Commences at 7pm for 7:30pm start, Tables of 8 required $15 per ticket. Nibbles suppied, drinks at bar prices. Heaps of Give aways and two of Lakes best Chefs are up for auction to cater for your own! Tables are limited so get your tickets soon! Contact Monica for more details and tickets.
East Gippsland’s heritage brings to life the people, their stories, the successes and heartbreaks of the generations who lived their lives here. Take the time to embrace the past and living heritage on offer. Connect with people, places and history.
Sites all around our region add a special chapter to East Gippsland’s story that remains preserved in its historical sites, buildings and museums. Heritage trails include everything from special mapped out walks around Bairnsdale to touring by car around Gold Digging sites on the Great Alpine Road. Go deep underground and experience the Caves in Buchan or explore the gardens and grounds of a heritage home at Nyerimilang Park.
Further information on heritage in East Gippsland can be obtained our Visitor Information Centres.
Bataluk Culture Trail Sale to Cann River along Princes Highway. As you travel through East Gippsland, you are following routes that the Gunai (Kurnai)
Left at Great Alpine Road from Swifts Creek. The village of Cassilis was named after a small township in Scotland and in the 1800s was a thriving mining centre. It was once home to more than 1000 people, but today there is little evidence of it's passing save a lonely cemetery filled with miners and their kin. Set in a quiet picturesque valley, this place is worth paying respect. The 3600 hectare Cassilis Historic area contains many relics from the gold mining era. Much of the area can be explored on foot.
Nyerimilang Homestead, set in semi-formal gardens and lawns, overlooks Lake King. This park has some great walking tracks, with a real feature being the many species of birds attracted by the gardens. Keep an eye out for honeyeaters, waterbirds, birds of prey and many more native birds. Activities include walks, history displays, birdwatching and picnicking. The park is open daily until sunset and the homestead is usually open from 9.00am to 4.00pm.
Great Alpine Road from Omeo. The vastness of Australia's largest alluvial gold digging is a breathtaking viewing experience. With cliffs looming more than 200ft high and a maze of tunnels running for miles underground, these claims were some of the richest in the State. The claims are heritage listed and boast a unique flora and fauna. With more than a dozen great walks through the 40 hectare site of Gippslands largest alluvial sluicing works, the park is excellent for bird watching and discovery of orchids and wild flowers.
The first Europeans to see the Lakes & Wilderness region were those travelling with Captain James Cook on the Endeavour in 1770. Cooks' first lieutenant, Zachary Hicks, sighted a rocky promontory which was subsequently called Point Hicks, but it wasnt until the 1830s and early 1840s that pastoral runs were first taken up in the Monaro, Bendoc, Mallacoota, Genoa and Buchan districts. Gold seekers tried their luck in the 1860s and some made small fortunes around Bendoc and Mallacoota.
Great Alpine Road from Omeo. This 100 hectare area includes the site of Victoria's first major hydro-electric station, built in 1908 to supply water to the goldfields at Cassilis. The park is set in snowgum and mountaim gum woodland above the Victoria and Cobungra Rivers. Activities include walks, picnicking and fishing.
Australia’s Coastal Wilderness National Landscape was launched by the Federal Minister for Tourism, the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP last Friday 1 August in Torquay in association with the launch of the Great Ocean Road National Landscape.
The Launch was attended by a number of East Gippslanders including Chair of the Australia’s Coastal Wilderness Steering Committee Phil Rickards who is also the Tourism Coordinator for the East Gippsland Shire.
In his address, Minister Ferguson acknowledged that whilst he would have liked very much to have launched each of the eight individual landscapes in each region, due to time constraints that had not been possible. However, he said he hoped to be able to visit the Australia’s Coastal Wilderness region at some stage in the future.
The Minister acknowledged the work of the Steering Committees in getting their respective landscapes accepted into the program.
“I would particularly like to welcome members of the landscapes steering committees who I know are passionately enthused about this project. Enthusiasm in a service-oriented industry such as tourism is critical. So is innovation and I believe the National Landscapes Program will provide the impetus for Australia as a nation to view the relationship between tourism and our natural landscapes in an innovative light.
“Much like the members of the Steering Committees, I am passionately enthused by the natural beauty of Australia. I do believe the landscapes which surround us are unparalleled in their beauty. In the fiercely competitive world of tourism they present us with enormous opportunity and point of difference.
Who would not want to visit those National Landscapes already launched, they being The Australian Alps, Australia’s Red Centre, The Flinders Ranges, Australia’s Green Cauldron and the Greater Blue Mountains? I am pleased today to add the Great Ocean Road and Australia’s Coastal Wilderness to the list of regions included in the National Landscapes Program
“To qualify as a National Landscape the location must be a world-class landscape of natural, cultural and spiritual assets, distinctive to Australia.
“Australia’s Coastal Wilderness has a significance which has long been internationally recognized. It is a site of more than national significance and includes Croajingolong National Park which was in 1977 proclaimed a World Biosphere Region by UNESCO.”
“The landscapes I am announcing today have been included in this unique program because they are more than just a group of appealing destinations. They are regions, which as a whole, are much greater than just the sum of their parts. They are distinctively Australian natural and cultural environments. And they will appeal to Tourism Australia’s target market, experience seekers; travelers of all ages who wish to experience new adventures and destinations which enable them to engage with a local culture.
“I congratulate the steering committees for the Great Ocean Road and Australia’s Coastal Wilderness on achieving National Landscape status for these wonderful regions”, concluded Minister Ferguson.
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