Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and was the site of one of Murray Goulburn Co-operative's eight processing plants in Victoria. Maffra is a detour off the Princes Highway and is near Sale, Stratford, Newry, Tinamba, Heyfield and Rosedale. Maffra railway station on the Maffra railway line opened in 1887. The last regular passenger service ran in 1977. The station precinct is now an industrial precinct and the former station building is used for community purposes.
Maffra was long the beef cattle capital of West Gippsland and, for many years, the only beet sugar processing centre in the country. The Beet Museum, set in the Port of Maffra Park, has relics from the defunct sugar beet industry. The building is a relocated historic weighbridge building, and is lined with pine boards from the home of Charles and Grace Quirk, one of Maffra's first cottages. This toxicity has previously been seen in dogs fed meat from Australian feral camels, common in northern Australia.
Sport
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Gippsland Football League. Its senior side was at one point the most successful in the league, winning 6 premierships in the early 2000s.
Maffra is also home to a field hockey club, fielding junior, women's and men's teams in the East Gippsland Hockey Association playing at Cameron Sports Complex, Morison Street. Also at this complex, is Maffra's Amateur Basketball Association. This hosts junior and senior teams, as well as Men and Women's CBL teams.
Golfers play at the course of the Maffra Golf Club on Fulton Road.
The soccer community in Maffra was also the driving force behind the formation of the North Gippsland Soccer Association in 1925, which originally proposed teams in Maffra, Sale, Nambrook and Bairnsdale. Ultimately, Maffra Soccer Club was joined by Yallourn SC, Sale United SC and Glenmaggie Soccer Club - although the onset of the World War II saw the league halted.
This league helped form the early footprint of what later evolved into the Latrobe Valley Soccer League.
Events and attractions
The Berry Dairy – Located on a working dairy farm near Maffra, this family-owned venture offers a seasonal pick-your-own strawberry experience, an on-site café featuring locally sourced fare, a children’s play area, and a small petting zoo, creating a paddock-to-plate agritourism destination. The café operates only during the summer season. Since its opening, the farm has attracted thousands of visitors, with peak strawberry yields reaching hundreds of kilograms per day.
In 2024, The Berry Dairy received multiple accolades, including the Tourism Ventures and Attractions Award at the Gippsland Business Awards and co-owner Nicole Saunders being named Young Agribusiness Leader of the Year by Food & Fibre Gippsland.
Notable people
- Bill Bennett, AFL player, member of Carlton Football Club
- Sam Berry, AFL player with Adelaide Football Club
- John Butcher, former AFL player with Port Adelaide Football Club
- John Hipwell, Australian architect
- Shane Watts, former world champion off-road motorcycle racer
- Max Knobel, AFL player with Fremantle Football Club