Lalbert is a very small farming town in the north-west of

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

, within the

Shire of Gannawarra The Shire of Gannawarra is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018 had a population of 10,547. It includes the towns of Cohuna, Kerang, Koondrook, L ...

. Lalbert is situated west of

Kerang Kerang is a rural town on the Loddon River in northern Victoria in Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, lucerne and grain. It is located north-west of Melbourne on the Murray ...

on the

Swan Hill Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At , Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. Indigenous Peop ...

Donald Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of th ...

Road. At the , Lalbert had a population of 151 declining from 224 just five years earlier.

History

Named by Major Mitchell during his trek through the area in 1836, the name Lalbert (or L'Albert as it was originally spelt) is thought to derive from the aboriginal word for the creeper that grew on the mallee trees at the time. The first white people to live in the district were the Ham brothers who took out a pastoral lease there in 1846. By 1850, their sheep run had been subdivided into three separate pastoral properties: the Lalbert, Titybong and Towaninnie runs. The 1865 gazetteer recorded that there were only around 40 white people in the district at the time, all of whom were employed on the sheep stations. The district around Lalbert, moreover, was said to be "fit for nothing except sheep grazing for which purpose the entire available land is taken up". Lalbert is in the middle of

the Mallee The Mallee covers the most northwesterly part of Victoria, bounded by the South Australian and New South Wales borders. Definitions of the south-eastern boundary vary, however, all are based on the historic Victorian distribution of mallee ...

wheat growing area, which is renowned for its crops of wheat barley, oats, canola and legumes. It is 3 kilometres north of Tittybong. Situated 50 km west of Kerang, Lalbert is a mallee town. The town once had a cafe, two general stores, bakery, hotel, school, hall and recreation reserve; one cafe/store remains, the hotel, bakery, school and hall are gone. It is a major grain receiving centre. Lake Lalbert, a few kilometres from town, is a flood filled lake and a significant environmental showpiece. The nearest large town is

Railway

Lalbert is on the

Robinvale railway line The Robinvale railway line is a freight only country railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. The line branches from the Mildura line at Dunolly, and at Inglewood the Eaglehawk – Inglewood line connects with the Piangil line ou ...

. Lalbert was connected when the line was extended to Ultima in 1900, and eventually to

Robinvale Robinvale is a town on the south bank of the Murray River in north western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is Murray River crossings, connected by a bridge to Euston, New South Wales, Euston on the other side of the river in New S ...

in 1924.Wurr, Chris, "Robinvale to Lette Railway", ''

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) aims to foster an interest in the railways, and record and preserve many facets of railway operations. It had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, although the ACT divis ...

Bulletin'', April 1999, pp.123-138 The last regular passenger service on the line ran from

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, mak ...

on 3 June 1978, operated by a diesel electric railmotor (DERM). The last station master was Damian Cybula. The rail passenger service was replaced by Bendigo - Ultima and Swan Hill - Robinvale buses from 5 June 1978. The line is now used exclusively to haul grain.

Football

The Mallee Eagle's Football Club plays in the

Central Murray Football League The Central Murray Football Netball League (CMFNL) is a major country Australian rules football and netball competition based in northern Victoria and southwest New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.s ...

. The team last won the premiership in 1996. William A. Powell, the cricket writer and author of the ''Wisden Guide to Cricket Grounds'' and the ''ECB Guide to Cricket Grounds'', was married here in April 1996 to Carol M. Curthoys.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state)