Annuello

Annuello is a rural locality 32 km south of Robinvale in the north-west of Victoria. The name is thought to have been derived from an Aboriginal word for a camp of bearded men.

In the early 1920s the Annuello district was subdivided into ‘green’ mallee blocks for soldier settlement. Almost without exception the dry farm blocks were too small and many farmers fell into debt. Wheat, sheep and small amounts of subsistence dairying were the main activities. By the late 1920s farmers were driven to ‘wheat flogging’, bypassing marketing schemes to secure private income.

The railway line through Annuello was opened in 1921. A school was opened in 1924, a lonely location for a female teacher. Stock water supply channels were constructed during 1923-30, but some were later abandoned because of sand drift.

The Grow More Wheat campaign of 1929-30 was followed by an excellent crop, but disastrous prices. Many farm blocks were abandoned and consolidated. The school closed in 1946 when the attendance was five pupils.

Businesses such as the blacksmith and the cafe survived until the early postwar years, and the general store traded until 1976. Two years later the railway station closed. Annuello has a hall, a CFA station and a wheat silo. The Annuello Flora and Fauna Reserve is west of the town.

The wheat variety 'annuello' adapted for low and medium rainfall areas was released in 2003, suitable for the domestic flour milling industry.

Annuello’s census populations have been: