Yarrawonga is on the cusp of securing two major new attractions, with imminent announcements expected about luxury, historical train tours between Melbourne and the town as well as an annual camping and caravan show at Victoria Park.
The push is being led by the revamped Yarrawonga Mulwala Tourism and Business, with chair Michael Coldham saying the board was optimistic about attracting events.
“It’s high octane, full steam ahead, we’re really focussed on making the area a tourist destination,” Mr Coldham said.
The tourism board chair said Yarrawonga could become the latest destination for the resurgent market in historical, luxury train travel being run from the Seymour Heritage Railway Centre.
The centre is headed by John Crofts, a former BHP executive, and he said the sight of a steam/diesel-assist locomotive with historic 1937 luxury cars pulling into Yarrawonga Railway Station as soon as mid-June was a possibility.
“We’ve been wanting to come up to Yarrawonga for quite some time,” Mr Crofts said.
But the heritage centre is currently awaiting safety approval for passenger travel from the Australian Rail Track Association for the 65km Benalla-Yarrawonga leg of the trip. Recent improvements to the Benalla-Yarrawonga-Oaklands stretch of the track, where concrete sleepers replaced every fourth wooden sleeper, has made that a possibility.
The Benalla-Oaklands stretch currently hosts grain trains which are limited to a speed of 30kmh due to the remaining degraded wooden sleepers but Mr Crofts said he was hopeful the ARTC risk-assessment would come back positive, with a possible speed limit increase to 50kmh.
“We engaged the ARTC for a risk-assessment last year from Maroona to Portland, which was a similar (track) situation and that got approved and we ran a train along there in July,” he said.
“We’re pretty excited.”
Moira Shire community director Scott Williams said council had been speaking with the rail centre and was excited about the prospect of the tours.
“Our hope is that this unique tourism experience will draw a new demographic into Yarrawonga and the surrounding area,” he said.
If approved, an inaugural tour for June 14-16 is planned with a second run in September.
The centre would then assess market interest with an eye to up to 10 trips a year from Melbourne with the trains leaving Southern Cross Station on a Friday and returning on Sunday.
Sebel Yarrawonga and ClubMulwala have already been engaged in providing accommodation for up to 150 passengers, with premium accommodation options crucial to the tour’s offering.
And while Melbourne visitors enjoyed the sights of the region across the weekend, the train would run a service for locals to Benalla and back on the Saturday, to take in attractions such as lunch at the Goorombat and Devenish railway hotels or multiple silo art locations.
Meanwhile, the proposed camping and caravan show would be run by GTR Events, which has a large portfolio of events, the most recent in the region being the Nagambie GoFish fishing tournament in 2022.
GTR managing director Rod Lockwood said the company was running the final ruler over the Yarrawonga event, which would likely debut in June or July next year.
“We’re doing the final due diligence but we’re very impressed,” Mr Lockwood said.
“Discussions with the tourism body, council and businesses have been very positive and I’m quite confident about it.
“It’s quite exciting.”
If approved, the event would be run annually with up to 150 caravans on display, as well as accessories ranging from pots and pans to four-wheel-drive towing equipment.
Mr Lockwood said similar three-day events, such as one being held in Yarra Glen last weekend, drew visitors from a wide radius.
“These types of shows have very strong popularity in Australia at the moment, it’s quite regular for people to drive up to six hours and make a weekend out of it,” he said.
Mr Coldham said Yarrawonga last held such an event in 2016 and he was confident it would “sell-out” should it return.
Mr Coldham said the tourism body, which restructured its financing with council two years ago and created a new board, was “continuously looking for events”.
“We see our role as creating events and investment in Yarrawonga and Mulwala,” Mr Coldham said.
“These new events would come on top of the boat race and airshow, the tennis and the rod run, which everyone loves.
“We see these events as leading to business, and maybe people even coming back to buy a place and business wins again.”