History

The Community is so fortunate in our rich and storied history. We have many examples of early Aboriginal activity, including middens and scar trees throughout the Community.  We reside on the traditional lands of the Wamba Wamba / Perrepa Perrepa people and just over the northern border of the Yorta Yorta nation.

 

The Cobb Hwy on which we sit, is named after the Cobb & Co. Stage Coach Company which for generations was the most important inland trasportation company in the colonial and gold rush eras into the turn of the 20th Century. 

The 'Long Paddock' along the Cobb Hwy was Australia's premier stock route, building the nation's farming wealth over almost two centuries. The southern border of this particular property was a vital stop on the stock route as it is where the drovers would access the River to water the livestock 

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In 1975, David Schoeffel, affectionately known as Shovel, purchased the old homestead and farm Ilderton for its expansive river frontage, a nod to his family’s long history as pastoralists in the area. After a period of grazing and vegetable farming, Shovel, along with the first group of members, founded the Gulpa Creek Community under the original trust, Denilikoon Nominees. These founding members—Shovel, Michael Outtrim, Tony Coppinger, Peter Yeates, Margaret Arlen, Alex Encel, Simon Veitch, Graham Barron, Joyce Sanders, and Madeleine De Merxhausen—built the first round of houses, all of which still stand today. Sadly, the old Federation homestead was lost to a fire in 2006.
The community held its first Mudfest over Easter in 1980, an event that has continued annually ever since, with the exception of 2016 when a blackwater event affected the river. In 1984, the Montessori Gulpa Creek Community School was established, providing education to many local children until its closure in 1992.

In 1989, a new trust was established for the Gulpa Creek Community with the trustee company Rural Villages, through the hard work of the old members and new members Barry and Judy Maclare, Tom and Sharon Anderson, Pam Baddeley, David Poole, and Marg and Allan Worley.


During the 1990s, the community explored the possibility of adopting Community Title to grant all members the right to build on the land. Unfortunately, changes to state legislation in the early 2000s made this option financially unfeasible.


In 2018, following the amalgamation of Murray Shire Council into the Murray River Council, a call for submissions was made for the Local Environmental Plan (LEP). Despite delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gulpa Creek Community submitted its case for Multiple Occupancy in April 2020. Around this time, the community also voted to adopt the name you know today: Gulpa Creek Community Farm.

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In 2023, thanks to timber craftsman and member Ian Hill, we installed the monumental Red Gum gates that you can see standing proud from the highway.