Congupna

Congupna is a rural village and district on the Goulburn Valley Highway in central north Victoria, 10 km north-east of Shepparton. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word describing a large fish, probably perch.

Settlement on farm selections began at Congupna during the early 1870s. A school was opened in 1877 and a Methodist church was opened in 1880. In 1881 the railway line was opened from Shepparton to Numurkah, and the Congupna Road railway station resulted in an alternative centre of settlement. A school which was opened near the station in 1884 was known as Shepparton North until confusion with mail deliveries caused it to be renamed Congupna Road in 1905. The first school closed in 1918. There were also a mechanics’ institute (c1886) and a creamery (1894-1910).

In 1910 the Shepparton Irrigation Trust was formed and five years later the East Goulburn irrigation channel reached Congupna. Improved farm water supply made Congupna attractive for subdivided dairy holdings, and there was considerable closer settlement in the mid-1920s. A general store was opened near the station in 1920s and local cricket and tennis clubs were formed at about the same time. During 1956-59 a memorial park and hall were established. The Methodist church, however, closed in 1956.

Congupna has a general store, a post office, an automotive garage, a sports reserve, a public hall, a caravan park and a school (66 pupils, 2014). Floodwaters surrounded the sandbagged general store following heavy rain in north-eastern Victoria in 2012.

Congupna’s census populations have been: