Barmah

History

The Barmah area was first settled in 1856 by Joseph Waldo Rice who established the Murray Fishing Company to supply fish for the gold mining region of Bendigo, Victoria. Barmah was, for a time beginning in the early 1880s, a prosperous centre, whose chief industry was sawmilling. There were two major sawmills; that of Robert Barbour on the N.S.W. side of the river, and James MacIntosh's and E. Whitely's on the Victorian side. Much of the timber was exported to India for piles and railway sleepers until a government prohibition of the export of redgum, which forced closure of the Barmah mills. Trade picked up later, with the expansion of the railway network and a new sawmill was opened by R. Evans, who shipped the sawn timber to Echuca on his steamboat, the Edwards. A Barmah Post Office opened on 16 September 1876 and was renamed Barmah East in 1907, closing in 1951. Barmah Township Post Office opened on 2 May 1902. One virus peculiar to Barmah is the Barmah forest virus infection which is transmitted from animals to humans by mosquito bite. A way to avoid this virus is to protect yourself from mosquitoes bite in Barmah.

Most-observed species

• lesser joyweed

  Alternanthera denticulata R.Br. · Magnoliopsida
  2,114
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,748
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,613
• White-plumed Honeyeater

  Ptilotula penicillata (Gould, 1837) · Aves
  1,514
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  1,511
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,276
• Common Sneezeweed

  Centipeda cunninghamii (DC.) A.Braun & Asch. · Magnoliopsida
  1,215
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,194

Most recent

• M 3 — 2018-07-23
  18 km S of Cohuna, Australia
• M 3 — 2010-05-26
  8 km E of Rochester, Australia
• M 3.6 — 2003-12-29
  40 km WNW of Deniliquin, Australia
• M 2.5 — 2002-08-09
  10 km ESE of Kyabram, Australia
• M 3.3 — 2002-01-22
  5 km WNW of Rochester, Australia