Warracknabeal

Warracknabeal is a small town in the north west of Victoria. It is on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km north-west of Melbourne, It is the business and services centre of the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee districts, and hosts local government offices of the Shire of Yarriambiack. In 2011 there were about 2,745 people living in the local area.
History
The first people to live in the Warracknabeal area were the Wotjobaluk, a group of Aboriginal people. The town's name is believed to be an aboriginal word meaning "place of big gums shading the water hole". The earliest European settlers in the area included Andrew and Robert Scott, who started a large sheep farm named Warracknabeal.
The Post Office opened on 1 September 1861 and was known as Werracknebeal until 1885.
There are several historic buildings, including an 1872 prison cell built from red and yellow gum, a Tudor-style post office, several 19th century hotels, and a four storey water tower from 1886. There is also farm machinery museum which shows the history of farming in the Mallee and Wimmera districts.
Nearby places
The Warracknabeal area includes:
Batchica (post office opened as Yellanghip South in 1908, renamed Batchica in 1909 and closed in 1931)
Challambra (post office opened as Challamba Dam (sic) around 1902, renamed Challamba in 1905 and closed in 1918)
Mellis (post office opened around 1907 and closed in 1954).
Healthcare
The town has four doctors and one pharmacy. The hospital is run by Rural Northwest Health.
Schools
The town has four schools:
Warracknabeal Secondary College
Warracknabeal Primary School
St Mary's Catholic Primary School
Warracknabeal Special Developmental School.
Sport
The town has an Australian rules football team (Warrack Eagles) which plays in the Wimmera Football League.
Warrack Eagles Netball Club plays in the Wimmera Netball Association.
The town also has a Yarriambiack Tennis Association. The town's teams consist of Bangerang, Cannum and Ailsa.
The horse racing club, the Wimmera Racing Club, has around six race meetings a year at Warracknabeal including the Warracknabeal Cup meeting in February.
It also has the Sheep Hills Race Club, which schedules two race meetings a year, including the Sheep Hills Cup meeting in February.
Golfers play at the Warracknabeal Golf Club.
Warracknabeal also has a Cricket team (St Marys Cricket Club) which plays in the Wimmera Mallee Cricket Association.
Warracknabeal has three hockey teams, a senior men's team known as Hoops a women's team, and a mixed junior team called Revengers.
Government
Warracknabeal is home of the Shire of Yarriambiack. It is also the administrative centre. The council offices are located in Lyle Street.
The former town hall and theatre complex (built 1939-40), added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2009, is now used for civic purposes.
Easter Y-Fest
YFest includes an Easter Saturday Street Parade, a three day Vintage Machinery Rally at Wheatlands Museum, four day Golf Tournament, three day Art Show, Easter Saturday Race Meeting and Waterski Spectacular.
The Easter Y-Fest began in 1988 and is organised by the Y-Fest Promotions Committee Inc. This Committee, made up of representatives from each of the individual event committees and Council.