- Yackandandah, Victoria
Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Yackandandah
state = vic
caption =
lga = Shire of Indigo
postcode = 3749
est =
pop = 2103 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC27065 | name = Yackandandah (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Benambra
fedgov = Indi
dist1 = 313
dir1 = NE
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 28
dir2 = S
location2= Wodonga
dist1 = 285
dir3 = E
location3= BeechworthYackandandah is a small tourist town in northeast
Victoria, Australia . It is near the industrial towns of Wodonga and Albury, and is close to the tourist town of Beechworth. At the 2006 census, Yackandandah had a population of 2103.History
It is a former
gold mining centre known for its alluvial wet mining techniques. Yackandandah Post Office opened on 13 June 1856. Another office nearby, Yackandandah Junction, opened in 1872 but closed in 1885.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 ]The Lass of Yackandandah- a goldfield beauty
In his local book, O'Brien (p. 22) quotes an old poem published in the "Melbourne Punch", June, 11, 1857, titled, "The Lass of Yackandandah".
"Let poets sing of English girls,
Their beauty and their candour;
Give me a sweeter nymph than all, -
The lass of Yackandandah."
"She draws a cork with such an air,
No mortal can withstand her;
She turns a tap, and turns our heads,-
The lass of Yackandandah."
Today
The area is now a
dairy farming andforestry and has numerous bed and breakfast lodges, which allows its many visitors to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the district's forest and mountains. It is affectionately known as 'Yack'. The commercial centre of the town, known as the Yackandandah Conservation Area, is recorded on theRegister of the National Estate .The town has an
Australian Rules football team competing in theTallangatta & District Football League .Rail
A railway once linked Yackandandah to Beechworth which opened in 1891, [Eardley, Gifford. - "The Ovens Valley Goldfields Railways". - "Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin". - December, 1968. - pp.281-294.; January, 1969. - pp.1-18.] The route to Woorragee and from there to Yackandandah was steep. Trains descending the last gradient into Yackandandah would halt (near the now Yackandandah turnoff, from the Beechworth-Wodonga Road), the guard would apply hand-brakes to carriages and wagons. The last train on the Yackandandah-Beechworth line was in July 1954, [Larsen, "MayDay Hills"] Though the line was torn up, many sections of the original right of way are visible from the roadway between Beechworth and Yack.
Culture
Used for the filming of the 2003 film, "Strange Bedfellows", (starring
Michael Caton and Paul Hogan), Yackandandah is also home to the annual Yackandandah Folk Festival attracting local, Australian and international artists. Like its larger neighbour, Yackandandah promotes itself as a tourist destination on the basis of its gold mining history, and features a period streetscape and an increasing number of antique shops.Two historic buildings, the 146-year-old museum (formerly the Bank of Victoria) and an adjacent timber store ("Rainbow Crystal"), were destroyed by a fire in the early morning of December 21, 2006. A real estate agency was also severely damaged.
Further reading
History Books on the area:
*O'Brien, Antony. "Shenanigans on the Ovens goldfields: The 1859 election", Artillery Publishing, Hartwell, 2005.
*Larsen, Wal. "The Mayday Hills Railway", Wal Larsen, Bright, 1976.References
External links
*http://www.uniqueyackandandah.com.au - The Official Yackandandah & District Tourism Assocciation Web Site
* [http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/yk.htm Tourism information]
* [http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/VICYackandandah.shtml Australian Travel Guide entry]
* [http://folkfestival.yackandandah.com/ Yackandandah Folk Festival]home page .
* [http://yackandandah.com/ yackandandah.com]
*http://www.springmigration.com.au - Festival for Yackandandah website
*http://www.yackandandah.au.com - Informative website for Yackandandah and includes all public facilities also accommodation
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/historic-buildings-razed-in-blaze/2006/12/21/1166290645247.html "Historic buildings razed in blaze", "The Age", December 21, 2006.]
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