Bunyip
Postcode: 3815
Bunyip is a town in west Gippsland, Victoria, Australia named after a creature found in Australian Aboriginal mythology.
Bunyip shopping precinct consists of the following businesses: Post Office, chemist, 2 Hair dressers, accountants’ offices, Bendigo Bank branch, Commonwealth Bank branch, a well stocked opportunity shop with proceeds donated to local organizations, a takeaway food shop, TASCA. There is also The Bunyip Village Cafe And Old Wares which sells takeaway food as well as dine in meals. Groups of people can be catered for. Old wares and new giftware and jewellery is also available. There is also a wholesale butcher Sheffields Meats. There are 2 pubs, The Top Pub, and the Bottom Pub, so named locally due to their position on the sloping main street. The Top Pub provides restaurant style meals, while the Bottom Pub incorporates a Chinese restaurant. Every Thursday night the Bottom Pub has an “open mike” music night, where musicians can perform to a live audience.
Bunyip also has a small supermarket, (with a large new one to be built soon) a newsagent, a bakery, hardware store, pizza shop, video rental shop, beauty salon. Bunyip has its own annual show, with categories for horses, dogs, cats, cookery, art work and a host of other categories. Bunyip also has a wildlife sanctuary, which is a real bird watchers paradise, with over 50 different birds having been sighted.
Bunyip has a State School with around 250 pupils enrolled. There is also “Columba” a Catholic school catering for many more students. Bunyip also has two Kindergartens, the second one was just recently built, and play group. Bunyip has an aged care facility, which has recently been renovated and extended. Opposite the “Hill View Hostel” is the medical clinic. Bunyip is on the Gippsland railway line and is in the growth corridor. It is 3 kilometers off the Princes Highway.
Bunyip is the largest of the several towns along this stretch of the railway and therefore supports some higher level services. Although the hospital, opened in 1966, has been downgraded, it now houses a busy Community Health Centre. The shopping centre has changed little over the years, retaining its country atmosphere. The agricultural show, first held in 1900, still runs successfully every year. Like most small country towns, there is little local employment. Many residents travel elsewhere to work, assisted by Bunyip’s location on the rail line. The station office has been replaced by a portable building but it is still personed and handles a large passenger traffic. Although still the centre for a farming district, Bunyip has become predominantly a residential town for people wanting a few acres or a quiet country town lifestyle. A country music festival is held each February.