Tuesday 7 April 2015

WALHALLA, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

Walhalla is a small town in Victoria, about 180 kilometres east of the state capital Melbourne. It is located in the Great Dividing Range, in the steep Stringers Creek valley, approximately four kilometres upstream of the creek's junction with the Thomson River. The area around the town is designated as an historic area which then adjoins the Baw Baw National Park.

It was founded as a gold-mining community in early 1863 and at its peak home to around 2,500 residents. Today, the town has a population of fewer than 20 permanent residents, though it has a large proportion of houses owned as weekenders. It attracts large numbers of tourists and is a major focus of the regional tourism industry. The town's name is taken from an early gold mine in the area, named for the German hall of fame, the Walhalla temple (Valhalla from Norse legend).

Gold mining was already becoming largely unprofitable in the early 20th century and the last of the major mines closed in 1914. With the disappearance of the main industry in town, the bulk of the population soon left. Until the growth of the tourist industry in the 1970s and 80s, Walhalla survived as a ghost town for most of the twentieth century. Several major public buildings including the Mechanics Institute and Star Hotel were destroyed in two fire events in 1944 and 1951 and a number of buildings were destroyed without being rebuilt. The school closed in 1965 and further fires, floods and neglect slowly chipped away at the remains of the town.

Since around 1977, Walhalla has experienced something of a renaissance with a booming tourist industry and the restoration or reconstruction of numerous historical buildings in the town, including the Star Hotel, Mechanics Institute, Windsor House, Elliott's Bakery and reconstruction of the Thomson–Walhalla section of the former narrow-gauge railway.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme.







7 comments:

  1. Poor little ghost town....so tiny...tucked away. Glad it is having some life once again.
    Here from Ruby

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  2. A small town and a lot of trees and bushes.
    Nice :)
    Have a grest day.
    Mormor

    http://www.starbear.no/mormor/2015/04/07/furua/

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  3. A beautiful setting and a quaint little town with a Bakery ... so happy for that. Love the lush trees and bushes in the area. I have dreams of visiting Melbourne some day ... perhaps I will make it to Elliotts Bakery. Is it good? Did you try it? Wonderful post, Nick ...

    Andrea @ From The Sol

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  4. Valhalla the home for old Scandinavian gods :) This place is like a fairytale.

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  5. It is nice to start again and planning already infused with the physical structures. I can imagine the delight of the tourists there. I am thinking of the same wonder experienced by the tourists in Arrowtown, New Zealand, and their physical structures built as replica of the old and its industry.

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  6. Fabulous location with all forest around it. like a fairytale.

    Valhall was in Norse mythology the god Odin and the fallen warriors' abode.

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