Yarram Courthouse
The centre of a rich dairy farming district, Yaram is the entry point to the Strzelecki Ranges nearby and to Ninety Mile Beach, Wilsons Promontory, Corner Inlet and the Gippsland Lakes.
Location: 72 km south-west of Sale on South Gippsland Highway.
Origin of name: Yarram Yarram, as it was known until 1924, found its origins in an Aboriginal phrase thought to mean 'plenty of water' or 'waterfalls'.
Brief history: in 1841 the site, originally a low-lying swamp, was chosen by a Scottish clan leader, Aeneas Ronaldson MacDonnell, who, with his fellow Scots, attempted to set up a feudal-style court. However, the experiment folded and he subsequently moved to New Zealand. A flour and saw mill were built on the Tarra River in 1857. The town of Yarram was gazetted in 1893.
Natural features: Won Wron and Wullungdung State Forest; Tarra Valley; Tarra Bulga National Park; Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park; Nyerimiland Heritage Park; Jack Smith Lake State Game Reserve; Woodside and McLoughlin Beaches
Heritage features: Yarram Courthouse; Regent Theatre; Victorian State School No1 'Hawthorn Bank' cottage; Marilyn's Beach Aboriginal shell midden, Ninety Mile Beach, Woodside; Nearby Alberton has Victorian State School No1 and other historic buildings.