Cobram, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Cobram is a town in Australia. Cobram is located on the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...

 which forms the border between Victoria and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. Cobram along with the nearby towns of Numurkah
Numurkah, Victoria
Numurkah is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Goulburn Valley Highway, north of Shepparton, in the Shire of Moira. At the 2006 census, Numurkah had a population of 4,643.- History :...

 and Yarrawonga
Yarrawonga, Victoria
Yarrawonga is a town in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area in the Australian state of Victoria. The town is situated on the south bank of the Murray River, the border between Victoria and New South Wales and is located approximately north-east of the state capital, Melbourne. Yarrawonga's...

 is part of Shire of Moira. Its twin town of Barooga
Barooga, New South Wales
Barooga is a border town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated just north of the Murray River which forms the border withVictoria. It is located in the Berrigan Shire Council Local Government Area...

 is located on the north side of the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...

. Surrounding Cobram are a number of orchards, dairy farms and wineries. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Cobram had a population of 5,531.
Barooga's population is currently 1,654.

History

Aboriginals, although they had disappeared from the area prior to European settlement, were believed to inhabit the stretch of region bound by the Murray River from Tocumwal to the east of Cobram and south as far as the Broken Creek. Unfortunately, the area bound by Melbourne, Echuca and Albury was a trouble area for recording Aboriginal presence. The main tribe believed to have occupied the area were the Bangerang. A ‘horde’, or smaller grouping of about 100 persons, named Angootheraban, are believed to have lived in the immediate Cobram area.

Charles Sturt first passed through the region on the northern bank of the Murray River in June 1838 en route to South Australia, leading a cattle droving party, with 300 head of cattle.

In January 1845, Octavius Phillpotts established Cobram station between the already existing Yarrawonga and Strathmerton stations, located where Cobram East now is. This was divided into the Cobram and St. James stations in 1855.

By the 1860s, present day Cobram still hadn’t begun to exist, and the area was still broadly referred to as Yarroweyah. In 1868, the old township of Cobram, bound by Warkil Street to the west and the Murray River to the east was reserved for future use, about 15 kilometres west of Cobram East.

Up until this time, the area of Cobram was part of the Echuca Shire, Cobram station was included when Yarrawonga Shire was created on 15 May 1878. It would later be part of the Tungamah shire in its creation on 17 February 1893. On 12 August 1879 the first school, 2166 Cobram, opened, later renamed Cobram East.

In 1886, the government produced the town plan for Cobram, as section 110. 1888 brought about the establishment of the township proper, with the opening of the primary school, Cobram 2881, in April, the opening of the Cobram Post Office near the court house on 1 May, and the coming of the railway on 1 October, which had been heavily publicised by the Cobram Courier, the town’s newspaper, first issued 12 September of that year. It was also in 1888 that the first policeman was appointed, the first doctor arrived and Cobram Football Club played its first match along with the building of Cobram’s first pub, the Royal Victoria Hotel. A river punt began operating between Cobram and the New South Wales banks the following year.

The Cobram Post Office was moved to its present site on 23 February 1904, the first government building in town and the first built in Australia with the authority of the Commonwealth government.

Cobram township was finally proclaimed by Sir John Fuller, Governor of Victoria, on 2 December 1912. Two years later, electricity for the town was being produced by a local coal fired power plant.

St. Joseph’s Catholic primary school was opened in 1922 and in 1925, the Cobram Golf Club opened a 9 hole course near the Murray Valley Highway, transferring three years later to the current location in Barooga.

Cobram adopted yet another town plan in 1949, the first rural Victorian town to do so, with high anticipation of population growth and the proliferation of industry. In 1950, the first of such expansions was realised, with the creation of the Murray Valley Co-operative Dairy Producers and Trading Company, the predecessor of Murray Goulburn Co-operative.

The town split from Tungamah Shire and Cobram Shire was formed on 1 April 1953, after increasing agitation from the townspeople with the operations of the Tungamah Shire. The first Shire President was Mr Norm Jordan, a long-standing Cobram business man. Almost ten years later, in 1962, the first high school opened in the town. In May 1972 the first connections to town sewerage were made, totaling 1000 by 1976.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Cobram was awarded many town awards, including Tidiest Town in Victoria in 1991 and 1993. In 1993, Cobram Shire was amalgamated with Yarrawonga, Numurkah, Nathalia and Tungamah Shires to form the Moira Shire.

Present day

Cobram serves as the headquarters for the Shire of Moira, is centrally located within the shire and is the second largest town. Cobram has one government high school and a primary school, an Anglican prep to year 12 college, a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 primary school and a special developmental school. It also has a district hospital, built in 1949 with emergency department and an associated nursing home for the elderly.

There are numerous recreational facilities for public use, such as Scott Reserve, the Cobram Showgrounds, Cobram Lawn Tennis Club and of course the Murray River including Thompson’s Beach. A large sports stadium is located adjacent to the Anglican College and Cobram Showgrounds, with numerous soccer fields, netball and tennis courts outside, along with indoor basketball, badminton, volleyball, tennis and netball courts.

The Melba Theatre first opened on 1 December 1948. Featuring a lobby and two cinemas, it was the first air-conditioned theatre in the region. A fire destroyed the cinema and caused damage to surrounding shops on 10 April 2010 and it was demolished the following day.

A Peaches & Cream Festival is held biennially around the second or third weekend in January. It is Australia’s oldest running festival, with a town parade and music festival located at Thompson’s Beach.

Cobram is the birthplace of Murray Goulburn Co-operative, Australia's largest dairy co-operative, collecting 35% of Australia's milk produce through its numerous facilities throughout south eastern Australia. Murray Goulburn, along with the Meiji Dairy Corporation milk processing plant, a large abattoir
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...

 and orange juice factories form the major industries of the town as well as serving as major employers.

Cobram is home to a large Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 community, of mainly Iraqi
Iraqi people
The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...

 origin which continues to grow quickly .

In 2006, the then 104 year old De Burgh Truss road bridge over the river was replaced by a concrete type immediately adjacent to and upstream of the original bridge, named Cobram Barooga Bridge. The new bridge was built to a cost of $9.6 million and completed ahead of schedule.

Smaller towns located nearby include Strathmerton
Strathmerton, Victoria
Strathmerton is a small country town in Victoria, Australia.It is located in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area on the Murray Valley Highway, about west of Cobram and previously known as the most northerly point in Victoria North of Melbourne at the start of the Goulburn Valley Highway...

, home of a large Bega cheese processing plant, Yarroweyah
Yarroweyah, Victoria
Yarroweyah is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area, north of the state capital, Melbourne and west of Cobram. The town is situated on the intersection of the Goulburn Valley Highway and Murray Valley Highways...

, Katamatite
Katamatite, Victoria
Katamatite is a rural township in Victoria, Australia about 46 kilometres north east of Shepparton. At the 2006 census, Katamatite had a population of 212....

, Katunga
Katunga, Victoria
Katunga is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area, 228 kilometres from the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Katunga had a population of 1,548....

, Koonoomoo
Koonoomoo, Victoria
Koonoomoo is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area, north of the state capital, Melbourne on the Goulburn Valley Highway, near the Murray River....

 and the larger towns of Yarrawonga
Yarrawonga, Victoria
Yarrawonga is a town in the Shire of Moira Local Government Area in the Australian state of Victoria. The town is situated on the south bank of the Murray River, the border between Victoria and New South Wales and is located approximately north-east of the state capital, Melbourne. Yarrawonga's...

 on the Victorian side and Tocumwal
Tocumwal, New South Wales
Tocumwal is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia in the Berrigan Shire Local Government Area, near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River, north of the city of Melbourne. The Newell Highway, part of the main road route between...

 on the New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 side.

Suburbs

Although there are no named suburbs in the town, there are areas which can be discriminated by locals due to their colloquial names.

The Mill End is the oldest area name, given to the old Cobram town bound by Warkil Street to the west and the river to the east, so named because of the timber mills that were once scattered in the area. It is still used, although not as commonly, by people and business.

Murray Heights is the name given to the estate of relatively recent residential area that runs along the sand hills of River Road on the town’s eastern edge. The sandy mounds had previously been occupied by orchards.

Both Koonoomoo and Yarroweyah share the same post code as Cobram.

Sport

Cobram has an Australian Rules football team in the Murray Football League
Murray Football League
The Murray Football League is an Australian rules football league affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League.The league covers a large area of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the south to Deniliquin in the north.It covers much the same area as the...

 called the Cobram Tigers
Cobram Football Club
The Cobram Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian Rules Football club playing in the Murray Football League.The club is based in the regional city of Cobram located in north east Victoria....

. Cobram has two soccer teams, named Cobram Victory and the Cobram Tigers, which participate in the North Eastern Soccer League
North Eastern Soccer League
Goulburn North East Football Association is an association football competition in Shepparton, Victoria. It was known as the North Eastern Soccer League from the competition's inception in 1971 until February 2009....

. Cobram also has two cricket teams which play in the Murray Valley Cricket Association.

Other popular sports played include basketball, table tennis, ballet, motorcross, netball, lawn tennis, badminton and lawn bowls. Cobram Bowling Club is centrally located and has three grass greens. The club has two ladies pennant teams and four Saturday pennant sides which participate in the Murray Bowls Association.

Golfers play at the Cobram Barooga Golf Club on Barooga Golf Course Road.

The Cobram Lawn Tennis Club hosts an annual tournament over Labour Day Weekend (usually the first weekend of March). It is attended by around 750 tennis players from around Victoria, with most travelling from Melbourne for the weekend. The tournament concludes with the finals on Labour Day Monday.

Public transport

V/Line
V/Line
V/Line is a not for profit regional passenger train and coach service in Victoria, Australia. It was created after the split-up of VicRail in 1983. V/Line is owned by the V/Line Corporation which is a Victorian State Government statutory authority...

 once serviced Cobram with regular daily passenger trains as part of the Shepparton service. These train services were discontinued in 1993. Now V/Line operates multiple daily return connecting coach services between Cobram and Melbourne, as well as multiple return services to Albury and Mildura
Mildura, Victoria
Mildura is a regional city in northwestern Victoria, Australia and seat of the Rural City of Mildura local government area. It is located in the Sunraysia region, and is on the banks of the Murray River. The current population is estimated at just over 30,000.Mildura is a major agricultural centre...

.

CountryLink
CountryLink
CountryLink is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, Australia and into Queensland and Victoria. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity...

, the New South Wales regional rail and coach provider, services Cobram with three times weekly Sydney and return services via Albury.

Climate

Cobram has a Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and cool wet winters. The area has 300 days of sunshine a year. The average wettest day Cobram would have is around thirty millimetres.

Landmarks

A major landmark is the Cobram Bridge, a De Burgh truss lift bridge, which was built across the Murray in 1902. The Cobram Bridge is the only bridge on the Murray River whose construction was completely funded for by the Victorian government. Tenders were awarded in November 1900 and the bridge was opened officially on 3 December 1902, two months after being open to traffic.

Other landmarks include the settlers' log cabin, war memorial and Civic Centre. Also of note is the Cobram courthouse, built in 1912, which continues to be utilised as the Cobram Magistrates' Court.

Cobram Station, built in 1905-1907, is a large homestead located east of the town on the Murray Valley Highway. The building comprises 250,000 bricks hand made on site. It is currently a private residence.

Around the region are numerous river beaches, with Thompson's Beach, claimed to be the largest inland beach in Australia located just north of Mookarii Street, before crossing into New South Wales.

Notable people from Cobram

  • Former Geelong
    Geelong Football Club
    The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

     Australian rules football
    Australian rules football
    Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

    er Garry Hocking
    Garry Hocking
    Garry Andrew "Buddha" Hocking , is a former Australian rules footballer and currently an assistant coach with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League.-Early Years:...

     and Steven Hocking
    Steven Hocking
    Steven Hocking is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the VFL/AFL. He is the elder brother of former Geelong captain Garry....

  • Former Geelong
    Geelong Football Club
    The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

     and Essendon
    Essendon Football Club
    The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

     Australian rules football
    Australian rules football
    Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

    er John Barnes
    John Barnes (Australian rules footballer)
    John Barnes is a retired Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.-Playing career:Barnes' VFL/AFL career included two State of Origin games for Victoria.-Early career – from Essendon to Geelong:...

  • Big Brother Australia 2007
    Big Brother Australia 2007
    Big Brother Australia 2007 was the seventh season of the Australian reality television series Big Brother Australia. Episodes were broadcast on Network Ten in Australia, and the first episode aired on 22 April 2007...

     winner Aleisha Cowcher.
  • Former Olympic
    Olympic Games
    The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

     diver
    Diving
    Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

     Dean Pullar
    Dean Pullar
    Dean Lester Pullar is an Australian diver, who won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics alongside Robert Newbery.-References:*...

    .

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK