Andrew Mole,  The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper

Sydney might be 236 years old, but Murrabit is catching up fast – having notched up its official first century at the weekend.

And it was certainly one of the bigger parties the Murray River town has thrown in its first 100 years, pulling a bumper crowd of locals, former locals and the descendants of some of the town’s establishment names for the two days of festivities.

It kicked off on Saturday with the town’s signature event – the Murrabit Market – and stretched into Sunday with a raft of events.

Starting with a self-guided walk of the historic buildings around the town, which one of the weekend’s organisers, Murrabit Heritage Group president Neil Hopkins, says took in “the school, the hall, footy club, tennis club, golf club and old scout hall.”

He says while they were the key points of the walking tour, they were complemented by displays and information about early settlement, the building of the bridge, the citrus industry, district schools, local sporting clubs and establishment of the Kerang-Stony Crossing railway in the hall.

“We also had a morning tea at the school and lunch and music at the hall, with a few speeches and the cutting of a huge birthday cake to celebrate those 100 years,” Neil adds.

“There was also a commemorative tree planting, with a new plaque unveiled to mark the centenary of the establishment of the town, the opening of the railway and the arrival of the first British settlers, who came out under a special government scheme,” he says.

“The tree was planted at the site of the old Murrabit station and even though it marks the official centenary, the surrounding areas had been settled since the 1850s and earlier.

“But the establishment of the railway was the reason for Murrabit township coming into existence.”

As the Murrabit Heritage Group has archived an amazing collection of historical documents and items, its members were able to produce a fascinating and entertaining insight of the Murrabit story.

“We’ve got an absolute mountain of material – old photos, documents, maps,” Neil explains.

“There are boxes and boxes of items we have sorted through for the exhibition and some of these photos go back to the end of the 19th century and even locals won’t have seen most of them.

“So, visitors have been able to see their parents, grandparents and even great grandparents in some of the photos.”

Saturday’s Murrabit Market, which in 1977 pioneered the farmers market movement, was at one stage ranked the biggest in Victoria in a market which now sees markets in almost every regional community.

And if you think 100 years isn’t all that old, you should be aware the bureaucracy of government arrived much earlier than the gazetted town.

A Murrabit Post Office opened on March 2 in 1880, 44 years earlier, but it would be renamed Murrabit West in 1924 when the new Murrabit post office opened near the railway station.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 10 October 2024.