Cobram, Victoria

A small fruit growing and dairy produce town on the Murray River. The town holds a Peaches & Cream Festival each Easter.
Location: 244 km north of Melbourne; 70 km north of Shepparton on the Murray Valley Highway.
Origin of name: of Aboriginal origin, it is derived from a word meaning 'head'. The town's name is taken from Cobram station, which was taken up in 1845 by Octavius Phillpotts.
Brief history: the area is thought to have been occupied by the Bangarang Aborigines prior to white settlement. Explorer Capt. Charles Sturt explored the Murray downstream of the present townsite in 1830 and, in 1838, he led a droving party with 300 head of cattle through the district, en route to South Australia. The Land Acts of the 1860s opened up the district to small landowners. The first arrived in 1872 and by the 1880s most of the land was settled by wheat-growing selectors. At the end of World War II the government decided to use the area for a major soldier settlement scheme. Moreover, Italian immigrants, who first arrived in the 1920s, began to migrate in far greater numbers after 1945 and they are a significant presence to this day. Consequently, irrigation surged forwards and many dairy farms and orchards were established.
Natural features: Murray River; Quinn Island, Thompsons, Big Tom's and Little Tom's river beaches.
Built features: Matata Deer Farm; Australian Yabbi Farm; Binghi Boomerang Factory
Heritage features: Coonanga Homestead (Strathmerton); Cobram Hotel (1892); Quinn Island Aboriginal occupation sites