Ovens is a small town in north east Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria 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....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , 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 at the junction of the Ovens River

Ovens River

The Ovens River is a river in the Australian state of Victoria.Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the area in 1824, naming the Ovens River...

 and Happy Valley Creek

Rosewhite, Victoria

Rosewhite is a rural locality in north-east Victoria, Australia. It is in the Alpine Shire Local Government Area.It lies beside Happy Valley Creek which commences at the top of the Rosewhite valley, crosses Carrolls Road, and passes through the town of Ovens, and then Myrtleford.The valley was...

. 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,...

, Ovens and the surrounding area had a population of 130. It is 4 kilometres (2 mi) south east of Myrtleford

Myrtleford, Victoria

Myrtleford is a town in north-east Victoria, Australia, 45 km south-east of Wangaratta and 275 km north-east of Melbourne. Myrtleford is part of the Alpine Shire local government area and at the 2006 census the town had a population of 3,187....

 heading towards Bright

Bright, Victoria

Bright is a small sized town, located in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the 2006 census, Bright had a population of 2684. It is in the Alpine Shire local government area...

 and is the home of the Happy Valley Hotel and Souter's Vineyard. The area is part of the Alpine Valleys Wine region, and was formerly used for tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

plantations. Ovens acts as a bypass to many of the local snow fields.

The first Post Office in the area opened on 9 March 1891 as Barwidgee Railway Station, renamed Ovens Vale Railway Station shortly after, Ovens Vale in 1899 and, finally Ovens in 1928.