Gannawarra Shire Heritage Study Stage One Volume One Thematic ...

1. Introduction
The Gannawarra Shire covers an area of 3,732 square kilometres and is located on the Murray
River in northern Victoria (see Figure 2) in the country of the Aboriginal Barapa Barapa and Wamba
Wamba clans. The rediscovery in 1967 at the Museum of Victoria of what became known as the ‘Cohuna
cranium’, found in 1925 at Kow Swamp in the neighbouring Shire of Campapse, has aroused worldwide
interest in burials of Aboriginal peoples in the area. The Kow Swamp burials are the largest single
localised population group of late Pleistocene antiquity yet found anywhere in the world. Some forty
burials have been excavated and date from 20,000 years ago. 1
The Gannawarra Shire municipal strategic statement provides a snapshot of the Shire in 2008. The
Shire’s residents, numbering 11,610 in 2006, live in the main centres of Kerang, Cohuna, Koondrook,
Leitchville, and Quambatook. The Shire’s economic base is centred on the agricultural industry, value
added processing industries, small scale manufacturing industries, retailing, and tourism. The Murray
Goulburn cheese factory at Leitchville is the Shire’s major industry. The Shire has two distinct agricultural
areas, irrigated and broad acre farming, which include cropping, dairying, grazing, horticulture and
viticulture. Agricultural diversity is made possible by access to water from the Murray River, Loddon
River, Gunbower Creek, and the Kerang Lakes. 2
In addition to Mallee land to the west, the country of the Gannawarra Shire incorporates the
alluvial plains of three major rivers, the Murray, Loddon, and Avoca. Remnant grassland communities are
found along streams and waterways, the Kerang Lakes area, Gunbower State Forest, the Murray River
environs, and other state parks and reserves. Black box grassy woodlands, Buloke grassy woodlands, river
red gum forests and various shrublands evidence the vegetation that once covered the Shire. The
municipality also contains rare and threatened fauna species such as the plains-wanderer, barking owl,
grey-crowned babbler and the carpet python. The wetlands of the Kerang Lakes and Gunbower Forest are
listed under the International Convention on Wetlands (the RAMSAR convention) and are of national and
international significance for migratory birds. These areas have significant conservation value for native
flora and fauna and important cultural and recreational value for the local community. Koorangie State
Wildlife Reserve and The Marshes and Cullen Lake Area are listed on the Register of National Estate.
1
Tim Stone, and Mathew L. Cupper, "Last Glacial Maximum Ages for Robust Humans at Kow Swamp, Southern
Australia," Journal of Human Evolution 45, no. 2 (2003). John Mulvaney and Johan Kamminga, Prehistory of Australia
(St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin Pty. Ltd., 1999), 156-7.
2
Gannawarra Planning Scheme Municipal Strategic Statement (Department of Planning and Community Development,
2008 [cited 20 January 2008]); available from
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/planningschemes/gannawarra/ordinance/21_mss01_gann.pdf.
Gannawarra Shire Heritage Study Stage One Volume One Thematic Environmental History
Robyn Ballinger (History in the Making) December 2008
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