Yackandandah


Yackandandah is a small tourist town in northeast Victoria, Australia. It is near the regional cities of Wodonga and Albury, and is close to the tourist town of Beechworth. At the, Yackandandah had a population of 950.

History

It is a former gold mining centre known for its alluvial wet mining techniques. Yackandandah Post Office opened on 13 June 1856. Another office nearby, Yackandandah Junction, opened in 1872 but closed in 1885.
In his local book, Antony O'Brien quotes an old poem published in the Melbourne Punch, 11 June 1857, titled, "The Lass of Yackandandah".

Today

The area is now predominantly a dairy farming and forestry region, and has numerous bed and breakfast lodges which allow its many visitors to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the district's forest and mountains.
The town is affectionately known as "Yack".
The commercial centre of the town, known as the Yackandandah Conservation Area, is recorded on the Register of the National Estate.
The town has an Australian rules football team competing in the Tallangatta & District Football League.
Golfers play at the course of the Yackandandah Golf Club on Racecourse Road.

Rail

The Yackandandah railway line once linked Yackandandah to Beechworth, and opened in 1891. The route to Woorragee and from there to Yackandandah was steep; trains descending the last gradient into Yackandandah would halt so the guard could apply hand-brakes to carriages and wagons. The last train on the Yackandandah-Beechworth line was in July 1954. Though the line was torn up, many sections of the original right of way are visible from the roadway between Beechworth and Yackandandah. In May 2017 the Victoria State Government budgeted for an extension of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail side branch from Beechworth to Yackandandah. The side branch currently extends from Beechworth to Everton Station, where it connects to the main trail.

Culture

Used for the filming of the 2003 film Strange Bedfellows, Yackandandah is also home to the annual Yackandandah Folk Festival attracting local, Australian and international artists. Like the larger neighbouring town of Beechworth, Yackandandah promotes itself as a tourist destination on the basis of its gold mining history, and features a period street scape as well as an increasing number of antique shops.
Two historic buildings, the 146-year-old museum and an adjacent timber store, were destroyed by a fire in the early morning of 21 December 2006. A real estate agency was also severely damaged. The museum was rebuilt, reopening in November 2008.