Merbein

Merbein is a town just north of Mildura, Victoria, in the Sunraysia region of Australia.

Merbein is a town just north of Mildura, Victoria, in the Sunraysia region of Australia. It is on the Calder Highway between Mildura and the Murray River crossing at the Abbotsford Bridge to Curlwaa. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 1,981. Merbein is 12 kilometres from Mildura, 553 km from Melbourne and 389 km from Adelaide.

The town is known for farming and is part what is informally called the "fruit bowl" or "food bowl", the growing region roughly made of the Coomealla and Sunraysia irrigation districts fed by the Darling and Murray rivers. Produce farmed in Merbein include grapes, citrus, mushrooms, green beans, asparagus and pistachios.

Merbein is also home of Mildara Wines, a winery W B Chaffey had built in 1913 for the first intake of grapes in 1914. The winery, originally known as the Mildura Distillery and Winery, stands on a 30-metre sandstone cliff near Pump Hill. The Chalmers family established its Murray Darling vineyard in Merbein, in 2010.

Merbein is the most northern Victorian town and celebrated 100 years as an irrigation settlement in 2009. The Merbein irrigation settlement, originally known as White Cliffs for its river cliffs, was established on a pastoral holding in 1909.It was one of the first state-owned pumped irrigation settlements in Victoria. A Rotary Club of Merbein sign states: "Irrigation commenced in 1910 originally for pasture and grain crops, but quickly assumed its present economy of vineyard and orchard culture."

The settlement was originally known as White Cliffs because of its river white cliffs. It was intended to be renamed "Merebin", reputedly an Aboriginal name of a local sandhill, but it was mistakenly registered as "Merbein" instead.

The post office opened on 16 August 1909. In 1912 the irrigation settlement's name was officially changed to Merbein.

E.J. Kenny was the first Officer in Charge of the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission of Victoria Irrigation Area established in 1909.The hot climate and the distance from markets saw the settlement quickly change from dairying to the growing of the less perishable crops of citrus and grapes for drying and spirit making.

Soldier settlement blocks were established in Birdwoodton and Merbein West during and after WW1 and many streets were named after local soldiers who died in WW1. The district's horticulture and viticultural industries also attracted many European immigrants to the area.

Kenny, known as the 'Father of Merbein', died suddenly in 1925 and his contribution to the success of the settlement was acknowledged with the naming of Kenny Park. Today, Merbein continues to be an irrigation district, diversifying from the growing of dried grapes and citrus to a wide variety of wine and table grapes, asparagus, almonds, mushrooms and vegetables. As well as a wine bottling and packaging industry and a vegetable juicing facility, Merbein has also developed as a regional transport hub for the export of district products.