SEYMOUR SPLENDOUR

Scenic countryside, history, nature and fine cuisine; essential touring ingredients in this fantastic region!

WORDS BY TRINA MORRIS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRINA AND RAY MORRIS

From Seymour to Yea and beyond, the Goulburn River flows between beautiful rolling hills. The river’s network of pristine waters creates a unique viticulture climate and idyllic conditions for growing fine produce. The villages along its path have inspiring connections to early settler history, interesting heritage, and a reputation for hospitality perfection.

We really enjoyed exploring Seymour’s splendour, with its extensive military history, and tasting the region’s famed wines. We also discovered great places to stay, beautiful drives, and even met one of the region’s four-legged legends.

“Why would you stop in Seymour?” friends asked. An understandable question; this is a place most of us drive straight through on our mad dash out of Melbourne, en-route to the Newell Highway for the long northern drive to warmer climes. Not on this trip!

We booked a site at Seymour’s Goulburn River Tourist Park. The setting beside the river is marvellous – positioned on the water’s edge, and within easy walking or cycling distance of the town centre. We enjoyed views over the parklands, and romped daily with our dog on the billabong circuit trail. The welcoming young couple who manage the park are a wealth of information on local attractions, so our days were filled to the brim exploring the Goulburn River region.

Seymour’s Heritage Drive and Heritage Walk brochures provide excellent insight into the town’s interesting past. In 1824, Hume and Hovel first travelled through the region across land that belonged to the people of the Taungurung clan, who occupied the vast Goulburn River catchment. Major Mitchell also used the area near Tahbilk as his crossing place in 1836, followed by many other overlanders and early settlers. Soon recognised as the best route north, the Melbourne to Sydney mail service was re-routed through ‘New Crossing Place’ – now Seymour. A punt was installed and the Robert Burns Inn was built in 1839. The government finally realised that this was a good location for a town, so Seymour was officially gazetted and named in 1843.

The first bridge was built over the Goulburn River in Seymour in 1863 and remained in use by Hume Highway traffic – in one form or another – for 100 years. ‘Seymour’s Wooden Wonder’, as the locals refer to the dilapidated old bridge, is recognised by heritage authorities as a remarkable example of a large timber and steel joist highway bridge. Sadly, it stands in a state of plundered disrepair, patiently awaiting restoration.

A beautiful freecamp lies waiting for you on the southern bank of the Goulburn River, next to the historic bridge, and provides lovely stays for Seymour visitors. It is a popular fishing and picnic spot for locals, and is sited on a stretch of the river once used by turn-of-the-century rowers as a competitive rowing course. The pylons of the old bridge formed the race starting point and remain today as a historic feature of the campground.

Seymour’s Military Heritage Drive reveals the town’s rich army history. Incredibly, this dates back to 1887, when the first troop of the Victorian Mounted Rifles was formed at what is now the Australian Light Horse Memorial Park on Seymour’s eastern edge. From 1904, as its name suggests, this park was the training ground for Australia’s legendary Light Horse regiments.

In 1910, the Seymour Camp hosted a visit by Lord Kitchener to observe army manoeuvres. Following his recommendation that it become a Mob (mobilisation) Site, a vital rail link was established and the region boomed. Seymour Camp became an assembly point and training ground throughout WWI, and continued as a major Victorian military base throughout WWII. Veterans will well remember it as ‘Site 17’, since thousands of Australian armed service personnel were trained there.

The site is now a 150-hectare bushland estate and now offers visitors wonderful natural and historical recreational opportunities. Many enjoy walking, cycling and riding around the various trails, catching glimpses of wildlife and observing war camp relics. A trek to the top of Anzac Hill provides beautiful 360-degree views over the surrounding countryside, and is well worth the moderately steep climb. An excellent information pavilion near the car park depicts the story of the reserve, and describes the lives of many thousands of remarkable people (and horses) who went off to war from Seymour’s army camp.

Puckapunyal Army Base, 10km west, continues the tradition of Seymour as one of Australia’s key military training areas. It also houses the Australian Army Tank Museum but, unfortunately, new security measures on military establishments mean that visitors are no longer able to visit the museum individually.

The comparatively new Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk on High St in Seymour is a unique monument, dedicated to those who served our country during this tumultuous time in Australian history. An impressive line of more than 100 interpretive panels is laid out in serpentine curves amongst Australian native grasses and trees, planted to symbolise the rice paddies and rubber trees of the Vietnam landscape.

Seymour’s lovely architecture is testament to a long and interesting history, not least of all the old log cabin lock-up. It was originally constructed in the old town, on the north bank of the Goulburn River in 1853, and survived several moves to its present site next to the Old Court House. Now housing Seymour’s information centre and community gallery, the beautiful courthouse was built in the 1860s, along with many other significant buildings of Seymour. These include the old post office, town hall, a rectory and parsonage, the original school, police station and several hotels.

After soaking up Seymour’s military and architectural history, it was time to soak up a different flavour of the region’s offerings; fabulous wines! Our day trip to magnificent Tahbilk Winery, 23km north of Seymour, was absolutely fantastic. You don’t have to be interested in great vintages to enjoy Tahbilk – there is so much to see and do!

After morning tea at their café, we stretched our legs on the estate’s extensive wetland eco-trails, which form a significant part of the 1200-hectare property. The wetlands sustain a magnificent array of birdlife, including endangered species, which can be observed from specially-built hides around the wellformed trails and boardwalks.

The Tahbilk Eco Cruise, which winds quietly through their beautiful wetlands, is a fabulous experience, requiring much less effort than tramping the trails on foot! The captain’s commentary is very informative and the boat moves so gently through the extensive network of billabongs, it poses little disturbance to a rich variety of waterfowl, migratory birds, frogs, fish, turtles and tortoises. After this serene experience, we headed back to the tree-shrouded deck of the Tahbilk Café for lunch.

This environmentally sensitive and architecturally unique restaurant perches over the winery’s deep-water marshes, inviting nature right to your table. Tahbilk’s talented culinary team focuses on serving delicious fare sourced from local produce, for a truly memorable degustation experience. After satisfying our appetites on fine food, it was time to sample the estate’s vintages.

What an amazing place Tahbilk is! Our path to the cellar door took us through a glorious parkland of ancient trees all preparing to shed their golden autumn leaves. We passed rows of grapevine trellises, and explored an avenue of astounding 1860s buildings, all displaying their original equipment. The cellar yard is laid out in a Frenchstyle village square, overlooking the Goulburn River, and its crowning glory is a distinctive four-storey crenulated tower. The entire complex deserves a thorough exploration to appreciate the depth of Tahbilk’s character and heritage – which the current, fifth-generation Purbrick vintner describes as ‘a priceless inheritance.’ Too right it is!

Once inside, we used a free guidebook to view a variety of interesting cellar features. We explored the history hall, ancient grape presses and fermentation vats on the ground floor, before descending into the temperate coolness of the underground cellars. It’s a tremendous experience to walk the length of these enormous arched tunnels, lined with hundreds of thousands of bricks. They were all hand-made on the property in the 1870s, when the tunnels were dug – with shovels and barrows – to extend the winery’s capacity.

Deep underground, row upon row of magnificent 100-year-old oak barrels are stacked, quietly infusing their woody disposition into 365,000 litres of superb red wine – each with its own distinctive varietal character. There was only one thing left to do – engage in some oral viticultural research (a.k.a. wine tasting)! “Ahhh, superb!” Ray said, again and again. I agreed, and we bought far too much wine to cart around in a caravan!

The trip into nearby Nagambie is a short sprint, so keep an eye out for a fast-moving local legend in the shape of a horse – Black Caviar – on the shores of Lake Nagambie. Her bronze replica is a fitting monument to this great Australian champion, in a suitably fantastic setting.

Looking across the water past Black Caviar’s nose, you may see some caravans on the far shore. Nagambie Lakes Leisure Park has an awesome waterfront location and can only be described as a megapark! It is massive, offering every possible facility and activity a sporty traveller could want – perfect for families. We prefer a more laid-back style of caravan park when we’re not free camping, so we didn’t stay there, but if you want it all, this park comes highly recommended and is the tourist resort equivalent to a ‘burger with the lot’.

There’s a range of beautiful drives in the Seymour region, particularly along the Goulburn Valley Highway, through the Trawool valley to Yea. If you’re feeling more adventurous, carry on through Molesworth to Alexander. There are lovely views of the Tallarook Ranges along the way, and massive Lake Eildon lies just beyond Alexander.

Yea is a lovely little town which proclaims a ‘best-kept-secret’ attraction. Over the past decade, the inaccessible marshy Yea River floodplain beside the village has been transformed into beautiful wetlands: a place of tranquillity for nature walks and picnics. Departing from the Wetlands Discovery Centre, a wheelchair accessible two-kilometre track, complete with a suspension bridge, boardwalks and interpretive signs, enables visitors to explore the interesting habitat of the wetland’s unique flora and fauna. The significance of the area as Taungurung Country is highlighted, with descriptions of how the local Indigenous people hunted and collected their bush tucker.

If you are travelling with bicycles, be sure to explore the region’s biggest tourist attraction – The Great Victorian Rail Trail. It begins in Alexander (with another branch starting further up in the high country, at Mansfield), and follows the old Goulburn Valley rail line through Yea to Tallarook, just south of Seymour.

The eastern reaches of the Goulburn River not only boast unparalleled scenic beauty, but have also carved their place in Australian history, nurtured a wealth of natural resources and agricultural enterprises, and seen many young men off to war. Our all-too-brief interlude in the area provided us with a tantalising taste of this surprisingly good touring region. We can’t wait to head back there to explore it more thoroughly.