View source for Cowwarr, Victoria

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox Australian place | type = town
| name     = Cowwarr
| state    = vic
| image    = File:Cowwarr.JPG
| caption  = 
| use_lga_map = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|38|01|S|146|41|E|display=inline,title}}
| pushpin_label_position = right
| lga      = Shire of Wellington
| postcode = 3857
| est      = 
| pop      = 368
| pop_year = {{CensusAU|2016}}
| pop_footnotes = <ref name="ABS"/>
| elevation= 
| maxtemp  = 
| mintemp  = 
| rainfall = 
| stategov = [[Electoral district of Gippsland East|Gippsland East]]
| fedgov   = [[Division of Gippsland|Gippsland]]
| dist1    = 186
| dir1     = E
| location1= [[Melbourne]]
| dist2    = 28
| dir2     = N
| location2= [[Traralgon, Victoria|Traralgon]]
| dist3    = 10
| dir3     = N
| location3= [[Toongabbie, Victoria|Toongabbie]]
| dist4    = 16
| dir4     = W
| location4= [[Heyfield, Victoria|Heyfield]]
}}
'''Cowwarr''' is a town in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], [[Australia]], 27 kilometres north-east of [[Traralgon, Victoria|Traralgon]], 174 kilometres east of [[Melbourne]], in the [[Shire of Wellington]]. At the [[2016 Australian census|2016 census]], Cowwarr and the surrounding area had a population of 368.<ref name="ABS">{{Census 2016 AUS
|id=SSC20655
|name=Cowwarr (State Suburb)
|accessdate=2020-07-01
|quick=on}}</ref>

Established in the 1860s (when the usual spelling was "Cowwar"), the town serviced the area around [[Walhalla, Victoria|Walhalla]] during the [[Victorian gold rush]]. The Post Office opened on 1 February 1869 as Upper Heyfield and was renamed Cowwarr in 1870.<ref name = "a">{{Citation | last = Phoenix Auctions History  | title = Post Office List | url = http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Cowwarr* | access-date = 20 March 2021 }}</ref> Cowwarr was a wayside station on the former Traralgon-Maffra-Stratford railway, which opened in 1883. Daily passenger trains from Maffra ran through to Traralgon station (connecting to Melbourne and beyond) until 1977, and the last freight train passed through the town in 1987. The former railway has been converted to the Gippsland Plains Rail trail.

Historic buildings remain in the town today. A Heritage Listed Arts & Craft [[butter]] factory, built in 1918, was converted into the [http://www.cowwarr.com/ Cowwarr Art Space], a gallery for [[contemporary art]]. The gallery closed in February 2020.<ref>{{Citation | title = Cowwarr Art Space | url = https://www.cowwarr.com/exhibitions/2020/2/8/time-to-say-goodbye-to-the-cowwarr-art-space-15-02-2020}}</ref> [http://cowwarrhotel.com.au/ The Cricket Club Hotel] first established in 1880 as a wooden building the current concrete Art Deco building was constructed in 1930 as was the Cowwarr Public Hall opposite.  The town is supported by district farming, including dairy farming, irrigated from the [[Independent State of Rainbow Creek|Rainbow Creek]], which runs past Cowwarr, and the [[Thomson River (Victoria)|Thomson River]].

The town has an [[Australian Rules]] football team competing in the [[North Gippsland Football League]] a Netball team a primary school which burnt down in late January 2020 and a picturesque Catholic Church.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2007}}
{{Towns in Wellington Shire}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Shire of Wellington]]


{{Gippsland-geo-stub}}