I remember when I was little my parents used to take me and my siblings on road trips to really groovy places. Like Moama and Swan Hill in Victoria, for example. As a tiny tot, I was always impressed at how simple it all seemed. The trees, the dirt, the yabbies. The unrecognisable bronze statue that always had a place in the middle of town. Y’know the ones. It was a simple childhood, and now as a 30-something year old city dwelling professional, I find myself searching for those feelings again. It’s hard to find. I mean, not the bronze statues. There’s stacks of them around still. I’m talking about the feeling of simplicity. The smell of eucalyptus and open fires. Or cows and paddocks. Stuff like that. You just can’t find them anymore without really looking hard.
So here it is, people – a column dedicated to the little town battlers of Victoria. Those tiny places you usually drive through to get to ‘somewhere better’. These are the towns that radiate a sense of pride and humility rarely found in any built-up area. They’re a place to learn how to be honest again. And if that’s not enough for you they always, always, have rad pubs.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOURS
Wunghnu
Wunghnu. You don’t know how to say it, do you? Good! Neither do I! Or at least I didn’t when I first wandered into town.
Around 20 minutes north of Shepparton sits this dusty little pocket of rural Victoria. The welcome sign claims around 270 people live here, but I don’t see a single soul roaming the streets.
The town, which claims to have Australia’s smallest sheep station (it’s actually pronounced ‘one you’ – geddit? One ewe? Ha! Haha…hmm), has a fabulously slow way of life. But in a good way. So slow, in fact, that it’s probably the best place to stop on your way to anywhere else just to catch your breath, have a beer and ponder who we complicate each day of our lives with stuff that probably really doesn’t matter.
Yeah ok, you won’t see too many people kicking around the streets, but pop into the local Institute Tavern and…well, you won’t find too many locals there either. But you will find enough – around 30, in fact. Forty, on a busy night. “That’s a lot for us,” says Publican Trish Miln, explaining that when in such a small town, a turnout of that many – around 15% of the entire population – is pretty good. Imagine 15% of your local area rocking up at the local? Besides it being impossible to get a beer I think we can safely assume there would be a real shortfall of toilet paper. No one wants that.
The Tavern was built in 1887 as was the Wunghnu post office, was originally a mechanics institute, and only opened up for bar service 20 years ago. It celebrates its 21st birthday later this year (I’m arranging an oversized wooden key for the occasion should anyone want to sign it. Just letting y’all know). The aged, orange brick building tucks itself neatly along the side of the main road into town, a traditional Carlton Draft sign holding steady above the arched windows that line the front entrance. It’s a must-stop for a quick drink, a rippa counter lunch or just a leg stretch and photographic opportunity.
The jewel on the crown of Wunghnu, however, has to be Locheilan Cheese – a small dairy farm a couple of kilometres off the main drag. A yellowy-green cow sign directs visitors down a bumpy, dust-suffocated road hemmed with old gum trees you’ll only find in towns you know saw settlement a million years ago. Husband and wife team Bruce and Sue McGorlick have been running the show since it started, and welcome visitors into their tiny tasting room with warmth and character.
Locheilan made Wunghun proud recently by making its mark on the international dairy industry. Their Triple Ring cheese, an unusual donut shaped triple cream brie, recently won gold at the World Cheese Awards in the UK. Their blue cheese, the only one in the range yet to be entered into any competitions, packs an extraordinary punch, and has an unusual gold fleck through the veins, making it one of the more interesting products in the range. Buy some. Go on. In fact, I dare you not to. Or better still, buy some and send it to me. I’ve run out.
All in all, the town is worth a stop, even if it’s just to figure out where that claimed miniature sheep station is.
Institute Tavern
2A Carlisle St, Wunghnu Vic 3635
Ph: (03) 5862 2965
Locheilan Cheese
754 Central Mundoona Rd, Wunghnu VIC 3635
Ph: (03) 5826 9581
