Wahgunyah, the town

...a town in the KellyGang story 

Areas

location

on the Victorian side of the River Murray south of Corowa.

Beginnings

With the beingings of the river trade on the Murray, Wahgunyah grew out of the Wahgunyah Run.

Importance of Wahgunyah

The town, founded in 1856 by John Foord, soon grew as a river port on the River Murray.ref
Wahgunyah was important in the days before the railway arrived because it was the most up stream port on the River Murray.Later gold was discovered in the area.

What was Wahgunyah like in the late 1870s

Representatives from Wahgunyah attended a major meeting to plan for the coming of the railways (Argus15/7/67)
Wahgunyah was a Customs post on the Victoria New South Wales border.
See also for a look at the town (T&C26/3/1870)

Facilities in Wahgunyah in the late 1870s

Population 500

Empire Hotel (1861) Camille Reau (T&C18/5/1872)
Wahgunyah Hotel (1861)(John Foord)

Bank of Victoria. JF Daniell (T&C18/5/1872)

The school started in about 1858. In 1878 a brick school was built

Telegraph (T&C18/5/1872)
The two-storey Wahgunyah post office and residence was built in 1863. (see new post office)

Mail route from Springhurst and Wahgunyah via Rutherglen
and to Beechworth via Chiltern, Indigo, and Rutherglen

Police station

The police station was founded in 1859. Mr Butler from Beechworth was the Magistrate. ref

Coaches
Royal Mail Coaches left from the Wahgunyah Hotel regularly for locations in the area including Corowa. Before the train line was put in to Melbourne, Wahgunyah was connected by a daily coach service.

The wooden shop adjacent the old post office was once one of a chain of Coffee Palaces or temperance hotels throughout Victoria.

See also Wahgunyah squatting run. By 1856 the town had a flour mill and soon after a bond store. The colonies of Victoria and New South Wales imposed customs duties on the trade across the river.

All Saints Estate winery was established in 1864 by George Smith. It is 4 km north-east of the town
St Leonards winery was established in 1862
Meyers Midarro winery (T&C18/5/1872)

Dr Peele (T&C18/5/1872)
Alexander Stewart was the butcher (Ensign23/12/1873)

EW Bayliss (T&C18/5/1872)

Wahgunyah and Cowra Wine Co (failed in 1876)
other wineries in the area (T&C18/5/1872)

Wahgunyah was finally linked to Rutherglen by rail. (Argus27/1/79)

Outbreak of pleuro pneumonia in the area (Argus1/12/79)

 

Links to the KellyGang

Wahgunyah, Howlong and Wodonga were 3 natural crossing places on the River Murray that the KellyGang could use to get mobs of cattle and horses over the river.

The police at Wahgunyah tried to stop the KellyGang from crossing the River Murray. (Argus4/11/78)

Const H Armstrong was based in Wahgunyah to guard the bank before going to Aaron Sherritt's place. He returned there after. (RC12127) (see also RC12084)

Members of the Wahgunyah community

James Chandler was the first farmer in the area.
G Anderson and S Rupin (Argus15/7/67)

Mr John Rowan, originator of the Wangaratta Dispatch, and latterly proprietor of the Wahgunyah Chronicle, died at Wahgunyah on Saturday last from congestion of the brain, caused by the habitual taking of laudanum.(Ensign11/7/1873)

 

What happened at Wahgunyah after the time of the KellyGang

In mid 1881 two of the trrackers from Queensland, Jim Crow and Billy Nut were taken to Wahgunyah, to search the Murray River for the body of a man drowned while bathing. After a day and a half searching and diving in the river, the trackers recovered the body three miles from where it was drowned, in 30 feet of water

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