Travel Australia

Railway Stations: Dimboola, Victoria

The morning train from Melbourne at Dimboola Station, 6th Jnuary 1971. This loco would have been added at Murtoa or Horsham to release the bigger loco for wheat traffic. Photo: Victorian Railways (courtesy Tony Smith)

Opened on 1 July 1882, on what was then Victorian Railways' broad gauge Western Line, Dimboola Railway Station serves the town of Dimboola and surrounding region. The station was the terminus for V/Line services from Spencer Street in Melbourne, until these services were withdrawn on 21 August 1993. The last Victorian Railways service from Dimboola to Serviceton ceased on 1 December 1978. In March 2007, The Overland passenger service began stopping at the station.

Boom barriers replaced hand-operated gates at the High Street level crossing, located nearby in the Up direction of the station, in 1980. A turntable, which was originally from Murtoa, was provided in 1988.

Above: The Horsham to Serviceton Walker railcar departs Dimboola in the afternoon sunshine as B 74 waits to follow on a down goods. 1974. Photo: Victorian Railways (courtesy Trevor Penn)

Much of the station was extensively altered in the 1980s, following the introduction of Centralised Trafic Control between Ararat and Serviceton. In 1983, a signal panel was provided at the station. It was abolished in 2010.

In the 1970s, most interstate lines in Australia began to be converted to standard gauge. By the 1990s, with Adelaide to Melbourne the only interstate link not converted, various proposals were made for gauge conversion. The proposal adopted included a new track from Melbourne to Geelong, dual gauge to Gheringhap, then conversion of the line to standard gauge via Cressy, followed by conversion of the line from Ararat.

About Dimboola

Situated on the Wimmera River, Dimboola was previously known as 'Nine Creeks'. Following a survey conducted in late 1862 by contractor Frederick Smith of Ararat, a plan for a township in the County of Dimboola was proposed. It was first recognised as being a township when mentioned in the April 1863 edition of the Government Gazette.

Before the arrival of white people into the district, the Aborigines called the area Watchegatcheca which had the meaning 'Wattle Tree and White Cockatoos'. The name 'Dimboola' has generally been accepted to have come from the Sinhalese word "dimbula" meaning 'Land of Figs'. The name came from the District Surveyor of the time John George Winchester Wilmot, who had previously lived in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The relationship of the name to this area is suggested to have come from 'Upper Regions Station' where an abundance of fruit trees grew in the garden, many of which were figs.

Dimboola's economy is predominantly rural, with wheat, sheep and timber being traditionally important. There have been recent forays into emu and alpaca rearing and olive plantations.

Paintings of Dimboola landscapes by noted Australian painter Sidney Nolan, who was stationed in the area while on army duty in World War II, can be found in the National Gallery of Victoria. Dimboola is also the setting of the play (and subsequent film) Dimboola by Jack Hibberd.