Discover the many things to do in Quambatook on page 12 of the Gannawarra Visitor Guide
Quambatook is a rural township on the Avoca River, 40 km south-west of Kerang and 55 km south of Swan Hill. Quambatook has long been known for its grain growing capacity, hosting of the annual Australian Tractor Pull Championships and for being home to John Williamson and Molly Meldrum, two of the most influential and well-known names in Australian music. While John and Molly have moved on, Quambatook is today still producing grain, and the annual Australian Tractor Pull Championships held each Easter continues to put Quambatook on the map.
Quambatook like many of the small Mallee towns, the local economy has been subject to the changing fortunes in agriculture. Local communities are working hard to create new opportunities and Quambatook has a strong community spirit.
Local businesses include the Quambatook District Share Shop, Quamby Car KWAP & Coffee, Quambatook General Store, Quambatook Hotel, North West Ag, the Caravan Park, the Quamby Rose Cottage (Airbnb) and the community based Quambatook Resource Centre.
The Silo Cinema is a unique, community run cinema which attracts many visitors to Quambatook. Old grain silos positioned in the centre of town become a big screen showcasing great Aussie films such as The Dress Maker (partly filmed in the Mallee), Red Dog, Crocodile Dundee and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The local share shop is very popular while the community caravan park is a great asset for the town. Plans to develop the Avoca Weir pool will also improve the liveability of Quambatook. The heritage farm machinery group is very active in Quambatook hosting annual events.
AGRICULTURE
Quambatook is a dryland farming area growing wheat, barley and canola along with a range of hay crops. While livestock numbers have generally reduced prime lambs, cattle and pigs are still grown in the local area. Most of the grain crops are delivered to the Graincorp facility on the edge of town with harvest commencing in December and usually finishing in January.
Farms have progressively increased in size with some of the larger grain farms around 15,000 to 20,000 acres or 7,000ha. Most of the farms are now serviced by stock and domestic pipelines from the Grampian Wimmera Mallee Water and Goulburn Murray Water systems.
