Tarrawarra is a locality in

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 ...

, 45 km north-east of Melbourne's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, located within the

Shire of Yarra Ranges The Shire of Yarra Ranges, also known as Yarra Ranges Council, is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. It has ...

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 ...

. Tarrawarra recorded a population of 81 at the . It was originally known as View Hill estate, and was purchased in 1893 by David Syme, owner and publisher of ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' newspaper, who expanded it and gave it its present name, which is of Aboriginal origin. The name refers to "slow waters", describing the local arc in the Yarra River. The Post Office opened on 4 June 1900 and closed in 1957. Tarrawarra railway station opened with the opening of the Healesville line on 1 March 1889 and closed with the line on 9 December 1980. The station is now under the control of the

Yarra Valley Railway The Yarra Valley Railway is a heritage railway operating on a section of the former Healesville railway line, Healesville railway which operated between Lilydale, Victoria, Lilydale and Healesville, Victoria, Healesville in the Yarra Valley area ...

who are working towards reopening the line from Healesville through Tarrawarra to

Yarra Glen Yarra Glen is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 55 km north-east from Melbourne, Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges Local government areas of Victoria ...

. In 1954

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Monks from Ireland purchased one section of the property comprising , including the large house built by David Syme for his daughter and established Tarrawarra Abbey of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists). Since that time the community has built additional buildings including a large library in 2006. The monks support themselves by operating a beef farm and by Tarrawarra Eucharistic Breads. Another section of the original estate today is TarraWarra Estate winery, which opened in 1983 and which produces

chardonnay Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

and

pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

, and the

TarraWarra Museum of Art The TarraWarra Museum of Art is an art museum in Healesville, Victoria, 45 kilometres northeast of Melbourne. It was founded by philanthropists and art collectors, Eva and Marc Besen. Opened in 2003, TarraWarra is a not-for-profit art gallery that ...

, which opened in 2000.

References

External links

Cistercian order in Australia
also Tarrawarra Abbey home page

(SMH Travel) Towns in Victoria (state) Yarra Valley Yarra Ranges Shire {{melbourne-geo-stub