Bonegilla is a town of the

City of Wodonga The City of Wodonga is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, located in the north-east part of the state. It covers an area of and in August 2 ...

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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

in north-east Victoria, Australia, east of

Wodonga Wodonga (pronounced ; ) is a city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury-Wodonga and is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Wodonga L ...

, and around north-east of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. At the , Bonegilla and the surrounding area had a population of 610.

History

Bonegilla Post Office opened on 20 August 1878 and closed in 1951. Bonegilla Military Post Office was open from 1940 to 1947 and from 1983 to 1998, after which it relocated to nearby

Bandiana Bandiana is a Suburb of the City of Wodonga local government area in northeast Victoria, Australia. History Bandiana takes its name from the early name for the area, probably from a First Nations toponym. The hill now known as Bears Hill appea ...

. Much of the development of the town was due to the

Cudgewa railway line The Cudgewa railway line is a closed railway line in the north-east of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Branching off the main North East railway line, North East line at Wodonga railway station, Wodonga it ran east to a final termin ...

which opened in 1889 and closed in 1981. The line was used both in the development of, and transporting materials for, the

Snowy Mountains Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme, also known as the Snowy Hydro or the Snowy scheme, is a hydroelectricity and irrigation in Australia, irrigation complex in south-east Australia. Near the border of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

and the main method of transporting thousands of migrants to the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre from

Station Pier Station Pier is a historic Australian pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate Ferry, ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian He ...

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

. The rail line has since been removed, and is now the High Country Rail Trail, a bike path linking Wodonga to Lake Hume. Bonegilla camp 1954

Bonegilla migrant camp

As part of the

Post war immigration to Australia Post-war immigration to Australia deals with migration to Australia in the decades immediately following World War II, and in particular refers to the predominantly European wave of immigration which occurred between 1945 and the end of the Whi ...

, Australia's first migrant reception centre opened at Bonegilla in December 1947 with an intake of the first assisted migrants from Europe, Baltic refugees from Germany. Assisted migrants who had not been refugees began arriving in 1951. The Australian Army had established a camp and military hospital on the site in 1940 as Albury-Wodonga was considered strategically important during the Second World War. Initially the army provided transport and security services to the migrant centre. The camp at Bonegilla closed in 1971 by which time some 320,000 migrants from over 30 countries had spent time there.Bonegilla Camp Block 19
It is estimated that over 1.5 million Australians are descended from migrants who spent time at Bonegilla.

References

External links

So Much Sky – Bonegilla Reception & Training Centre
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) City of Wodonga

History

Bonegilla migrant camp

See also

References

External links