Mooroopna

Meander through Mooroopna

Mooroopna, a historic river town with a strong industrial past, sits over the Goulburn adjacent to Shepparton. The river shaped the town, its waters powering mills and machines, with many of the buildings still standing by the riverbanks. At harvest time, the orchards on the outskirts of town are covered with people wearing deep-pocketed aprons in which they pick the fruit and drop them in bins. The region’s already multicultural vibe gets a boost as united nations of pickers and backpackers bring in the crop. When you visit, pick up something for the road at the bakeries, or settle in for a meal at Bill & Beats in the old Commercial Hotel. Must-do experiences include joining the Mooroopna Heritage Walk and Flat’s Walk from the picturesque Chinaman’s Gardens named after Ah Wong, a Chinese migrant, who set up a market garden on this site in 1877 and supplied vegetables to the district., If you have little ones in tow, make your way to Kids Town, a vibrant community-established open-air playground. Nature lovers will enjoy visiting Gemmill Swamp Wildlife Reserve, approximately 170 hectares of Goulburn River floodplain forest and wetland between the urban centres of Mooroopna and Shepparton. 

Water Tower
There is not a lot of high ground in the Goulburn Valley so every town has its water tower. Some are great steel constructions with a bulbous tank, and others look more like concrete brutalist versions of Italian Renaissance towers. Mooroopna’s water tower falls into the latter, a lofty weathered concrete construction that stands tall in  the main drag – especially at night when the lights come on, flooding the column with multi-coloured hues that change with each season.

Barastoc Building
A lot of grain is grown in the Goulburn Valley, so most towns have flour mills. In 1872, a flour mill was built by Elias Ralph, the same person who built the punt across the Goulburn River connecting the east to the west. In 1944, the three-story brick mill was joined by concrete grain silos. The mill was converted to stock feed production under the Barastoc brand in the 1970s and closed in 2020. These towering twin silos stand like great concrete guardians at the town's eastern entrance.

Orchards 
They call themselves and their cherry label the Love Shak, but to everyone else, they are the Vigliaturo family. They have been growing cherries at their Pyke Rd orchard for generations. They open their packing shed every spring and early summer to sell cherries. 

Their cherries are big, plump and flavoursome and considered some of the best in the state. It’s open seasonally so check ahead to see if now is the right time to load up on boxes. At Christmas time you’ll want to pick up as many as you can carry!

Flats Walk

The river flats at Mooroopna have always been important to the local Indigenous people. When a mass strike saw scores of people walk off from Cummeragunja Reserve at Barmah in 1939 to protest their poor treatment, they walked off to a place where they felt safe and at home. Today a historic walk around the flats tells the story of those First Nations people who stood up for their rights and recognition. It describes a  life living in huts of tin and hessian, working on orchards, family and friendships and living off the food they could hunt and trap from the river.

Mooroopna History Walk

Mooroopna, a great historic river town with a strong industrial past, sits over the Goulburn adjacent to Shepparton. The river shaped the town, its waters powering mills and machines, with many buildings still standing by the riverbanks. 

The town was once a food manufacturing powerhouse with its sprawling Ardmona fruit processing plant, built in 1921. Much has been repurposed now, but its grand brick factories are quite remarkable and can be found on a self-guided tour of Mooroopna’s historic sites. This includes the original Goulburn River punt crossing nearby, and the original post office that was later moved to the main street. 

Watts Road Bridge

For over 140 years, this wooden trestle bridge has connected Mooroopna to Kialla. The single-lane Watts Road Bridge crosses the river near the old punt site, then leads into a beautiful meandering avenue through a river red gum forest, past important scar trees and water-filled billabongs, before passing the Australian Botanic Gardens and connecting with the Goulburn Valley Highway south of Shepparton. It is a popular spot for photographers and is just one of the historic bridges in the region.