Grahamvale

Grahamvale is a rural locality 3 km north-east of Shepparton in north central Victoria.

It was formed as the closer settlement Shepparton Estate in 1910. Three large holdings were subdivided into farms of about 20 hectares, initially used for dairying and later changed to irrigated fruit growing. A school was opened in 1911 and at the suggestion in a pupil’s essay the name Grahamvale was given in 1911 as a compliment to the local parliamentary member, George Graham.

The irrigated farms provided a viable living and the community established Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican churches (1917-26).

In 1939 a Polish family, Leon and Paula Pratt settled on a fruit block. Mr Pratt’s experience with fruit packing and the local cannery led to a partnership in 1948 for manufacturing corrugated cardboard cartons. Their son, Richard Pratt (1934-2009), attended Grahamvale primary school (1940-45) and in 1969 assumed the chairmanship of Visy Board, an international manufacturing and recycling company.

Grahamvale has a cool store and a primary school which has had an extraordinary growth in enrolments:

The population has been boosted by a rural/residential housing estate.

Grahamvale’s census populations have been: