Navarre

Navarre is a rural village about midway between Ararat and St Arnaud in central western Victoria. It was named after the Navarre pastoral run (1852), subdivided from a larger run taken up in 1841. The Navarre run was also known as Heifer Creek Station. The inspiration for the name was probably the ancient Spanish Navarre kingdom in the Pyrenees Mountain, which is reflected in Pyrenees Range east of Navarre and to the name of the present day shire of Pyrenees.

Navarre is sometimes recorded as a gold mining locality, and the so-called Navarre Gold Field Common (1861) was at Barkly about 5 km eastwards. The Navarre township was proclaimed in 1856, with its hotel conveniently located on the road from Adelaide to Avoca. A school was opened in 1864.

Navarre was engaged in steady agricultural and pastoral pursuits when it was described in the Australian handbook in 1903:

During 1914-54 there was a spur railway line to Navarre from the Ararat to Amphitheatre line.

Being situated at the junction of roads to Ararat, Stawell, St Arnaud and Avoca, Navarre has maintained the village amenities of a general store, a hall, two churches, a school (11 pupils, 2014) and a recreation reserve with a local sports association. Its census populations have been: