Shepparton Heritage Walk

Shepparton Heritage Walk
William Cooper Statue - Queens Gardens
 Shepparton Heritage Walk
Aboriginal Street Art Project - Aunty Violet Harrison and Aunty Mary James
 Shepparton Heritage Walk Shepparton Heritage Walk Shepparton Heritage Walk

This 1.5 km walk takes you along Welsford Street, from the Northern Car Park at Victoria Lake to the Queens Gardens, past some sites of historical significance to Shepparton.

Where:
Shepparton VIC 3630

View route map

The walk is on designated footpaths along flat terrain, follow the path along Welsford Street. 

Points of Interest:

  • The Hawdon and Bonney Cairn - Charles Bonney & Joseph Hawdon, the first non-indigenous persons to visit and camp near the junction of the Broken and Goulburn Rivers on 13 January 1838.
  • Aboriginal Street Art Project named by locals as ‘Dana Djirrungana Dunguludja Yenbena-l’ which means ‘Proud, Strong, Aboriginal People’ in Yorta Yorta language. This project is aimed at celebrating and recognising the local Aboriginal history. Aunty Violet Harrison and Aunty Mary James Mural.
  • Shepparton Urban Water Works was established here in 1889. The pump building remains and is now home to Goulburn Valley Water.

  • Aboriginal Street Art Project - Aunty Geraldine Briggs and Aunty Elizabeth Morgan Mural

  • Forester’s Hall, Shepparton’s oldest remaining building was built in 1873 and is now home to the Shepparton Heritage Centre Museum. It was previously used as a lodge room, court house, dance hall, church and a newspaper office.
  • The old Shepparton wharf (1880) and the site of McGuire’s Punt which operated between 1850 and 1876.
  • Joseph Furphy Monument and his beloved Wilga tree. The famous Australian novel “Such is Life” was penned at this very spot in 1903, under Joseph’s pen name of Tom Collins.
  • Rose gardens and commemorative plaque, established by the womenfolk of Shepparton to honour the visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 5 March 1954.
  • Shepparton Memorial Park – The sculpture shows Sgt Gordon Ayre MM, of Shepparton helping Pte Wally Johnson across the Francisco River at Salamaua PNG on 20 August 1943.

  • Private Daniel Cooper Mural was painted by well known artist Cam Scale on the corner of Riverlinks Eastbank, 70 Welsford Street. Private Daniel Cooper is a Yorta Yorta man who fought for Australia during World War I. 

  • The final stop on the walk is the Queens Gardens, where the Sir Murray Bourchier Memorial Sculpture depicts a horse and rider and signifies the Battle of Beersheba and local solider, farmer and politician, Sir Murray Bourchier.
  • Nestle in the centre of the Queens Gardens is the William Cooper Memorial Statue. The statue commemorates William Cooper the activist and community leader who was instrumental in campaigns for Aboriginal rights.