ovens & King Football Netball League is a minor country Australian rules football league based in North-Eastern Victoria in the vicinity of Wangaratta and more recently Benalla. History The ''Ovens & King Football League'' was formed on ...

. Town facilities currently include churches, a children's playground, a sporting ground and a public hall, a combined primary school and pre-school, a combined hotel/pub/general store, a local well renowned cafe called The 2 Cooks Cafe and several self-catering holiday rentals and B&B's. There is also a garage with fuel facilities. The garage was known as Whorouly Motors, but recently changed its name to Alpine Performance to focus on supporting the growing performance car and motorbike market in the region.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Rural City of Wangaratta