Looking east along the Great Alpine Road in Bruthen from the western side of town
Bruthen – is a small town located alongside the Tambo River between Bairnsdale and Ensay on the Great Alpine Road in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bruthen had a population of 624. Bruthen is 26 km east of Bairnsdale and 311 km east of the state capital Melbourne.
History
Bruthen is an Aboriginal word from the Brabiralong people of the Gunai/Kurnai tribe meaning ‘long wooden point’. Alfred Howitt claimed the proper name for the area around Bruthen was Murloo, meaning ‘pipeclay’.
Noted explorer of Gippsland, Angus McMillan, first passed through the area of what is now Bruthen on 14 April, 1840 on his early explorations from the Omeo region. The Post Office opened on 15 January 1862 and the first school opened in 1872.
On 27 November, 1958 an RAAF Avon-Sabre Fighter Jet crashed on the outskirts of Bruthen, narrowly missing the populated area of town. Flight Lieutenant Ralph Oborn was flying from New South Wales to the RAAF base in Sale when his engine ‘flamed out’. Oborn ejected at 500ft, suffering only minor injuries, and became the first person to safely eject from an aeroplane in Australia.
Facilities
Bruthen has a small shopping centre, including a general store, bakery, Post Office, hotel, service stations, as well as speciality stores and cafes. It also has a Police station, State Emergency Service and Country Fire Authority (CFA) branches, churches, a cemetery and a primary school.
A railway line used to pass through town, with the railway station just to the east of the township; the station site remains as does a former railway tunnel under the main road and a railway bridge, the Storer Bridge, over the Tambo River, these facilities remaining in use as part of the shared use East Gippsland rail trail.
All that remains of the RAAF jet that crashed at Bruthen in 1958
Sports
In Australian rules football the Bruthen Football Club competes in the Omeo & District Football League (ODFL), and has the nickname ‘The Bulldogs’. The club has won six premierships (1979,1948,1985,1989,1990 and 2003) since joining the league in 1978. The affiliated Bruthen Netball Club competes in the associated netball competition.
The Bruthen colours are red, white and blue. Bruthen football jumpers consist of red and white hoops on a blue background, essentially the design of what was formerly Footscray, and now the Western Bulldogs AFL club. The netball club wears a blue top with red skirt.
Other sports in the town include tennis, cricket and lawn bowls and shooting clubs.
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