Mildura, Victoria

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Mildura Victoria
Population:	23,893 (2001)
Established:	1887
Elevation:	50 m
Time zone:  • Summer (DST)	AEST (UTC+10) AEST (UTC+11)
Location:	550 km from Melbourne
LGA:	Rural City of Mildura
Region:	Sunraysia
State District:	Mildura
Federal Division:	Mallee

Mildura is a locality in northwestern Victoria, Australia. It is located in the Rural City of Mildura. Mildura is located in the Sunraysia region, and is on the bank of the Murray River, at geographic coordinates 34°11′S, 142°09′E. The locality's population was 23,893 at the 2001 census.

Mildura is also known as the centre of Victoria's Food Bowl and is a major producer of citrus fruits (especially oranges), and wine. It is also very famous for its grape production and many wineries source grapes from Mildura, due to the red soil being optimal for growing the fruit.

Contents 1 Climate 2 History 3 Transport 4 Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone 5 Toxic waste dump proposal 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Climate

Mildura enjoys a mostly warm climate. It is only about 50 metres above sea level despite being several hundred kilometres from the coast, and is surrounded by dry grassland.

Rainfall is about 290 mm a year and is spread evenly across the months and seasons. Winter and Spring enjoy the most rain, with a couple of thunderstorm events each year.

Days are mostly clear with 100+ days of full sunshine each year. The temperature can range from below 0 °C some nights to over 40 °C in summer.

[edit] History

Many Aboriginal people lived around the site of Mildura because of the abundant food. Local tribes included the Latje Latje and Yerre Yerre. Europeans noticed this abundance, and decided to harness it. So they brought sheep to graze the natural pastures.

The towns of Wentworth, Gol Gol, Curlwaa and Yelta sprang up in the mid to late 1800s. The number of Aboriginals started to decrease.

A major drought in Victoria from 1877 to 1884 prompted Alfred Deakin, then a minister in the State Government and chairman of a Royal Commission on water supply to visit the irrigation areas of California. There he met George and William Chaffey. In 1886 George Chaffey came to Australia and selected a derelict sheep station at Mildura as the site for his first irrigation settlement signing an agreement with the Victorian government to spend at least £300,000 on permanent improvements at Mildura in the next twenty years.^[1]

After much political wrangling, the settlement of Mildura was established in 1887. It was named after the Mildura sheep station that provided most of the land. The name is of Aboriginal origin, and means either "red sand" or "sore eyes".

In the 1890s came the scourge of the rabbit. This devastated the sheep farmers, especially south of the Murray. There was also a financial recession at this time. Combined, these factors restricted growth of the new settlement.

After this period, the new settlement grew and grew. It was soon the main town of the district. Suburbs and new satellite towns sprang up. In 1937 it officially became a city. Today, Mildura is a bright, thriving regional centre, and the surrounding Sunraysia district has a population of over 50,000.

[edit] Transport

Mildura is on the intersection of the Sturt Highway from Adelaide to Sydney, and the Calder Highway to Melbourne via Bendigo.

Mildura has a railway connection to Melbourne, which is used for freight transport. In July 2006, it was announced that the Mildura line would be upgraded using gauge convertible concrete sleepers.

Sunraysia Bus Lines, Swan Hill Bus Lines and Dysons Bus Services operate V/Line bus/train services that connect Mildura to various parts of Victoria and southern NSW. Greyhound Australia run buses to Adelaide and Sydney via Canberra. Countrylink run buses to Sydney. The Henty Highway Bus Service runs buses to Horsham.

Mildura Airport is the third busiest airport in Victoria, serviced by five QantasLink flights daily to Melbourne, three Regional Express flights to Melbourne, and two O'Conner Airlines flights daily to Adelaide. Regional Express also operates flights to Sydney several days a week.

[edit] Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone

Mildura is part of the 'Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone', in which fruits or vegetables may not be taken into the area (they can, however, be taken out). This is to stop the fruit fly from invading crops and plantations. Disposal bins into which fruit can disposed of are located along highways entering the zone.

[edit] Toxic waste dump proposal

In the mid-to-late Noughties there was a controversial proposal by the Victorian Government to build a state-level toxic waste dump in Nowingi, approximately 50km south of Mildura. The site is a small enclave of state forest surrounded by national park, and contains habitat important to a number of threatened species.

Its hydrological composition is disputed, the government claiming spilled waste (if it became a liquid) would flow west into the Murray Sunset National Park, while most opponents claim it would flow east through Hattah Kulkyne National Park into the Murray River.

The site is around 500 km away from Melbourne, where most of the waste is generated. Local opponents to the dump argued that transporting the waste will incur higher costs and create more opportunity for accident than a dump closer to Melbourne.

In January 2007, the Victorian Government announced that it was abandoning its proposal to build the toxic waste dump at Nowingi. It could be argued that its reasoning was that enabling legislation would have had trouble passing both houses of Parliament, with the Bracks Labor Government losing control of the reformed Legislative Council in the 2006 State Election. The parties holding the balance of power in the Legislative Council - the Nationals, the Greens and Liberals all stating during the election campaign their opposition to the dump. The abandoning of the dump proposal was received with jubilation by opponents of the dump not only in the Mildura area and elsewhere in Victoria, but also across the border in South Australia where there were fears that in reputation, if not in substance, the toxic waste could effect the water supply via the Murray River and thereby the fruit-growing industries of the Murraylands.

On 10 January 2007 the Victorian Government did not rule out paying $A2 million in reimbursement for the Mildura Rural City Council's legal and other costs in opposing the dump.^[2]

[edit] See also

• Cardross road accident

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Tourism Website - Mildura
• Murray River info - Mildura
• Mildura Bureau of Meteorology Field Office
• Community Portal at Mildura IT

	Cities of Victoria
Capital:	Melbourne
Cities:	Ararat | Ballarat | Benalla | Bendigo | Geelong | Hamilton | Horsham | Moe | Morwell | Mildura | Portland | Sale | Shepparton | Swan Hill | Traralgon | Wangaratta | Warrnambool | Wodonga