Tocumwal ( ) is a town in the southern

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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 ...

, in the

Berrigan Shire Berrigan Shire is a local government area in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire lies on the New South Wales State border with Victoria formed by the Murray River. The Shire is adjacent to the Newell and Rive ...

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 ...

. The town, north of the city of

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 ...

, lies on the northern bank of the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

, which forms the border with

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 ...

. The

Newell Highway Newell Highway is a National Highway (Australia), national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria (state), Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amo ...

and

Murray Valley Highway Murray Valley Highway is a rural highway located in Victoria (state), Victoria (with a short western tail in New South Wales), Australia, between Euston, New South Wales and Corryong, Victoria. The popular tourist route mostly follows the sout ...

join at the Murray River, and form part of the main road route National Highway between

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and Melbourne. At the , Tocumwal had a population of 2,682. The name of the town is probably a corruption of the local

Pangerang The Pangerang, also spelt Bangerang and Bangarang, are the Indigenous Australians who traditionally occupied much of what is now north-eastern Victoria stretching along the Murray River to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in ...

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

word, "Tucumiva" (or "Tucumival"), meaning "deep hole". Near Tocumwal is a 25-metre-deep hole in granite rock, now known as "The Blowhole", which is linked underground to the nearby Murray River.

History

Prior to European settlement, the Tocumwal area was inhabited by the

Ulupna Ulupna is a locality in the north of the Australian state of Victoria. The locality is basically Ulupna Island, an inland island bordered by Ulupna Creek and the Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjer ...

and

Bangerang The Pangerang, also spelt Bangerang and Bangarang, are the Indigenous Australians who traditionally occupied much of what is now north-eastern Victoria stretching along the Murray River to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in Ne ...

people. The first pastoral runs were established in the 1840s. The town was established in the early 1860s and gazetted in 1862 as: "a Village to be called TOCUMWAL ... Situated on the Murray River, on the road from Albury to Deniliquin, about 50 miles west of Corowa, and 40 south-east of Deniliquin." Tocumwal Post Office opened on 1 August 1868. Prior to

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, Tocumwal was an important

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

point for goods moving between the then British

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

of Victoria and New South Wales. A

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

branch line, from the

New South Wales Government Railways New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in the colony, and then the state, of New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. History The NSWGR built ...

(NSWGR)

Main Southern railway line The Main Southern Railway (or Great Southern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West ...

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

, reached

Narrandera Narrandera ( ), until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the central Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell Highway, Newell and Sturt Highway, Sturt highwa ...

in 1881 and a branch from Narrandera was completed to Tocumwal in 1898. The

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

Melbourne-Shepparton railway line was extended to Tocumwal in 1908, creating a

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally canno ...

location at Tocumwal, but the NSWGR line from Finley to Tocumwal was closed in 1987. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the town was the site of

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

Station Tocumwal, which was a major

training airfield and aircraft depot. Units included (at various times) the 5 Operational Training Unit, 7 Operational Training Unit, 7 Aircraft Depot and the Paratroop Training Unit. Today, the airfield is a renowned

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...

site. Also during the War, Tocumwal was the location of RAAF No.14 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 14 June 1944. Usually consisting of four tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

and the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000). After the War ended, families were housed at the American Air Force Hospital and the men travelled daily over the river to Yarroweyah, in Victoria, to work on farms, which they could then apply for under the

soldier settlement Soldier settlement was the settlement of land throughout parts of Australia by returning discharged soldiers under soldier settlement schemes administered by state governments after World War I and World War II. The post-World War II settlement ...

scheme. The hospital was on or next to Barooga Station. Living quarters were in long

Nissen huts A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

, with three or four families in each and a shared bathroom. Single quarters were at the front and a cook was employed. Also after the War, about 200 Air Force houses in Tocumwal were disassembled and trucked to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

to be reused in as government housing for workers from

and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

who were constructing the new capital city. Called

Tocumwal houses Tocumwal houses refers to a type of house in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The houses, originally sited in the southern New South Wales town of Tocumwal were relocated to Canberra in the 1940s to address a housing shortage. The vast m ...

, they remain a distinctive architectural feature in Canberra's suburbs, such as

O'Connor O'Connor or O'Conor may refer to: People * O'Connor or O'Conor, an Irish clan * O'Connor Sligo, a royal dynasty ruling the northern part of the Kingdom of Connacht * O'Connor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places * Burdett ...

and Ainslie.

Heritage listings

Tocumwal has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Narrandera-Tocumwal railway:

Tocumwal railway station Tocumwal railway station is a heritage-listed closed railway station in the town of Tocumwal, New South Wales, Australia. It was once the break-of-gauge between the broad gauge Victorian Railways Tocumwal line from the south, and the standard ...

* Narrandera-Tocumwal railway:

Tocumwal Road and Rail Bridge over Murray River The Murray River road and railway bridge is a Heritage register, heritage-listed railway bridge, railway and former road bridge that carries the Tocumwal railway line, Victoria, Tocumwal railway line across the Murray River at Tocumwal, New So ...

Climate

Tocumwal has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BSk''). marginally too dry to be classified as a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(''Cfa''), with hot summers and pleasant winters. Rainfall is moderate but somewhat erratic, with calendar year totals having ranged from in 1982 to in 1973.

Facilities

Tocumwal has one state and one Catholic primary school. The nearest high school is in Finley, to the north.

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 ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

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 ...

are all very popular in the town. Notable sporting teams include the Tocumwal Football Club (The Bloods) who compete in the

Picola & District Football League The Picola & District Football Netball League (PDFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball league. The league covers a large area of northern Victoria (state), Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the south to Jerild ...

Tocumwal is in the federal

Division of Farrer The Division of Farrer is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. It is currently represented by Leader of the Opposition (Aust ...

and the state

Electoral district of Murray Murray (The Murray until 1910) is an electoral district in the Australian state of New South Wales. Murray is a regional electorate lying in the southwestern corner of the state. It encompasses several local government areas, namely Wentworth ...

. Tocumwal was also where the largest

Murray cod The Murray cod (''Maccullochella peelii'') is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the genus '' Maccullochella'' in the family Percichthyidae.Dianne J. Bray & Vanessa J. Thompson (2011Murray Cod, Maccullochella peelii Fishes of Au ...

in the world was caught. Tocumwal has a 36-hole championship golf course at the Tocumwal Golf Club,Tocumwal Golf and Bowls Club
/ref> a bowls club and is well known internationally for gliding at SportAviation.Sport Aviation
/ref>

Gallery

File:Tocumwal Big Cod.JPG, The Big

Murray Cod The Murray cod (''Maccullochella peelii'') is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the genus '' Maccullochella'' in the family Percichthyidae.Dianne J. Bray & Vanessa J. Thompson (2011Murray Cod, Maccullochella peelii Fishes of Au ...

on the Tocumwal foreshore File:Tattersalls Hotel Tocumwal.JPG, The Tattersalls Hotel, one of four pubs in Tocumwal File:Tocumwal Terminus Hotel.JPG, The Terminus Hotel, another of the four pubs File:Tocumwal Airport overview Vabre.jpg, Tocumwal Airport

References

External links

* *
Tocumwal : Centre to the Murray Attractions (Official tourism site)

Tocumwal Railway Station
{{authority control Towns in Berrigan Shire Towns in the Riverina Towns in New South Wales Populated places on the Murray River Newell Highway