Tatura
Tatura Victoria | |||||||||
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Main street | |||||||||
![]() ![]() Tatura | |||||||||
Coordinates | 36°26′0″S 145°14′0″E / 36.43333°S 145.23333°ECoordinates: 36°26′0″S 145°14′0″E / 36.43333°S 145.23333°E | ||||||||
Population | 4,669 (2016 census)[1] | ||||||||
Postcode(s) | 3616 | ||||||||
Elevation | 114 m (374 ft) | ||||||||
Location |
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LGA(s) | City of Greater Shepparton | ||||||||
State electorate(s) | Shepparton | ||||||||
Federal Division(s) | Nicholls | ||||||||
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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.[1]
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."
History[]
The Post Office opened on 1 February 1875.[2]
The Tatura Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990.[3]
World War II internment camps[]
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.[4] 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°25′49″S 145°12′20″E / 36.4304°S 145.2055°E) is the final resting place of 351 German civilians and servicemen who died during internment in World War I and World War II.
Agriculture[]
The Tatura Show is held yearly in March and International Dairy Week (which is the second largest dairy show in the Southern Hemisphere) in January each year attracting over 6,000 exhibitors, vendors and onlookers from Australia as well as overseas.
Food[]
Tatura Hot Bread has won prizes in the Professional Section of The Great Australian Triumph in 2006 and again in 2007.[5] The Taste of Tatura Food and Wine Festival is held on the first Sunday in March drawing many of the region's locals.
Sport[]
Tatura has many sporting facilities located within the town, including Australian Rules football ovals, Soccer fields, Cricket pitches, Tennis courts, Lawn Bowls greens, a multipurpose Indoor Stadium and the 18-hole Golf course of the Hilltop Golf Club.[6] The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Goulburn Valley Football League, the Tatura Bulldogs.[7]
Tatura is home to the Tatura Racecourse Reserve, where the Tatura & Shepparton Racing Club Inc hosts a minimum of three full TAB race meetings each season, including the iconic Italian Plate Festival in December - a celebration of the local Italian community and culture - and the Tatura Easter Cup. The Cup day also features the Mark Goring Memorial race, honouring jockey Mark Goring who died of injuries sustained in a fall at the Tatura track in 2003.[8][9]
As well as a Western & Quarter Horse arena and Club rooms, the Reserve is an operational Thoroughbred training facility, with grass and sand track, and swimming facilities as well as practice barriers and jumps schooling course. Currently 20 Racing Victoria-licensed trainers are registered to the Tatura Racecourse. In addition to race meetings, the club also runs regular official trials and jumpouts (unbroadcast trials).[10]
Education[]
Tatura has two primary schools serving both the town and surrounding areas: Tatura Primary School is a public school located South of the town centre, whilst Sacred Heart School is a private school located on the town's main street.
Due to Tatura's proximity to Shepparton secondary education options include Notre Dame College, Shepparton, Wanganui Park Secondary College, Goulburn Valley Grammar School, Mooroopna Secondary College, Shepparton High School, and McGuire Secondary College.
Tatura is located 20 minutes from La Trobe University Shepparton Campus as well as the Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE which both offer a range of tertiary and TAFE courses for the Goulburn Valley.
Media[]
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The main print publications distributed within Tatura include the daily Shepparton News, the weekly The Adviser Shepparton, the Tatura Guardian (released weekly), and the Tatura Bulletin (released monthly).
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Tatura (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ Phoenix Auctions History, Post Office List, retrieved 11 March 2021
- ^ "Review of Legal Services in Rural and Regional Victoria" (PDF). Parliament of Victoria Law Reform Committee. May 2001. pp. 291–292. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ Wawrzyn, Heidemarie (1 August 2013). Nazis in the Holy Land 1933-1948. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-030652-1.
In September 1939, the British Mandate government turned the German farming settlements of Sarona, Wilhelma, Bethlehem-Galilee, and Waldheim into large internment camps, while women and children from the German colonies in Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Haifa were temporarily permitted to remain in their homes under British and Jewish police surveillance. The four farming settlements were surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers, guarded by Jewish and Arab auxiliary police (Hilfspolizisten) under a British commandant with a small staff. German women, children, and elderly men lived in these camps... [In 1941] The British authorities decided to deport more than 600 persons from the younger German families to Australia... They were imprisoned as enemy citizens in detention camps at Tatura in Australia’s Victoria state, where they remained until 1946–47... In April 1948, the Haganah raided the three internment camps of Waldheim, Bethlehem in the Galilee, and Wilhelma... On April 22, 1948, the evacuated Germans arrived in Cyprus... Six or seven internees, headed by Gottlob Loebert remained in Palestine to sell the Templers’ stock and furniture, and see to the transport of the large luggage items of the deported internees. This group was ultimately taken to Cyprus as well. After seven to ten months of internment in Cyprus, the majority of them (Templers) were allowed to leave for Australia. Only a small number returned to Germany... Approximately fifty German settlers, mainly Templers and a few Sisters of the Kaiserswerth Order, requested not to take part in the evacuation, and were allowed to go to Jerusalem, where they moved into their former homes in the German Colony or into the German Hospice, where the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, under Mother Superior Emiliana, looked after them... From December 1948 to autumn 1950, the remaining Germans left Israel for good. The majority of them joined their families and relatives in Australia. Only a few returned to Germany.
- ^ The Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph
- ^ Golf Select, Hill Top, retrieved 11 May 2009
- ^ Full Points Footy, Tatura, archived from the original on 5 July 2008, retrieved 25 July 2008
- ^ http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/13/1041990231375.html
- ^ Country Racing Victoria, Tatura & Shepparton Racing Club, archived from the original on 19 October 2007, retrieved 7 May 2009
- ^ http://www.countryracing.com.au/tatura-shepparton-racing-club
External links[]
Media related to Tatura, Victoria at Wikimedia Commons
- Wartime Camps and Irrigation Museum
- Tatura German Military Cemetery
- Tatura Milk Industries
- Towns in Victoria (Australia)