Great Victorian Rail Trail (Mansfield - Tallarook)
This trail was formerly named the Goulburn Valley High Country Rail. The trail goes between Tallarook and Mansfield / Alexandra. It features the only tunnel on a rail trail in Victoria Cheviot Tunnel) and the 385 metre long Bonnie Doon Rail Bridge across Lake Eildon.
The trail in Victoria's north east is the longest continuous rail trail in Australia. Extending 134 km and meandering through farmland, along the Goulburn River and in the foothills of the magnificent Victorian High Country of Victoria. The trail can be cycled, walked or ridden on in either direction. Gentle gradients along much of the trail make it suitable for most fitness levels. If a shorter trip is more your style, there are loads of sections accessible from car parks and villages along the rail trail.
The trail is a beautiful journey through the unique communities of north and north-east Victoria. Experience the food, wine, people, galleries, markets and festivals of Tallarook, Trawool, Kerrisdale, Homewood, Yea, Molesworth, Cathkin, Alexandra, Koriella, Kanumbra, Yarck, Merton, Woodfield, Bonnie Doon, Maindample and Mansfield.
Trail surface - The Great Victorian Rail Trail is best suited to mountain, hybrid or touring bikes. Trail surfaces are compacted gravel or granitic sand. A bridle path meanders beside the black gravel trail sections (marked with blue posts), while the granitic sand sections are shared use.
Getting there - The Great Victorian Rail Trail can be accessed from many points but there are several towns and villages where access is easy with carparks, picnic facilities and toilets.
Tallarook is located 100 kilometres north of Melbourne, just off the Hume Freeway and 11.5 kilometres from Seymour. The trail starts/ends near the Tallarook pool. V/line trains stop at Tallarook - check the V/line website for details.
Alexandra is located 138 kilometres from Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and Maroondah Highway. Alexandra is the beginnning/end of the 13 kilometre spur line and joins the main trail at Cathkin.
Yea is 109 kilometres from Melbourne and can be reached by the Melba and Goulburn Valley Highways.
Mansfield is 192 kilometres from Melbourne or 63 kilometres from Benalla.
Parking is also available at the following small towns: Trawool, Molesworth, Yarck, Merton, Bonnie Doon, Maindample.
Some Popular Rides on the trail
Tallarook - Trawool: 11km - beginners and families
The trail follows the heritage-classified Goulburn River at Tallarook and passes through the Trawool Valley. Classified by the National Trust for its scenic beauty, the region was once frequented by famous artists including Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton.
Yea - Cheviot Tunnel: 9kms - beginners and families (mainly uphill to tunnel)
In Yea you'll pass the Gothic-styled Yea Railway Station (1889), where you can make use of the playground, skatepark, toilets, picnic tables and bbqs. From Yea, the trail passes directly through Cheviot Tunnel - the longest rail trail tunnel in Victoria. Made in 1889 from bricks made on site, the tunnel is not accessible by car. Remember to take a torch if it's a gloomy day!
Cathkin - Alexandra: 13kms - riders with some competency
The Cathkin Station platform still stands and you might be lucky to arrive at the old Alexandra Station on a day the Alexandra Timber Tramway operates. Coming out of Alexandra you'll head up Eglington Cutting, which can be a challenge. From the top enjoy the stunning views of the Cathedral Ranges.
Yarck - Merton: 19kms - riders with some competency (hilly)
The trail runs behind Yarck but it's worth riding the 100 metres into town to stop for a drink. From Yarck travel through scenic farms to Merton Gap - the trail's highest point at 397 metres. At Merton, wander through the area managed by Merton Landcare or stroll through the historic cemetery.
Bonnie Doon - Mansfield: 22kms - families and beginners (some uphill gradients)
Heading east the trail crosses Lake Eildon over the 385 metre Bonnie Doon Bridge - a great vantage point to watch activity on the lake. From here the trail passes through beautiful farming country and the 12 kilometres from Maindample to Mansfield take in magnificent high country scenery. Entering Mansfield you'll pass through the Mullum Wetlands - a habitat for local fauna and flora. The trail begins or ends at the old Mansfield Railway Station and the Visitor Information Centre.
Art on the Great Victorian Rail Trail
Along the length of the trail there are seven major art installations (labelled A-G on the map) and 20 smaller works (labelled T on the map).
Eight artists were commissioned to explore particular sites and locations along the 134km trail that follows the historic railway line that operated between Tallarook and Mansfield, with an additional spur line linking the trail to Alexandra.
Taking inspiration from the theme of connections, each artist has responded differently, exploring such things as connection to country, connection to the local environment, connection to the history of the trail as well as connection to community. Artworks are spread along the trail.
A. NOOK by Donna Marcu (near Tallarook)
Location on Google Maps
'Things is crook in Tallarook', an Australian colloquialism, speaks to a time when 'making-do' with great ingenuity and resourcefulness was a necessity.
Nook takes as its starting point the ubiquitous blue and white bowls and mugs, used by itinerant workers and swaggies who built the railway, or wandered along its thoroughfare.
Inspired by the making of cotton-reel bush furniture, fabricated 'bowls' are joined to shape the sentinel forms.
In material, form and pattern, Nook recalls the domestic and the industrial, the railway signage and the metal kitchenware both finished in vitreous enamel by the same Victorian company that has operated continuously since the 1890s.
Nook marks a new beginning, the start of the trail and a restful corner to contemplate earlier paths.
B. Traces by Yu-Fang Chi (near Trawool)
Location on Google Maps
Traces explores the forms of native plants, flora, and the environmental impact on this land.
Inspired by the impression of natural elements and local plants, the work responds to the simple, organic shape of a seed as the key, to reveal the idea of growing and transition.
The multiple forms and meanings of plants are essential in the work, which reflects the precious source of lifecycle in nature, as well as transformation through time and season.
C. Mirnong (Yam Daisy) by Christabel Wigley (near Homewood)
Location on Google Maps
For thousands of years the Taungurung women used cool fire and aeration of the soil to grow mirnong (Yam Daisy - Microseris Lanceolata). The yam fields were created in the surrounding landscape, the appearance of bright yellow flowers in the spring was a sign that the tubers were ready to harvest.
Each plant had three tubers, the grandmother, the daughter and the granddaughter. The mother was taken to eat while the grandmother was left to nourish the growth of the granddaughter for the following harvest.
The artist imagined the trio of structures acting as carriers for lost stories, knowledge and shared languages. While inhabiting the rich bodily experience the viewer is guided through a telescopic gaze to focus on the hill-slopes, grasslands and cloud movements.
D. Soul Train by by Louise Paramor (between Yarck and Cathkin)
Location on Google Maps
Soul Train is suggestive of the engine car of a steam train and hints at the growth of industry and agriculture.
The original model for the sculpture is a playful combination of colour and form. It was made up of everyday objects such as wooden building blocks, parts from children's games, a toothbrush holder and a sauce bottle lid.
Soul Train is designed to celebrate the rail history of the area in the form of a surprising and colourful 'folly'.
E. Memory Palace 1 & 2 by Tai Snaith (between Merton and Kanumbra)
Location on Google Maps
These two works are inspired by the psychological process of Memory Palaces or Method of Loci, a method of recalling physical markers in a space to remember information and create meaning, not dissimilar to the indigenous practice of creating songlines to remember or tell the story of a journey.
As a child, Tai rode many trails on her horse and often created rituals around different markers in the landscape. She also saw faces in the trees, stones, hills and clouds, which she believes is a form of understanding or having empathy for the land or country.
These two works are designed to be interacted with. Rub the nose for good luck, place a gumnut offering on the tongue and make a wish, or toss a stone into the hat if you are on horseback. The hat/bowl is also designed to hold water for local birds, bees and sugar gliders.
The small bronze frog on the large boulder (Memory Palace 1) represents the Plains Brown Tree Frog (litoria paraewingi) found in this area and a reminder to all who visit of the importance of maintaining animal habitat and caring for Country.
F. Remnant by Cara Johnson(near Bonnie Doon)
Location on Google Maps
An iron tracing of a branch from a drowned tree, found washed up on the shoreline of Lake Eildon.
Each contour of the branch was recorded in rope, which was cut off carefully to preserve the branch and then cast in iron. The branch was returned to water's edge exactly where it was found.
Invasive pasture grasses have been replaced by local plants, a young grassland surrounds Remnant that will expand each year as the grassland species seed.
In time the trees still standing in the lake will be consumed by the water, but this iron tracing will remain. Its hollowness holding a memory of what was here.
G. Responding by Robbie Rowlands (between Mansfield and Maindample)
Location on Google Maps
Responding consists of a 39m mobile phone tower that gracefully arches over the rail trail.
In their usual display, phone towers sit at heights well above the landscape or our built environments. Here, the tower appears animated, falling close to the ground as if bowing to meet us.
In this way, the technological function of transmission - of receiving and responding to signals - becomes a personal interaction between the viewer, the artwork and the landscape.
With its slender taper and gentle curve, the tower appears more organic than industrial, like a stalk of field grass with its long, thin signal panels mimicking seed pods fraying at their tips.
T. We Scar Many Trees by Mick Harding
We, the Taungurung people of this Biik (Country), have been removing the bark from trees to use for various purposes - such as baby carriers, food collection vessels, bark canoes and thatching for our dwellings - for at least 2000 generations.
These carvings symbolise our relationship to the Warring (Goulburn River) and its associated rivers, creeks and Ngarrak (Mountains).
These symbols we carve, have been used to articulate our relationship to our Ancestors and Country, as Kulin people for thousands of years.
Along the length of the Great Victorian Rail Trail (GVRT), we have removed the bark from healthy eucalypts, and then carved a message in the sapwood.
Each tree we have scarred has marks at the top that represent how our old people cut and scarred their bodies. This is how they demonstrated their relationships to one another.
Underneath these marks, are the designs that tell different aspects of our connection to our Biik and each other.
The bark we have removed will be used for different purposes. I will dry and mark the inside of the bark with different motifs to tell stories about our relationship to our Ancestors and Country.
See the Fact sheet on Aboriginal Scar Trees here.
✆ 1800 787 245
Email Enquiry
Web Links
→ www.greatvictorianrailtrail.com.au
→ Great Victorian Rail Trail - Trail Description (RailTrails Australia)
→ Great Victorian Rail Trail Official on Facebook
