Red Cliffs, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name =Red Cliffs
state =vic

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caption =Big Lizzie on display at Red Cliffs
postcode =3496
region =Sunraysia
lga =Rural City of Mildura
pop =4596 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC26519 | name = Red Cliffs (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
stategov =Mildura
fedgov =Mallee
dist1 =544|location1 = Melbourne
dist2 =16|location2 = Mildura
dist3 =86|location3 = Ouyen
dist4 =387|location4 = Bendigo [ [http://www.travelmate.com.au/MapMaker/MapMaker.asp Travelmate] ]

Red Cliffs is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Calder Highway, 16 km south of Mildura and 544 km north-west of Melbourne.

At the 2006 census, Red Cliffs had a population of 4596. The main industry is the growing of citrus fruits and grapes. Red Cliffs takes its name from the 70m cliffs 4.5km east of the town.

The town has an annual folk music festival in July, a country music festival in September, and a wine and jazz festival in October.

History

The area was first settled by Europeans in 1918. Following the First World War, 700 soldiers settled in the town, and began work on establishing the vineyards which would become the town's chief industry. The Post Office opened on August 4, 1920. Citation

last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ] More land was sold to soldiers following the Second World War.

Big Lizzie

The man who built and operated Big Lizzie was Frank Bottrill. As a young man last century he had seen camels suffering and struggling under huge loads and this inspired him to create a machine that could carry a massive weight and yet not sink in the sandy tracks that crisscrossed the bushFact|date=July 2008.

He patented the Bottril, a dreadnought wheel design in 1906 and soon fitted it to machines that were the forerunners to Big LizzieFact|date=July 2008. Effectively the wheel lays its own tracks as it goes but the design, although innovativeFact|date=July 2008, was eventually superseded by the caterpillar track.

Big Lizzie may have built during World War I but she is remembered as the mother of all tractorsFact|date=July 2008. When constructed Big Lizzie was the biggest tractor ever made in AustraliaFact|date=July 2008 and possibly the worldFact|date=July 2008. It wasn’t very manoeuverable, with a huge turning circle and a 3km/h maximum traveling speed. The people of Red Cliffs are proud of their piece of agricultural historyFact|date=July 2008.

chools

*Red Cliffs Primary School
*Red Cliffs East Primary School
*St. Joseph's Primary School
*Red Cliffs Secondary College

ee also

*1956 Murray River flood
*Red Cliffs railway station

References