Orbost

Orbost Victoria
Marshall's Commonwealth Hotel in Orbost
Orbost
Coordinates	37°42′0″S 148°27′0″E / 37.70000°S 148.45000°E / -37.70000; 148.45000Coordinates: 37°42′0″S 148°27′0″E / 37.70000°S 148.45000°E / -37.70000; 148.45000
Population	2,493 (2011 census)[1]
Postcode(s)	3888
Elevation	41 m (135 ft)
Location	375 km (233 mi) E of Melbourne 235 km (146 mi) S of Canberra 93 km (58 mi) E of Bairnsdale 60 km (37 mi) NE of Lakes Entrance
LGA(s)	Shire of East Gippsland
State electorate(s)	Gippsland East
Federal Division(s)	Gippsland
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 20.2 °C 68 °F 8.8 °C 48 °F 846.4 mm 33.3 in

Orbost is a town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, 375 kilometres (233 mi) east of Melbourne and 235 kilometres (146 mi) south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about 16 kilometres (10 mi) from the town of Marlo on the coast of Bass Strait. At the 2006 census, Orbost had a population of 2452. Orbost is the service centre for the primary industries of beef, dairy cattle, and sawmilling. More recently, tourism has become an important industry, being the major town close to several national parks, including the Snowy River National Park, Alpine National Park, Errinundra National Park, Croajingolong National Park and Cape Conran Coastal Park.

History

Peter Imlay established the Snowy River Station for grazing in 1842, and his brother the Newmerella run nearby. In 1845 the land was sold to Norman McLeod, who named the area after Orbost farm in the northwest of Isle of Skye, in Scotland.

Gold was discovered in the mid-1850s in the Bendoc area, in the mountains north of Orbost, which brought an influx of people to the district. By 1868 it was estimated that there was a population of 500 miners and squatters in the vicinity of Bendoc.

The Cameron family settled on the rich alluvial river flats in 1876, followed by many other selectors, many of them Scottish migrants. The Post Office opened on 1 December 1880 named Neumerella (sic) and was renamed Orbost in 1883. A Newmerella office opened in 1889 and closed in 1897, then reopened in 1921.^[2] The township was proclaimed in 1890 and a bridge constructed across the Snowy River and a telegraph office established. Sawmills were established in the area and the first batch of sawn timber was cut at Orbost in 1882. By the late 1890s produce was regularly being exported to Melbourne via coastal trading vessels sailing up the Snowy River to Orbost. The railway from Melbourne arrived in 1916, allowing further agricultural settlement up the valley, and exploitation of native hardwood forests for timber and railway sleepers.

The conversion of the disused rail line to the East Gippsland Rail Trail has created a cycle tourism industry in the town.

For most of the 20th century, Orbost was a fairly prosperous local centre for the forestry and agricultural industries and a supply point for smaller towns in the area. In the 1950s and 1960s several new sawmills were opened to exploit the native forests north and east of Orbost. By the 1980s logging of East Gippsland native forests had become an environmental issue. This resulted in the creation or extension of National Parks in the area, and a steady decline in forestry and sawmilling jobs. The general rural decline of the area and its economy saw the railway close in the mid-1980s and the population drop from around 4000 to around 2000 by the start of the 21st century. Logging and forestry continues to be a contentious issue in 2004 and 2005 in the Goolengook Valley, near the Errinundra National Park.

The Snowy Mountains Scheme resulted in the waters of the Snowy River being diverted to the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers and associated irrigation schemes. During the 1990s the low level of water in the Snowy River was a major concern, with a political campaign to increase the flow of water from the dam at Jindabyne. Independent candidate from the Orbost district, Craig Ingram, was elected in 1999, and re-elected in 2002, to the Victorian Legislative Assembly on a platform to increase the flow of water in the Snowy River.

The small rural communities of Bendoc, Bonang and Tubbut lie North East of Orbost. Delegate in NSW is the next major town geographically across the NSW/Vic Border from Orbost.

Climate

Sports teams

The town is represented in the sport of Australian rules football by the Orbost-Snowy Rovers in the East Gippsland Football League.^[4]

The town also boasts a field hockey club which fields junior, women's and men's sides in the East Gippsland Hockey Association.

Golfers play at the course of the Orbost Golf Club on the Bonang Highway.^[5]

Transport

The Orbost viaduct once carried freight trains across the alluvial flats, stopping across the river from the centre of Orbost.

Orbost straddles the Princes Highway. The town was connected to Melbourne via the Orbost railway line in 1916, and operated until 1987, principally carrying timber and farming produce. In the early days of the railway's operation dedicated passenger trains ran but these ceased by the 1930s. The track infrastructure was dismantled in 1994. The line traversed a mixture of farmland, hills and heavily forested country. It included numerous bridges, including the Stoney Creek Trestle Bridge, the largest of its kind in Victoria.^[6] Public transport services are provided to the town by V/Line, a coach bus service between Canberra and Bairnsdale, that operates three times per week.^[7]

Orbost has a regional airport, Orbost Airport YORB (RBS).

Current profile

The national parks are showcased in events such as The Wilderness Bike Ride, a community event managed out of Orbost, which won the Best Event 2004 Regional Tourism Award for East Gippsland.

The Orbost region has four State primary schools, one Catholic primary school, and Orbost Secondary College (Government).

Notable people from Orbost

• 

  The main street of Orbost, entering from the south.
  Percival Bazeley, scientist
• Richard Dalla-Riva, politician
• Jennifer Hansen, TV presenter^[8]
• Sarah Hanson-Young, politician^[9]
• Nick Heyne, Current Australian rules footballer with the St.Kilda Football Club
• Craig Ingram, politician^[9]
• Charlie Lynn, politician
• Tim Matthews, Paralympic athlete^[10]
• Molly Meldrum, music critic, journalist, TV presenter
• Peter Nixon, politician
• Lindsay Tanner, politician^[9]
• Michael Voss, former Australian rules footballer and former coach of the Brisbane Lions in the AFL
• Brett Voss, Former Australian Rules Footballer St Kilda Football Club
• Harry Firth, Australian motorsport legend. Winner of first Bathurst race in 1963.

References

External links

Media related to Orbost at Wikimedia Commons

• Wilderness Bike Ride
• Orbost - a brief history
• Orbost District Chamber of Commerce & Industry