A town in the Shire of Strathbogie in North-East
Victoria,
Australia. It is roughly midway between
Melbourne and
Albury as the crow flies. The area is geographically very flat, as the town is located in the huge
Goulburn Valley, however the impressive
Strathbogie Ranges are not far away. The name Euroa comes from an Aboriginal word in the old local dialect meaning "joyfull".
Euroa's population of 2,800 has changed very little in the last couple of hundred years, but it has perhaps grown older. The town contains several retirement villages, one highschool, and two primary schools (one Catholic). It is a close-knit (read
in-bred) community, where everyone knows everyone else.
Euroa's one and only claim to fame is that the bank there was robbed by
Ned Kelly in 1878.
Euroa has no cinemas, no racetracks, and no strip clubs. It does have an ameteur theatre group, the members of which are actually quite talented. There are about three pubs (including the bottle shop), and a few halls which can be hired out for functions. There are, I think, three real estate agents - who'd have thought the town had enough real estate to justify that? - and a couple of bakeries. The trendy place to eat is the Euroa Cafe, where you can get really nice, huge, but relatively cheap, meals.
The place for the cool kids to hang out on a Saturday night is outside the local
IGA, Burtons. The cooler kids (read
losers) cruise up and down the main block in
commodores with bad music turned up too loud with shocking amounts of bass.
The main highway from
Melbourne up north is the Hume, this by-passed Euroa about 15 years ago if I recall correctly (I'm only 20!), and since then Euroa has been a quiet town with little growth or business potential. It is, however, a significant stop on any long drive along the Hume for purposes of food, fuel, and a walk in one of the very nice parks.
All in all, it's a very pretty spot to visit and there are some great food places, but I wouldn't want to live there again!