The cache
The Historic Oxley Shire Hall was built in 1875 at a cost of $1183.79, about 350 people packed into the hall for the grand opening ball and danced from 8pm untill 5am. It is believed to be the oldest continually used community building in North East Victoria. The hall is the focal point of the Oxley community and is regularly used for meetings and functions including movie nights, barbeques and other fund raising events. The hall can also be hired for meetings and private functions.
Regional Information
The Milawa Gourmet Region is located in the lush Ovens & Kings Valleys of picturesque North East Victoria only 2.5 hours north of Melbourne, and 18 kilometers from Wangaratta.
The Gourmet Region story.... Milawa Gourmet Region- Australia's first gourmet region was conceived in 1994, with each member providing a service to visitors and proudly displaying the gourmet region's logo.
The region is centred around the townships of Oxley and Milawa and is home to numerous fresh and processed food producers, a number of Victoria's leading wineries. Accommodation options include a range of bed and breakfast stays, motels, caravan parks, camping and five star hotel. This series of caches will take you on a journey around the areas. To enable you to enjoy a lot of what this region has to offer I have tried to take you close to as many different types of things as possible, starting here with this cache just outside of Oxley. But first a bit of history on Oxley.
Oxley history- In 1824 explorers Hume and Hovell passed through the area and Hovell observed that...".the land adjoining is exceedingly good with fine hills and grassland, it is as pretty a spot I have seen since leaving home". On November 24th Hovell named the area "Oxley Plains".Indigenous people in the area did not encounter white men again for twelve years when Major Thomas Mitchell passed through in Oct 1836. First settlement was in 1838 when George Faithfull took up the Oxley Plains run consisiting of some 92000 acres, where he ran sheep and cattle. He later built a Homestead which he called "Wangaratta".
When gold was dicovered in Beechworth district in 1852, Oxley boomed because of its location on the main Cobb & Co route to the goldfields. With gold Bushrangers became active in the region, the most infamous being the Kelly gang. To improve travel through the area the first series of bridges where built across the King River flood plain in 1863. In 1865 Oxley shire was formed. The King River is the lifeblood of the surrounding region providing water resources for irrigated crops, vineyards, grazing and for the Oxley and Moyhu townships.
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