Anglers Rest, Victoria

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Coordinates: 36°59′0″S 147°29′0″E / 36.98333°S 147.48333°E / -36.98333; 147.48333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Anglers Rest
Federal division(s)
Gippsland
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
18.3 °C
65 °F		 4.8 °C
41 °F		 672.6 mm
26.5 in

Anglers Rest is a locality in

Omeo in the Shire of East Gippsland,[2] almost totally surrounded by the Alpine National Park.[3]

Location

Anglers Rest Camping Area alongside the Cobungra River and Omeo Highway

The name Anglers Rest is descriptive, indicating that the location is a good spot for

Big River, and the Mitta Mitta River.[4] The Bundara River flows into the Big River a few kilometres north of Anglers Rest, and where the Cobungra River joins the Big River just south of Anglers Rest they become the Mitta Mitta River. Besides fishing, the area is also popular for white water rafting, bushwalking, camping, horseriding
, and mountain biking.[3][5]

The Blue Duck Inn

The historic Blue Duck Inn on the Omeo Highway at Anglers Rest

Perhaps the most notable feature of Anglers Rest is the historic Blue Duck Inn, standing alongside the Omeo Highway crossing of the Cobungra River. The local area is in fact commonly referred to simply as 'the blue duck', rather than Anglers Rest, in reference to the prominence of this hotel.

The original 1900

inn gained its name when O'Connell nailed a panning dish out the front and wrote 'Blue Duck' on it, blue duck being the term for a failed gold lease.[4]

In the 1920s O'Connell relocated the hotel to its current location by moving two houses through

Education Department as Anglers Rest Primary School (State School Number 4286), mainly to educate O'Connell's own children.[4]

The Blue Duck Inn soon became popular with

apprentices at the Newport Railway Workshops to cast the bronze blue duck that still stands at the entrance.[4]

The O'Connells moved on in 1946, and the inn went through several hands before declining trade resulted in it relinquishing its liquor licence in 1967. The Blue Duck Inn was eventually refurbished and re-licensed in 1998.[4]

Bushfires

Devastation around Anglers Rest about two months after the 2003 bushfires

The Anglers Rest area was severely impacted by the massive 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires. While hundreds of square kilometres of the surrounding region was directly affected by the fires for close to two months, an especially intense fire devastated the area around Anglers Rest on 26 January 2003, with several homes being lost, and The Blue Duck Inn barely being saved.[6][7]

Bushfires again threatened Anglers Rest in early January 2020. Little damage was reported within the village, the fire having stopped in the bush behind the Blue Duck Inn.

References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Anglers Rest (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 August 2020. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original
    on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Welcome: The Historic Pub on the banks of the Cobungra River". The Blue Duck Inn Hotel. Blue Duck Inn. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e "History: The Blue Duck Story". The Blue Duck Inn Hotel. Blue Duck Inn. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  5. ^ "Anglers Rest Glen Wills Omeo Valley". Omeo Region Business and Tourism. Omeo Region Business and Tourism Association. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  6. ^ Noble, Tom (2 February 2003). "Razing Heaven". The Age. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  7. ^ "No end in sight for Victorian bushfires". The Age. 27 January 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
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