Maffra

Overview

The township of Maffra is the hub of the rich Macalister dairying, agricultural, pastoral and irrigation district. While home to one of the most modern milk processing plants in Australia, Maffra still retains its main street charm and throughout the town a visual attractiveness reminiscent of earlier times. There is a great sense of history surrounding the town seen in original shop verandahs and grand homesteads such as the Duart.  

Maffra has a proud sporting tradition with a wide range of excellent facilities catering for many popular pursuits. Situated at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, Maffra is the perfect base for accessing the surrounding historic townships and the wilderness of the High Country.

History

Maffra is an attractive town, with its tree-lined nineteenth century main street, and was named after Maffra in Portugal, reportedly because many of the early settlers from the Monaro region in NSW had fought in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsula War.

What is now the location of the Maffra Township was in the 1840s the site of the Green Hill Native Police Station. Following its closure, a small settlement developed at this spot on the Macalister River in the 1860s when a punt was built to enable travellers to get to the gold fields to the north. By the 1880s, with the development of grazing all around, the town grew and became home to the largest beef cattle sale yards in rural Victoria.  

A sugar beet industry was started in 1896 and operated until after the Second World War, by which time dairying had become far more mechanized and was thus more economically viable.  Today, Maffra is intensive dairying country and the hub of the rich Macalister dairying, agricultural, pastoral and irrigation region.

Places of interest

Sugar Beet Museum
Macalister Swamp Reserve
Gippsland Vehicle Collection
Historic Main Street with period verandahs
Huge milk factory

Accommodation

Accommodation options in and around Maffra include motels, hotels, caravan park, B&Bs and a backpacker hostel. For further information please visit:

Tourism Wellington
http://www.tourismwellington.com.au/accommodation.asp

Wellington Visitor Information Centre
8 Foster Street (Princes Highway), Sale
Open: 7 days a week 9.00am-5.00pm
Telephone: 03 5144 1108
Email: admin@tourismwellington.com.au

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