about
this area The Cowwarr district
was part of the "Hayfield" pastoral run, taken up in the early 1840s. With
the gold rushes of the 1860s in the Great Dividing Range to the north-west,
several supply routes were established from Sale. A route to Walhalla via
Toongabbie became popular after 1866. Cowwarr marked the point at which
this track rose from the plains into the foothills, where supplies were
transferred from bullock wagons to pack horses for the arduous journey ahead.
By 1868 an accommodation house was operating and the township was surveyed.
Various crops such as oats and potatoes were grown, for
sale in Walhalla. The railway arrived in 1883, enabling easy transport of
red gum blocks to Melbourne for street paving. Dairying became widespread
as land was cleared; a creamery was established in the 1880s and a butter
factory in 1897. A new, elaborately designed, factory was built in 1918;
this is now an art gallery.
A flood on the Thomson River in 1952 diverted the flow
into a new channel, where it remains. A weir was built in 1958 to control
the flow in the old channel as a means of minimising erosion. Today the
water can be directed into the irrigation system as well as being used for
recreation.
