Tatura

Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia, and is situated within the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, 167 kilometres (104 mi) North of the state capital (Melbourne) and 18 kilometres (11 mi) West of the regional centre of Shepparton.

Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia, and is situated within the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, 167 kilometres (104 mi) North of the state capital (Melbourne) and 18 kilometres (11 mi) West of the regional centre of Shepparton. At the 2016 census, Tatura had a population of 4,669.With a large corporate and manufacturing presence within the town, Tatura is a major employer within the Goulburn Valley. Organisations include Tatura Milk Industries, Goulburn-Murray Water's corporate headquarters, Jacobs Engineering Group, Department of Environment and Primary Industries (Victoria), as well as major regional processing plants for multinational corporations such as Unilever and Snow Brand Milk Products.

Attractions include the Cussen Park wetlands, the Wartime Camps, and Irrigation Museum.

The name of the town is an Aboriginal word meaning "small lagoon."

The Post Office opened on 1 February 1875.The Tatura Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990.

Several internment camps were set up around Tatura, Rushworth and Murchison (Dhurringile) during World War II. Four of these were for civilians, and three were for prisoners of war. Between 1940 and 1947, there were 10,000 to 13,000 people in the camps at different times.

Before the war, Britain was home to around 73,000 Germans, who had left Germany due to the rising tensions and the rise of the Nazi regime in the country. Many of these were also young male Germans who had been in schools in Britain before the outbreak of WWII. It was believed that many of these refugees were spies, and they were shipped out of the country, predominantly to Australia (on the HMT Dunera) and Canada.

In 1941, German Templers were shipped from the German Templer Colonies in Palestine and interned for the duration of the war,After arriving in Australia on 25 August 1941, the Templer's were housed in Camp 3 in Tatura. Using the experience gained during internment in Egypt in World War I, they quickly established a school and a kindergarten, as well as developing work routines to prevent depression. After the War, the majority of Templer families remained in Australia. The Temple Society Australia was established in 1950.

In 1941, Major Julian Layton arrived from England on a mission.Layton, a Jew like many of the Dunera internees, managed to secure the release of many of them if they enlisted in the British or Australian Army. At the end of the war all of the Dunera internees were released.

Among the more notable internees were the crew of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, taken prisoner following the battle between HMAS Sydney and the Kormoran. They were housed at Camp 13, Murchison and Dhurringile mansion. There were also about 500 German civilians detained during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941 and housed initially in the Loveday, S.A.camps, before transfer to the Tatura camps in 1945.

The Tatura German Military Cemetery (36.4304°S 145.2055°E? / -36.4304; 145.2055) is the final resting place of 351 German civilians and servicemen who died during internment in World War I and World War II.