Yea ( YAY) is a town in Victoria, Australia 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of the state capital Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Melba Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area.
Yea ( YAY) is a town in Victoria, Australia 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of the state capital Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Melba Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. In an area originally inhabited by the Taungurong people, it was first visited by Europeans of the Hume and Hovell expedition in 1824, and within 15 years most of the land in the area had been taken up by graziers. Surveyed in 1855, the township grew as a service centre for grazing, gold-mining and timber-getting in the area.
The town has had a fairly stable population (around 1,100) since 1900, though it now has a relatively old population. The town economy is based around servicing the farming sector, and tourism, with good road links but little public transport. The town has education supplied by three schools (state primary and high schools, and a Catholic primary). It has three churches, and active sporting clubs.
Heritage sites around the town include the railway station buildings, Purcell's General Store (run by the same family for approximately 100 years), and the nearby Yea Flora Fossil Site, where the most ancient leafy foliage so far found on earth was discovered.
History
The area was historically inhabited by the Taungurong people. They knew the Yea River as Caluther,
European settlement
The first European settlers in the district were overlanders from New South Wales, who arrived in 1837, and by 1839 "most of the suitable country in the area had been taken up". and the Post Office opened in 1858.
Development
Yea expanded under the influx of hopeful prospectors, both as a natural overnight stopping place on the route from Melbourne to other goldfields,
Fires and floods
Bushfires and floods have influenced the Yea area quite frequently, fire having been recorded by the Hume and Hovell expedition, and floods affecting the roadways on a regular basis.
Weather
Things to do