Central Gippsland Plains Country Road

Print your own touring maps to
local attractions

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.

places to stay

places to visit

in or near town	above: Thomson River left: Cowwarr Art Space
50km radius	the villages of Boisdale, Newry, Tinamba, the townships of Briagolong, Stratford, Maffra, Heyfield, Rosedale, Sale, Longford, Yarram the rich farmlands in the Central Gippsland plains Gippsland Vehicle Collection, Maffra the Avon-Mt Hedrick Scenic Reserve the Quarries Reserve, Briagolong the Blue Pool, Briagolong Wa-De-Lock winery and cellar door, Stratford Heyfield Wetlands and Visitors Centre Glenmaggie Weir and wall Lees Creek goldfield Lake Wellington 90-mile Beach Holey Plains National Park, Rosedale
100km radius	Gippsland's high country - the hinterland of the Alpine National Park the townships of Yarram, Bairnsdale, Traralgon, Loch Sport, Lakes Entrance Powerworks, Latrobe Valley Dargo and Crooked River goldfields Licola Walhalla Tarra-Bulga National Park Mitchell River National Park Port Albert historic area the Gippsland Lakes

Leave the Highway at Traralgon or Stratford and take the well-marked Route C105 Gippsland Plains map

For further details, wander over the map or select your location below

further north
Licola | Glenmaggie | Newry| Briagolong | Dargo

A Maffra Community enterprise : updated September 2006