Omeo is a town in
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, located on the
Great Alpine RoadThe Great Alpine Road is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, and passing through the Australian Alps...
, east of
Mount HothamMount Hotham is a mountain in Victoria, Australia. It is home to Hotham Alpine Resort. The mountain is located approximately north east of Melbourne, from Sydney, and from Adelaide by road. Mt Hotham's summit rises to an altitude of above sea level...
, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2006
censusThe 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,...
, Omeo had a population of 452. The name is derived from the
AboriginalIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
word for 'mountains' or 'hills'. It serves as the commercial hub for the Tambo and Omeo Valleys.
History
The first reported sighting by Europeans of the wide plain that the Aborigines called 'Omeo' was by the naturalist John Lhotsky from the southern alps in 1834. The area was first visited by stockmen who drove stock through the region as early as 1835. In 1845 gold was found around Omeo, and in the 1860s the goldrush reached its peak.
The Post Office near its present location opened on 1 January 1858. However, two earlier offices in different locations named Omeo were open in 1851 and 1856 to 1857.
Earthquakes in 1885 and 1892, and the
Black Friday bushfiresThe Black Friday fires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia, were considered one of the worst natural bushfires in the world, and certainly the single worst in Australian history as a measure of land affected...
of 1939, caused damage to Omeo, yet several old buildings remain including the historical Omeo Bank House.
The town today
The town hosts the Omeo Plains Mountain Festival in December and January each year, a market and rodeo and polo match at Cobungra around
EasterEaster is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, and an agricultural show in November.
The town formerly had an
Australian rules footballAustralian 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...
team competing in the
Omeo & District Football LeagueThe Omeo and District Football League is an Australian Rules Football League based out of the Tambo Valley region of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The ODFL has existed in some form since 1893, and operates under the auspices of the Victorian Country Football League...
(ODFL), as well as an affiliated
netballNetball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
team competing in the associated netball competition. They fielded senior and junior football teams, and senior, junior and midget netball teams, and had the club colours of maroon with white trim. With declines in populations, in 2007 the football and netball clubs merged with neighbouring town
BenambraBenambra is a small town located 28 kilometres north-east of Omeo and 430 kilometres east of the state capital Melbourne, in the Australian Alps of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Other nearby towns include Swifts Creek, Ensay, and the major town of Bairnsdale...
, to form the Omeo-Benambra (Alpine Ranges) Club. The new club colours are blue,
tealTeal may mean:* Teal , a medium greenish-blue color* Various ducks:** Baikal Teal, Anas formosa** Black Teal, Aythya novaeseelandiae** Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors** Brown Teal, Anas aucklandica** Campbell Teal Anas nesiotis...
and white, with the logo and jumpers showing teal snow-peaked mountains separated by a blue river under a blue sky.
Omeo has a horse racing club, the Omeo District Racing Club, whose one
picnicPicnic horse racing, or more usually picnic races or more colloquially "the picnics" refer to amateur Thoroughbred horse racing meetings, predominantly in Australia. The meetings are organized by amateur clubs, the jockeys are amateur riders, or sometimes former professional jockeys...
meeting a year is the Hinnomunjie Cup meeting held at nearby Hinnomunjie in March.
Golfers play at the course of the Omeo Golf Club on Stanley Drive.
Attractions include the
Oriental ClaimsThe Oriental Claims are a former gold mining operation, or claim, located 2 km south of Omeo, Victoria, Australia. The Oriental Claims are named in reference to The Oriental Company which mined in the area from 1876 to 1904, and also in memory of the many Chinese miners that worked the area...
, the Cuckoo Clock shop, and
white water raftingRafting or white water rafting is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on white water or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this...
on the
Mitta Mitta RiverThe Mitta Mitta River is a major tributary of the Murray River in Australia and the source of approximately 40% of the Murray's flow.The river's headwaters include Victoria's highest mountain, Mount Bogong, with the Mitta Mitta itself forming at the confluence of the Cobungra River and the Big...
. The
Cobungra RiverThe Cobungra River is a river of Gippsland in eastern Victoria, Australia.The Cobungra River rises below the slopes of the ski resort at Mount Hotham and Mount Loch...
, Bundara River,
Big RiverThe Big River is a river of Gippsland in eastern Victoria, Australia. It flows from the northern slopes of Falls Creek in the Australian Alps, joining with the Cobungra River near Anglers Rest to form the Mitta Mitta River.-Course:...
, and Mitta Mitta River around nearby
Anglers RestAnglers Rest is a locality in Victoria, Australia. It is on the Omeo Highway, north of Omeo in the Shire of East Gippsland, almost totally surrounded by the Alpine National Park...
, as well as the
Tambo RiverThe Tambo River is a river in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia with a total length in excess of 170 km. It is the longest river in the Tambo and Nicholson Basin, extending from the steep forested southern slopes of the Australian Alps through forest and farmland to the Gippsland...
, all provide good
troutTrout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
fishingFishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
.
The "Vegemite Western"
Red HillRed Hill is a 2010 Australian thriller film written and directed by Patrick Hughes. The film stars Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley and Tom E. Lewis.-Plot:...
was filmed in and around the town.
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