Tarrawarra is a town in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, 45 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district

Melbourne city centre

Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...

. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges

Shire of Yarra Ranges

The Yarra Ranges Shire is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges...

.

It was originally known as View Hill estate, and was purchased in 1893 by David Syme, owner and publisher of The Age

The Age

The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

newspaper, who expanded it and gave it its present name, which is of Aboriginal

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 origin. The name refers to "slow waters", describing the local arc in the Yarra River. The Post Office opened on 4 June 1900 and closed in 1957.

Tarrawarra railway station opened with the opening of the Healesville line on 1 March 1889 and closed with the line on 9 December 1980. The station is now under the conrol of the Yarra Valley Tourist Railway

Yarra Valley Tourist Railway

The Yarra Valley Railway is a tourist railway operating on a section of the former Healesville railway which operated between Lilydale and Healesville in the Yarra Valley area northeast of Melbourne, Australia.- History :...

 who are working towards reopening the line from Healesville through Tarrawarra to Yarra Glen.

In 1954 Cistercian Monks from Ireland purchased one section of the property comprising 1000 acres (4 km²), including the large house built by David Syme for his daughter and established Tarrawarra Abbey of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists). Since that time the community has built additional buildings including a large library in 2006. The monks support themselves by operating a beef farm and by Tarrawarra Eucharistic Breads.

Another section of the original estate today is a winery which opened in 1993 and which produces chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

 and pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

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External links

• Cistercian order in Australia , also Tarrawarra Abbey home page
• Yarra Glen (SMH Travel)