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 route into 6 smaller
Treks. This one covers the 18km between
Yea and
Molesworth. After completing this trek you can continue on to the section
Molesworth to Yarck.For the first 3km the trek follows the
Yea River southwards before turning east into rolling farmland. After travelling 9km from
Yea the trail passes through Cheviot Tunnel – the longest rail trail tunnel in Victoria. Made in 1889 from bricks handcrafted on site, the tunnel is accessible from a nearby
carpark. Bike riders will encounter a gentle gradient either side of Cheviot tunnel.
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 but it took nearly years of agitation, deputations, many setbacks and numerous changes of Government, before work finally began on the
Yea to
Mansfield section in April 1887.
Alexandra had lobbied long and hard for the line to
Mansfield to be routed directly through the town but was beaten by nature and the engineering realities of the hilly terrain and the steep gradients that surround the township. The direct line to
Mansfield was built to the north.
In September 1890, a short compromise branch line was constructed (7.1km) from Cathkin in to Koriella, the direction of
Alexandra. In August 1908 work began on the
Alexandra Township Railway Extension. This was through rough, steep, 1 in 30 grade country and was costly to construct.
Molesworth is located approximately 4.5 kilometres away from the
Alexandra turnoff at Cathkin. It is also
home to the
Molesworth Nature Conservation Reserve.
The local people played a key role in the construction of the Cheviot Tunnel, providing labour and housing the visiting workman.
The railway line was closed and dismantled in 1978 and was disused until 2012 when the
heritage trail was built for tourism.
TrekID: 13462