Dinner Plain is a town in
Victoria,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, located on the
Great Alpine Road
The Great Alpine Road is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, passing through the Victorian Alps. The road was given its current name because it was considered the mounta ...
, 12 kilometres from
Mount Hotham Alpine Resort, and 387 kilometres from
Melbourne. /sup> At the
2021 Census Dinner Plain had a population of 127 yet the
2016 Census had a population of 230. Accommodation is provided in Ski Lodges or Chalets mainly during the winter months of June, July and August. The village prides itself on the aesthetic architecture being uniquely Australian Alpine Style.
Omeo and
Bright are nearby. Vehicular
Snow Chains
Snow chains, or tire chains, are devices fitted to the tires of vehicles to provide increased traction when driving through snow and ice.
Snow chains attach to the drive wheels of a vehicle or special systems deploy chains which swing under ...
are a legal requirement during Winter.
History
The late
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
(pre-Contact)
Aboriginal traditional owner
Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...
s of the Dinner Plain region were likely the Omeo tribe of the Yaitmatang (various spellings) language group (Howitt 1904). Other groups of Aboriginal people, including neighbouring Dhuduroa, Brabalung (Gunai-Kurnai) likely passed through and visited the Alpine area of Victoria's High Country. Gunn (2002) has suggested a widespread "confederacy" of tribes existed across the Australian Alps during the late Holocene. He further argues that these connections may have ancient origins that are evident through a common rock art style that emphasises human figures (Gunn 2002: 8). This alpine art style has origins in the mid-Holocene around 3500 BP, when the rock shelters of the region were primarily used for ritual purposes (Gunn 2002: 7–8), and is likely to precede the tribal boundaries encountered historically by thousands of years.
The tradition of hospitality at Dinner Plain goes back well over a century, when mountain cattlemen first arrived to rest and graze their cattle. The site of Dinner Plain village was originally part of . When the coaches were running between Omeo and Bright, they would stop here for midday dinner, hence the area became known as Dinner Plain.
In 1987, Peter McIntyre and Harry Seidler shared the Zelman Cowan Award for non-residential architecture; McIntyre won for his design for the Ski Lodge at Dinner Plain. Dinner Plain hosts the
Dinner Plain Sled Dog Sprint annually, one of Australia's only snow-based
sled dog races.
References
General references
* Alpine Shire Council Master Plan Strategy “Executive Summary Adopted”(5 May 2015) Retrieved 27 May 2025
* HOWITT, A. W. 1904 The native tribes of South Eastern Australia. MacMillan, London. (Aboriginal Studies Press reprint 1996).
* GUNN, R. G. 2002 Mudgegonga 2 and the Rock Art of North East Victoria. Rock Art Research 19: 1–17.
*
Australian Bureau of Statistics
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...
(11 April 2017
“2016 Dinner Plain, Census All Persons”QuickStats Retrieved 29 May 2025
*
Transport Victoria (6 May 2025
“Snow and Winter Driving”Retrieved 1 June 2025.
External links
*
*
Towns in Victoria (state) Alpine Shirebr>
The Alpine School
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