Towns in Australia

Exploring Australia, town by town

Nyah VIC

Nyah

Postcode: 3594

Nyah is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Murray Valley Highway, in the Rural City of Swan Hill Local Government Area, 365 kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2001 census, Nyah had a population of 314.

The town, on the banks of the Murray River was formed as the “Taverner Community Village Settlement” in the 1890s by Jim Thwaites as a utopian socialist community, one of many established along the Murray, including Waikerie in South Australia.

The communities were established in imitation of the New Australia settlement of William Lane in Paraguay. Lack of access to water for fields and a falling out of favour of socialism lead to the end of state support for these communities.