At 134km, the Great Victorian Rail Trail is Australia's longest rail trail. It follows the route of an old train line from Tallarook on the Hume Highway about 100km north of Melbourne to Mansfield in the Victorian High Country. It is designed for cyclists, walkers and horse riders and due to the route passing through numerous townships, accommodation, food and supplies are readily available along the way.
There are numerous rail trails throughout Australia, being shared-use paths recycled from abandoned railway corridors. The numerous access points make it easy to plan day trips, or the journey can be done as a multi-day trip without the need to be fully self-sufficient.
For the purpose of providing ease of navigation and planning, we have split the Tallarook to Mansfield route into 6 smaller Treks. This one covers the section from Yarck to Bonnie Doon on the northern arm of Lake Eildon, a distance of 33.7km.
This part of the trek passes through hilly farmland with some long hills around Merton Gap (3km south of Merton) for bike riders. The trail between Merton and Bonnie Doon more or less follows the gentle grades alongside Merton Creek.
After completing this trek you can continue on to the section
Bonnie Doon to Mansfield.
How to Use this Trek Note
- To download this information and the route file for offline use on a phone, tablet, headunit or laptop, go to the app store and purchase ExplorOz Traveller. This app enables offline navigation and mapping and will show where you are as you travel along the route. For more info see the ExplorOz Traveller webpage and the EOTopo webpage.
History
Indigenous History
Scar trees,
rock shelters,
rock art and place names all indicate that the Taungurung people (Daung wurrung) have been in this part of Victoria for thousands of years. Many Taungurung people still live on their country and participate widely in the community as cultural
heritage advisors, land management officers, artists and educationalist.
European History
In 1824
Hamilton Hume and William Hovell were commission to lead an expedition to find new grazing land and attempt to discover where New South Wales's western rivers flowed.
Yea was established in May 1837 as the first service centre for the early squatters and settlers of the district and in the gold rush era of the 1850s it became a stopping place for gold prospectors.
In the 1860 the first section of railway line from
Melbourne to the North East reached Essendon and then extended to reach
Tallarook in 1872. By 1883 it had been extended further to Wodonga however a
junction was built at
Tallarook and a branch line built from
Tallarook heading east into mountainous territory. This became the
Mansfield line which is the route of this Trek.
The first stage from
Tallarook to
Yea was opened in 1883 being extended in stages through various small townships and reached
Mansfield in 1891 some 117km from
the junction. The line was quite scenic and included a 200m tunnel near Cheviot and a viaduct over an arm of the
Lake Eildon reservoir in
Bonnie Doon.
Bonnie Doon township was established subsequent to gold discoveries in the area. It was originally named Doon after the town of that name in Ireland. The
Post Office opened in October 1866 and was renamed
Bonnie Doon in 1891 coinciding with the arrival of the railway.
Much of the original town of
Bonnie Doon was flooded by the construction of
Lake Eildon in the 1950s. The township was relocated; some buildings were picked up and moved, whilst others were able to remain in their original site, such as
the churches.
The line provided access for agricultural products from the region to the
Melbourne markets but was closed and dismantled in 1978.
After the 2009 Victorian bushfires, the Victorian Government announced a project to utilise the railway corridor to build a 134km cycle trail as an economic stimulus. AU$14Million was spent to repair and build bridges, road crossings, car
parking, rest stops and amenities. The Great Victorian Rail Trail was opened in June 2012.
TrekID: 13418