Ensay, Victoria
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ensay is a town located between
Swifts Creek Swifts Creek is a town in the Tambo Valley of East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Great Alpine Road between Omeo and Ensay, Victoria, Ensay, east of the state capital Melbourne and above sea level. The ...
and Bruthen 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 ...
in
East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia covering (14%) of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: Ea ...
,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
,
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 ...
. Ensay is north of the major town of
Bairnsdale Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...
and east of the state capital
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 ...
. Other nearby towns include
Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hi ...
and
Benambra Benambra is a town 28 kilometres (17 mi) north-east of Omeo and 430 kilometres (267 mi) east of the state capital Melbourne, in the Australian Alps of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Nearby towns include Swifts ...
. The town centre is located north of the
confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
of the
Little Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
and
Tambo Tambo may refer to: People * Adelaide Tambo (1929–2007), South African anti-apartheid activist * Dali Tambo (born 1959), South African anti-apartheid activist, TV presenter and also son of Oliver Tambo and Adelaide Tambo * Oliver Tambo (1917†...
river; with an altitude of approximately
AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...
. The population of Ensay was 109 as at the 2016 census.


History

The Aboriginal name for the area around Ensay was ''Numblamunjie'', which translates as ‘blackfish place’. Archibald Macleod (see Bairnsdale, History) set up a station in this area in 1843. He named it after the now unpopulated island of Ensay in the
Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...
of his homeland of
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, whose name originates from the
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
for Ewe Island. Scottish Parliament Place Names Reference The land around Ensay was originally taken up in 1839 by the noted explorer of the district
Angus McMillan Angus McMillan (14 August 1810 – 18 May 1865) was a Scottish-born explorer, pioneer pastoralism, pastoralist, and perpetrator of several of the Gippsland massacres of Gunai people. Arriving first in New South Wales in 1838, McMillan rose sw ...
on behalf of his then employer Lachlan Macalister. This was abandoned shortly afterwards in 1841 with the settlement of large areas of land in the more central parts of
Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...
. The original Ensay Station covered an enormous , which took in most of the Ensay district up to
Swifts Creek Swifts Creek is a town in the Tambo Valley of East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Great Alpine Road between Omeo and Ensay, Victoria, Ensay, east of the state capital Melbourne and above sea level. The ...
, where it abutted the Tongio Station. Some areas very near Ensay, such as Reedy Flat, were outside the Ensay Station boundaries and were not occupied by European settlers until the 1870s. Ensay Station was progressively split up into smaller farms over the years. Notably the area became a site for soldier settlers following
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, as returned servicemen looking for employment were allocated areas of land to farm by the government.
Agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
use of the land around Ensay remains chiefly for the raising of
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
and
sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
.


Facilities (past and present)

The population of Ensay has contracted over the last few decades. In the past Ensay supported a
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
, a number of sporting teams and other facilities, including two significant
pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, two churches, a community hall, a
Scout group A Scout group is a local organization used in some Scout organizations that groups a Scout troop or unit with other age programs, separate gender-based Scout troops and/or multiple Scout troops. A Scout group that groups Scouts with programs fo ...
and a
cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
. The Ensay Post Office opened on 1 March 1864. Several of these facilities continue to this day in some form. The Ensay Primary School (originally simply the Ensay School) opened in 1889 and was rebuilt in 1912. In 1971 three other local primary schools closed (at Reedy Flat, Ensay North and Tambo Crossing) and amalgamated with Ensay Primary School to form the Ensay Group School. Ensay Primary School itself closed in 1994 when the number of students dropped to about six. Following this local children were bussed to Swifts Creek Primary School, with older students attending Swifts Creek Secondary College, now merged to form Swifts Creek P-12 School. The Little River Inn originated as a shanty selling
grog Grog is a term used for a variety of alcoholic beverages. Origin and history Popularization of rum and invention of grog Following Invasion of Jamaica, England's conquest of Jamaica in 1655, rum gradually replaced beer and brandy as the drink ...
in the early 1840s. The first licence was taken out in 1847 and it has been continuously licensed since, remaining a popular local establishment to this day. This makes it the oldest hotel in the
Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hi ...
district and possibly the oldest in East Gippsland. The early Little River Inn seemed to be particularly susceptible to fire, having been burnt down at least three (and perhaps four) times in its history. The current building dates from the 1920s following the fire of 1921. At this time the building was rebuilt on its present site, a spot known at the time as Calcutta Corner. This hotel is around one kilometre from the official town centre, a short way down a side road east of 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 ...
. For many years the Ensay
Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
ran from a small attachment to the Little River Inn. After the post office moved to the general store, a small bookshop ran for several years from this attachment, later relocating to the former Primary School building, and then to Swifts Creek, before closing down in 2014. When the general store in Ensay closed about 2012, the post office relocated to again operate from the Little River Inn. The Ensay South Hotel, now sited on a small loop road off the Great Alpine Road about half a kilometre south of the town, was established in 1892 and closed in 1961. A bush nursing facility was established at Ensay in 1912, with a new building established in 1958. In 1978 this became known as the Ensay Community Health Centre and now includes a Rural Ambulance Depot. Ensay also has a Country Fire Authority (CFA) depot, originally established in 1940 as the Ensay Bush Fire Brigade. Ensay is the nearest town to the folk art sculpture Mr. Stringy, which is located about south alongside the Great Alpine Road.


Sports

In
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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
the Ensay Football Club competed for many decades in the Omeo District Football League (ODFL). The football team won premierships in 1934, 1936, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1950 and 1960. The affiliated Ensay Netball Club competed in the associated
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...
competition. The Ensay colours were blue and gold. Earlier Ensay football jumpers were a golden-yellow vee on a royal blue background. Late in their time Ensay changed their jumper to the early design of the
West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...
AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...
club. The netball club wore a yellow top with blue skirt. The clubs played their last matches in 1995 when they struggled to field teams at the start of the season, finally folding after a few rounds. The recreation reserve is still kept in good condition and hosts occasional special games, including the ODFL final series and Grand Final annually. Ensay
Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
Club competes in the Omeo District Tennis Association (ODTA). The tennis club maintained a strong presence for several years after the football and netball teams folded, but itself briefly ceased playing for the 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 seasons. Ensay revived for the 2003/2004 season and again takes part in the ODTA competition. Ensay also hosts the annual ANA Tournament on the
Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...
Weekend each year in late January, a long running and successful tennis tournament attracting entries from widely scattered areas. A
New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...
Sports' Carnival is also held annually in Ensay, chiefly consisting of a number of
equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
and novelty events. This annual carnival has been a local fixture of the surrounding community since 1916. Various other equestrian events are also held at the Ensay Recreation Reserve, and the reserve also features a
lawn bowling Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
green. The New Year's Day Sports Carnival is no longer held.


References

*Gardner, P.D. (1997) ''Names of the Great Alpine Road Between Bairnsdale and Omeo.'' Ensay: Ngarak Press. {{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of East Gippsland