Tatura

Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia. The town is in the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, 167 km north of the state capital, Melbourne and 18 km west of the regional centre of Shepparton. At the 2006 census, Tatura had a population of 3,533.

With a large corporate and manufacturing presence within the town, Tatura is a major employer within the Goulburn Valley. Organisations include Tatura Milk Industries, Goulburn-Murray Water's corporate headquarters, Sinclair Knight Merz, Department of Primary Industries (Victoria), as well as major regional processing plants for multinational corporations such as Unilever and Snow Brand Milk Products.

Attractions include the Cussen Park wetlands and the Wartime Camps and Irrigation Museum.

The name of the town is an Aboriginal word meaning "small lagoon."

History
The Post Office opened on 1 February 1875.

World War II internment camps
Several internment camps were set up around Tatura, Rushworth and Murchison (Dhurringile) during World War II. Four of these were for civilians, and 3 were for prisoners of war. There were 10,000 to 13,000 people in the camps at different times from 1940 to 1947.

Before the war, Britain was home to around 73,000 Germans, who had left Germany due to the rising tensions and the rise of the Nazi regime in the country. Many of these were also young male Germans who had been in schools in Britain before the outbreak of WWII. It was believed that many of these refugees were spies, and were shipped out of the country, predominantly to Australia on the HMT Dunera and Canada.

In 1941, German Templers were shipped from Palestine and interned for the duration of the war, which led to the establishment of the Temple Society Australia. After arriving in Australia on 25 August 1941, The Templer's established themselves in Camp 3 in Tatura. They were experienced in Interned living from their previous internment in World War I (which lasted until the late 1920s), and established a School and a Kindergarten, and established work routines to prevent depression in the camp. After the War, the majority of Templer families remained in Australia.

In 1941, Major Julian Layton arrived from England on a mission. Layton, a Jew like many of the Dunera Boys, managed to secure the release of many of them if they enlisted in the British or Australian Army. At the end of the war all of the Dunera Boys were released.

The crew of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran were also interned following the battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran. 351 German civilians and servicemen who died during internment (WWI and WWII) are buried in the Tatura German Military Cemetery.

There were also German detainees from the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.

Agriculture
The Tatura Show is held yearly in March and International Dairy Week (which is the second largest dairy show in the Southern Hemisphere) in January each year attracting over 6,000 exhibitors, vendors and onlookers from Australia as well as overseas.

Food
Tatura Hot Bread has won prizes in the Professional Section of The Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph in 2006 and again in 2007. The Taste of Tatura Food and Wine Festival is held on the first Sunday in March drawing many of the regions locals.

Sport
Tatura has many sporting facilities located within the town, including Australian Rules football ovals, Soccer fields, Cricket pitches, Tennis courts, Lawn Bowls greens, a multipurpose Indoor Stadium and the 18-hole Golf course of the Hilltop Golf Club. The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Goulburn Valley Football League, the Tatura Bulldogs.

Tatura has a horse racing club, the Tatura & Shepparton Racing Club, which schedules around eight race meetings a year including the Tatura Cup meeting in March or April.

Education
Tatura has three primary schools serving both the town and surrounding areas. Tatura Primary School is a Public School located south of the town's main street whilst Sacred Heart School and Bethel Christian College are both private schools located within the town's centre.

Due to Tatura's close proximity to Shepparton secondary education options include Notre Dame College, Shepparton, Wanganui Park Secondary College, Goulburn Valley Grammar School, Mooroopna Secondary College, Shepparton High School or McGuire Secondary College.

Tatura is located 20 minutes from La Trobe University Shepparton Campus as well as the Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE which both offer a range of tertiary and TAFE courses for the Goulburn Valley.

Media
The main print publications distributed within Tatura include the daily Shepparton News, the Tatura Guardian (released weekly), and the Tatura Bulletin (released monthly).

Milk
Tatura has an extensive dairy farming industry, mainly made up of Lang Dairies. They have won many awards, including the Trans-Tasmanian Dairy Farm of the Year.