The historical town of Alexandra is located in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range 130km north-east of Melbourne. Close to the snowfields, the forests and the scenic Goulburn River, the town combines a superb outlook with green parklands and native bushland offering visitors wonderful scenic attractions and a diverse range of activities.

Alexandra is one of the gateways to Lake Eildon and Fraser National Park, prior to European settlement, the region was apart of the Yauung-Illam-Baluk tribal area and still holds considerable Aboriginal heritage.

It was through the 1824 discoveries of noted explorers Hume and Hovel that the settlement of Alexandra developed. The fertile soils surrounding the Upper Goulburn River provided the initial attraction for settlers, with timber milling and goldmining later bringing further development to the region. Today Alexandra's many fine historical buildings point to an earlier time in the history of the region when the town prospered and many of Alexandra's attractions are linked to its early pioneering industries.

Historical Attractions

Timber milling began in the area to meet local needs, but soon a large network of bush sawmills had grown in the surrounding forests with each sawmill developing its own self contained community. As more timber mills were established in isolated bush settlements, a permanent tramway was built to bring timber from the forests to Alexandra.

In 1912, the Rubicon Lumber and Tramway Company built a 12 mile long 610mm gauge steel railed tramway from Rubicon to Alexandra. This tramway was steam operated until 1935 when the first Victorian built Diesel locomotive took over.

The fires of 1939 brought dramatic changes to the sawmilling industry, after the fires the mills were brought into the towns and today the Alexandra Timber Tramway and Museum at Alexandra's old Railway Station, which commemorates the era of the timber mills, is one of the town's prime attractions.

The Museum features a number of historical displays from the timber-tramway era including the restored narrow gauge engines once used to take timber out of the forests and working models of the historic Timber Mills. As well as enjoying the history, visitors to the Museum can ride the John Fowler stream engine and wander through many interesting relics from the district's past including musical instruments and household utensils from the early days. The Victorian Railways Station House also has an extensive collection of old photographs held by the museum on display and a number of large scale detailed models of buildings found at the old bush sawmill settlements

Other places of historical interest include the Shire Hall built in 1882, the Post Office and Court House buildings built in 1877, the Free Library built in 1883 and two of the town's original banks the ANZ building which dates back to 1867 and the former National Bank built in 1907.

Natural Attractions

Alexandra is a town famous for its many beautiful parks and gardens, one unusual way of experiencing the natural beauty of the area is to travel on a tour of the district on the back of a Harley Davidson through Skyline Harley Tours, nature walks and cycling are also popular means of exploring.

The Shire Gardens are full of colour throughout the year and offer visitors delightful walking paths through superb gardens. The Shire's winding path leads over U.T. Creek where in parts visitors often try their luck panning for gold, to Leckie Park another of Alexandra's beautiful parkland areas.

Leckie Park has a war memorial and a number of sporting and community facilities and is the perfect venue to enjoy sport or picnics. Within the Park the historic Dove Cottage -an old miners cottage- provides visitors with additional interest.

Rotary Park another of Alexandra's lovely parks has a delightful swing bridge over U T Creek as well as picnic and BBQ areas. A short drive from town the McKenzie Flora Reserve is one of Alexandra's most beautiful park areas. The natural bush Reserve is a delight for visitors and offers a spectacular range of native trees, plants and wildflowers.

The scenic Goulburn River provides a number of wonderful picnic spots and is the ideal location for fishing and canoeing. Alexandra is also close to the attractions of Fraser National Park, Lake Eildon and Marysville towns that offer a diverse range of activities including cross country skiing, water skiing, bush walking and trout fishing.

Snobs Creek outside of Alexandra is home to the Victorian Freshwater Fisheries Research Station and Hatchery. Since its establishment in 1946 the hatchery has bred a number of the region's native fish with the aim of re-establishing them into their native habitats. The Station also breeds brown trout, rainbow trout and chinook salmon to stock Victorian rivers and lakes for recreational angling.

The Visitor's Centre also located at Snobs Creek has an impressive aquarium display with a huge exhibition of the more than 25 different kinds of fish found in Victoria. The Centre also has a theatrette and a number of interesting displays including a touch tank where visitors can tickle young trout. Outside the centre a walkway winds past delightful ponds and waterfalls where visitors can relax with a picnic and there is also a viewing platform where visitors can see an overview of the Centre's fish production and research facilities. One of the key attractions at the Centre is to stand nose-to-nose with a giant Murray cod and to feed large trout in the Centre's large trout pond.

Arts

Alexandra has a number of unusual and interesting craft galleries and art studios to visit. Alexander Potters have a wide selection of locally hand made pottery some with unusual bright glazing and by their own admission John and Kath George of Myrtle House Gallery present works that are a little different.

Myrtle Gallery has an extensive range of unique pieces including quality handcrafted reproduction furniture; woodcraft; painting including animal portraiture, as well as a range of terracotta figures. The gallery also features the works of other local artists and workshops are also open to visitors.

The art of restoration is on display at Alnwick Antiques, here visitors can see a fine selection of Australian antique furniture and browse through a store of collectables and bric-a-brac.

A community market offering local produce and craft is held on the last Saturday of the month and on long weekends near the historic Shire Hall.

Events

Alexandra hosts a number of annual events each year which draw on a wide range of local interests and activities. The Raft Race held in November creates excitement down the Goulburn River from Thornton to Acheron while the Goulburn River Safari held in March also attracts a wide range of interest.

Art shows and the Alexandra Spring Show which celebrates the local Pastoral and Agricultural industry are popular events as is the annual sixty-nine lap derby held at the Alexandra Speedway in January.

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