Invergordon

Invergordon, a dairying and orcharding area in north-central Victoria, is 30 km north-east of Shepparton.

The area originally was part of Dunbulbalane, and the Dunbulbalane West school was opened in 1878, two years after a Wesleyan church was built at Dunbulbalane.

The school’s name was changed to Invergordon in 1895, the inspiration for the name probably being Invergordon in Scotland. Farming was unassisted by irrigation.

In the 1950s the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission began the construction of channels and drains for irrigation water from the East Goulburn Channel. One hundred and seventy dairy and orchard holdings were created, mostly for soldier settlement. The small area schools had been closed in 1948 and 1954, but the newly added population required a new school in 1962. It also required a small township.

Many of the orchards failed because of poor drainage and the holdings were changed to dairying. In the 1990s about a quarter of the first orchard blocks remained.

Invergordon has a general store, a community hall, a Uniting church (1961), a primary school (23 pupils, 2014) and a sports oval.

Many orchardists resorted to bulldozing their fruit trees following contract cuts by fruit canning company SPC Ardmona.

Its census populations have been:

At the 2011 census, dairy farming accounted for 23.9% of employment, orcharding 6.5% and other farming 4.1%.