Ovens River

Reaches of the Ovens River

Ovens River in Bundalong

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Ovens River is a river in the north of the Australian state of Victoria.

Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the area in 1824 and also gave the Ovens River its name. The Aborigines living there called the river Burwang.

The river rises in the Australian Alps and flows through Bright, Myrtleford and Wangaratta, where it receives the King River. In Bundalong the Ovens River empties into Lake Mulwala and thus into the Murray River.

Ovens Valley

The river flows through the Ovens Valley, a popular holiday area, the access to the ski resorts of Mount Hotham, Mount Buffalo and Falls Creek allows the Alpine National Park and Mount Buffalo National Park. Also sailing and paragliding are practiced here and in Wandiligong, there is a maze with hedges. A disused railway line has been converted into a cycle track - Rail Trail called - and runs from Wangaratta on Beechworth to Brightwood.

In the area there are many wineries and hop fields. Add to wine bars cyclists like to rest.

By 2006, the tobacco industry was a major industry in the valley. But this year decided British American Tobacco and Philip Morris to buy no more Australian tobacco, and the Australian Federal Government presented a program to convert the tobacco plantations to the production of other agricultural goods. Everywhere in the valley but you can still find traces of the long and successful history of tobacco cultivation, such as many dry dandruff.