Bundalaguah

Bundalaguah is a rural locality in eastern Victoria, about midway between Sale and Maffra. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal expression describing the junction of the Thomson and the Macalister Rivers which is a few kilometres to the west.

Bundalaguah was on part of The Heart pastoral run (1843) and farm selections were taken up there in the early 1870s. A school and a hotel were opened in 1872. Shortly after 1900, closer-settlement farms were occupied, coinciding with the growing of sugar beet around Maffra. Beet growing was encouraged by the construction of the Glenmaggie irrigation storage (1929) on the Macalister River, and the irrigation district extended to Bundalaguah. Dairying ultimately became a more reliable industry.

An Anglican church was active by 1890 and a new church, St Barnabas, was consecrated in 1910. After World War II irrigated dairy farms were taken up by soldier settlers and the population topped 300. A public hall was built in 1954. Closed by the Wellington Council in 2012, the hall was reopened in 2013 for community use after petitioning from local residents.

Subsequent farm consolidations have reduced the local population but the school was united with nearby Myrtlebank’s and had 43 pupils in 2014. Bundalaguah’s census populations have been:

At the 2011 census, farming accounted for 23.7% of employment, including 12.8% for dairying.