Anglers Rest is a locality in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is on the

Omeo Highway Omeo Highway is a 163 kilometre rural highway in eastern Victoria, Australia, connecting Tallangatta on Lake Hume in north-east Victoria to Bairnsdale in East Gippsland, over parts of the Victorian Alps. Route Omeo Highway commences at the int ...

, north of

Omeo Omeo ( ) is a town in Victoria, Australia on the Great Alpine Road, east of Mount Hotham, in the Shire of East Gippsland. At the 2016 census, Omeo had a population of 406. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'mountains' or 'hi ...

in the

Shire of East Gippsland The Shire of East Gippsland is a local government area in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and as of the had a population of 48,715. It includes the towns of Bairnsdale, Benambra ...

, almost totally surrounded by the

Alpine National Park The Alpine National Park is a national park located in the Central Highlands and Alpine regions of Victoria, Australia. The national park is located northeast of Melbourne. It is the largest National Park in Victoria, and covers much of the hi ...

Location

The name Anglers Rest is descriptive, indicating that the location is a good spot for anglers, being close to the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of several noted

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

fishing rivers, the Cobungra River, the Bundara River, the Big River, and the

Mitta Mitta River Mitta Mitta River, a perennial river and a direct tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Alpine district of Victoria, Australia. The name Mitta Mitta derives from the Aboriginal word ''mida-modoen ...

. The Bundara River flows into the Big River a few kilometres north of Anglers Rest, and where the Cobungra River joins the Big River just south of Anglers Rest they become the Mitta Mitta River. Besides fishing, the area is also popular for

white water rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

bushwalking A hike is a long, vigorous walking, walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer tim ...

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

, horseriding, and

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

The Blue Duck Inn

Perhaps the most notable feature of Anglers Rest is the historic Blue Duck Inn, standing alongside the Omeo Highway crossing of the Cobungra River. The local area is in fact commonly referred to simply as 'the blue duck', rather than Anglers Rest, in reference to the prominence of this hotel. The original 1900

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

slab Slab or SLAB may refer to: Physical materials * Concrete slab, a flat concrete plate used in construction * Stone slab, a flat stone used in construction * Slab (casting), a length of metal * Slab (geology), that portion of a tectonic plate that ...

building operated as a

butcher shop A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishme ...

, servicing gold miners on what was at the time a walking track from Omeo to the gold fields around Mount Wills. In 1912 a successful miner called Billy O’Connell purchased the establishment and obtained a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

licence A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

on the understanding that the main road would pass the building. After the road was surveyed this did not eventuate, and the

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

gained its name when O'Connell nailed a panning dish out the front and wrote 'Blue Duck' on it, blue duck being the term for a failed gold lease. In the 1920s O'Connell relocated the hotel to its current location by moving two houses through

the bush "The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where it is largely synonymous with hinterlands or backwoods. The fauna and flora contained within the bush is typically native to the regi ...

from Omeo on

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

drays; one of these is the current main building of the inn, while the other was placed further up the hill as his

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

, on the site of the existing cabin accommodation. O'Connell also built a small log building behind the pub, which was staffed for a time by the Education Department as Anglers Rest Primary School (State School Number 4286), mainly to educate O'Connell's own children. The Blue Duck Inn soon became popular with anglers, who even in those days travelled from as far away as

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

for the fishing, including the Chairman of Commissioners on the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

, Sir Harold Clapp. Clapp became so enamoured with the inn he arranged for

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

s at the Newport Railway Workshops to

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

the

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

blue duck The blue duck (''Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos'') or whio is a member of the duck, goose and swan family (biology), family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus ''Hymenolaimus''. Its exact taxonomic status is still ...

that still stands at the entrance. The O'Connells moved on in 1946, and the inn went through several hands before declining trade resulted in it relinquishing its liquor licence in 1967. The Blue Duck Inn was eventually refurbished and re-licensed in 1998.

Bushfires

The Anglers Rest area was severely impacted by the massive

2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires The Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires were a series of bushfires in 2003 that burnt in the Alpine National Park and Mount Buffalo National Park in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. The bushfire started with eighty-seven fires that were starte ...

. While hundreds of square kilometres of the surrounding region was directly affected by the fires for close to two months, an especially intense fire devastated the area around Anglers Rest on 26 January 2003, with several homes being lost, and The Blue Duck Inn barely being saved. Bushfires again threatened Anglers Rest in early January 2020. Little damage was reported within the village, the fire having stopped in the bush behind the Blue Duck Inn.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of East Gippsland