Erica 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 ...

, on Rawson Road, in the

Shire of Baw Baw The Shire of Baw Baw () is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and in 2021 had a population of 57,626. It includes the towns of Drouin, Longwarry, Neerim South, Trafalgar ...

. The area was generally known as Upper Moondarra in the early 1900s, the township of Erica beginning to grow after construction of the railway line from Moe to Walhalla, which passed through the area. When the station opened in 1910 it was named Harris, but had been renamed Erica after a nearby mountain by 1914. As a consequence, the Post Office opened on 14 July 1910 as Upper Moondarra and was renamed Erica in 1914. The township of Erica lived mainly from

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

and

agriculture 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 ...

, and owing to Walhalla's decline by the 1920s was the largest town on the Moe-Walhalla railway. The section of line past

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * Erica (plant), ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * Erica (video game), ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * Erica (spider), ' ...

closed to traffic in 1944, save for occasional goods services to Platina station, and the line from Moe to Erica closed completely in 1954. The Erica Court of Petty Sessions closed in 1968. Erica still maintains agricultural and timber industry connections, as well as being a service town for local tourist destinations such as the

Thomson Dam The Thomson Dam is a major Clay core and rockfill embankment dam with a Uncontrolled, Ogee-shaped overflow weir and chute spillway across the Thomson River, located about east of Melbourne in the West Gippsland region of the Australian stat ...

, the Walhalla Goldfields Railway,

Mount Baw Baw Mount Baw Baw () is a mountain summit on the Baw-Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, located in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The name is from the Yarra-Yallou, Gunna-Kurnai people of Gippsland. It is of uncertain meaning, but possibly ...

and Mount St Gwinear. The history of the town and surrounding area is the focus of the Erica and District Historical Society, located in the old Rawson Police Station. At the 2011 census, Erica and the surrounding area had a population of 324. The newer town of Rawson is located a few kilometres away.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Baw Baw