Tallarook
Tallarook is a Rural Town south of Seymour in 1867 there were nineteen ratepayers and their families, several bark, weatherboard, brick or slab cottages, three stores a butcher, a post office, a school, a bakehouse, two hotels a public house, a blacksmith, four stables and coach stable.
A small wooden Catholic Church was built in 1864 and an Anglican Church was built in 1884.
The backdrop to this town is the well-timbered mountains providing timber for the Sawmills and sheltering Bushrangers like Mr Power and a 13 year old boy called Ned Kelly
Later there were football teams, Golf and Tennis facilities in the early decades of the next century and are still in existence today.
Railways came to Tallarook in 1872, providing a boost to the local timber industry and more employment for those living nearby. A second railway line being built from Tallarook to Yea, opening in1883.
At today’s time many people who live in around Tallarook and take the train to Melbourne for employment and social enjoyment so they live in and enjoy the country style of life with the benefits of living within a city close proximity. In the new mechanics Institute, there is a farmers market once a month which is well attended and has fresh produce with something for everyone
“Things are Crook at Tallarook “A Popularised saying World War II by soldiers many of whom trained at nearby Puckapunyal.
Mr Jack O’Hagan set the words to a popular song with rural and romantic notions:
The cows won’t milk, the chooks won’t lay The bunnies fill their tummies on my grass all day Me ’Orse is lame, the dams gone dry Every time I go to laugh I start to cry Oh! Things is crook in Tallarook Me sheila’s turned me down.