Mallacoota

Mallacoota sits on a large tidal inlet surrounded on almost every side by Croajingolong National Park, which is why the town of around a thousand people has stayed small and why the drive in is a dead end. The inlet system is the centre of life here: kayaking, fishing for bream and flathead, boat hire and cruises up the arms into the bush. Beaches, headland walks and the Genoa Peak lookout are close, and the town has an unusually large foreshore campground. Mallacoota became widely known in December 2019 when bushfire cut the town off and thousands sheltered on the beach before being evacuated by navy ships, an episode the community still references.

History

The area was Bidawal country for thousands of years, and its name may mean sacred pipe clay, a clay used by clans all around. Settlers came from the 1830s, a timber lighthouse was put on Gabo Island in 1854 and the granite one finished in 1862, commercial fishing and the first tourists arrived by the 1880s, and gold found in 1894 kept the Spotted Dog Mine working for three years. An airfield was built in the Second World War for coastal defence, and as logging, farming and fishing declined, tourism and abalone grew, the abalone co-operative being formed in 1967 (Wikipedia, Mallacoota).

The main sights

• The inlet system - tidal arms reaching into the national park, paddled and fished.
• The wilderness surrounds - Croajingolong on three sides of the town.
• The foreshore campground - one of the largest in Victoria, on the water.
• The headland walks - coastal tracks and the Genoa Peak lookout inland.

When to go

October to April; the Christmas and Easter periods fill the campground and accommodation, booked far ahead. Winter is quiet and cold. The surrounding forest is still recovering from the 2019 fires, which reached the town's edge.

Good to know

It is a long detour from the highway, around forty-five minutes each way, and there is only one road in. Services are limited to a supermarket and a few cafés. Mobile coverage is patchy outside the town. Fire recovery is visible in the surrounding bush.

Nearby

Croajingolong National Park surrounds the town; Eden lies north across the border.

Key facts