"Mildura" Mildura by leffe3

In the far north western corner of Victoria, Mildura (which means' red soil') is some 500kms from Melbourne and is seen by Victorians as the start of the Australian outback.

Established in the 1880s by the Canadian Chaffey Brothers (famed irrigation engineers), the establishment of the settlement was anything but easy - clearing the Mallee Scrub challenging the hardiest of ideas and determination. But in three years more than 3000 people were working on the land to make it become on the of the prime agricultural regions in the State. But with the mighty Murray River flowing through it, the initial settlers lived close to its shores. So hard was the establishment of Mildura - including the economic collapse in the 1890s and periods of drought that George Chaffey returned to the US in 1896. But his brother William remained, helping Mildura develop into an important regional town (he lived in the mansion he built, Rio Vista, until his death in 1926).

Mildura is now the fastest growing regional Victorian town. More than 30,000 people live here now, but expectations and planning are being made for more than double that in the next 10 years. One f the main reasons for this growth is the climate and the growth of the wine industry. Mildura and immediate surrounds are vineyard heaven. The warm climate and the River helping to make some of the best wines coming out of Australia. Throw in tourism and the town in booming.

Its more of a functional town rather than an attractive tourist spot. Its attraction is its location. But it has everything you may need - accomodation to suit all budgets, a higher than average number of good restaurants, a 3 screen cinema, supermarkets if you want to self cater, sports centre for those (rare) rainy days (or a place to cool off!), river boat rides and any number of day trips. Its a hub for the locality as well as the tourists. Life is slow - the treelined main street and shopping centre has that 'regional' aspect to it, even if this won;t be for much longer. Its just a shame its not a little more attractive - the river is all but ignored as far as the town is concerned (although major floods in the past are probably the contributing factors for that).