Old Tallangatta History

Tallangatta was originally founded in the 1870s and served as a rail gateway for the Mitta Valley and Upper Murray Valley. Gold and tin mining occurred in the area in the late 1800 and 1900s. After the mining era, Tallangatta became a service centre for the local farming community and a butter factory operated throughout much of the 1900s. When the road transport links improved, the rail link ended. Today you can walk or cycle the High Country Rail trail and still see old rail trestle bridges.

Tallangatta is known as the ‘town that moved in the 50s’. The town was moved eight kilometres to the west, to a site known as Bolga, to allow for the expansion of Lake Hume. Each year on the last weekend of October, the popular Tallangatta Fifties Festival is held in the town and celebrates all things from the 1950s including; retro cars, bicycles, markets, rock’n’roll music and dancing, Elvis impersonators and much more.

The early days

Buildings and the people

Resilience

Tales