Lalbert is a town in the

Shire of Gannawarra The Shire of Gannawarra is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and, in August 2021 had a population of 10,683. It includes the towns of Cohuna, Kerang, Koondrook, Le ...

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 ...

. Lalbert is situated west of

Kerang Kerang is a town on the Loddon River in north-central Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is the commercial centre to an irrigation district based on livestock, horticulture, cytisus proliferus, lucerne and grain. It is located no ...

on the

Swan Hill Swan Hill is a List of cities in Australia, city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River, Victoria, Loddon River. At the , ...

Donald Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinter ...

Road. At the , Lalbert had a population of 151 declining from 224 just five years earlier.

History

Named by Major Mitchell during his trek through the area in 1836, the name Lalbert (or L'Albert as it was originally spelt) is thought to derive from an Aboriginal word for the creeper that grew on the mallee trees at the time. The first white people to live in the district were the Ham brothers who took out a pastoral lease there in 1846. By 1850, their sheep run had been subdivided into three separate pastoral properties: the Lalbert, Titybong and Towaninnie runs. The 1865 gazetteer recorded that there were only around 40 white people in the district at the time, all of whom were employed on the sheep stations. The district around Lalbert, moreover, was said to be "fit for nothing except sheep grazing for which purpose the entire available land is taken up". Lalbert is in the middle of

the Mallee The Mallee is a sub-region of Loddon Mallee covering the most north-westerly part of Victoria, Australia and is bounded by the South Australian and New South Wales borders. Definitions of the south-eastern boundary vary, however, all are ba ...

wheat growing area, which is renowned for its crops of wheat barley, oats, canola and legumes. It is 3 kilometres north of Tittybong. Situated 50 km west of Kerang, Lalbert is a mallee town. The town once had a cafe, two general stores, bakery, hotel, school, hall and recreation reserve; one cafe/store remains, the hotel, bakery, school and hall are gone. It is a major grain receiving centre. Lake Lalbert, a few kilometres from town, is a flood filled lake and a significant environmental showpiece. The nearest large town is

Railway

Lalbert is on the

Robinvale railway line The Robinvale railway line is a freight only country railway line in north-western Victoria, Australia. The line branches from the Mildura line at Dunolly, and at Inglewood the Eaglehawk – Inglewood line connects with the Piangil line out ...

. Lalbert was connected when the line was extended to

Ultima Ultima may refer to: Places * Ultima, Victoria, a town in Australia * Pangaea Ultima, a supercontinent to occur in the future * ''Ultima'', the larger lobe of the trans-Neptunian object 486958 Arrokoth, nicknamed ''Ultima Thule'' Companies and ...

in 1900, and eventually to

Robinvale Robinvale is a town on the south bank of the Murray River in north western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is Murray River crossings, connected by a bridge to Euston, New South Wales, Euston on the other side of the river in New S ...

in 1924.Wurr, Chris, "Robinvale to Lette Railway", ''

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) has been a railway organisation concerned with history and preservation of railway heritage at a national level. It has had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, althou ...

Bulletin'', April 1999, pp.123-138 The last regular passenger service on the line ran from

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

on 3 June 1978, operated by a diesel electric railmotor (DERM). The last station master was Damian Cybula. The rail passenger service was replaced by Bendigo - Ultima and Swan Hill - Robinvale buses from 5 June 1978. The line is now used exclusively to haul grain.

Football

The Mallee Eagle's Football Club plays in the

Central Murray Football League The Central Murray Football Netball League (CMFNL) is a major country Australian rules football and netball competition based in northern Victoria and southwest New South Wales in Australia. History The league was formed in 1997, combining all ...

. The team last won the premiership in 1996.

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (state)