Yellingbo

Yellingbo sits between Woori Yallock and Cockatoo. It is a small local hub with a tennis court and general store. Mostly known for the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, which contains three of the state of Victoria's natural emblems. The last remaining wild population of the Helmeted Honeyeater, one of Victoria's official emblems, the Leadbeaters Possum is the faunal state emblem and is a geographically isolated from other populations plus the common-pink Heath is the floral state emblem. They all live and grow in this wonderfully maintained reserve.

The town formed around a store opened by James Claxton in 1883 next to Woori Yallock Creek, and was initially known as "Claxton". When Claxton died his brother-in-law Henry Parslow and nephew Christopher John Parslow continued to run the store, and built a bridge over the Yarra River there, whence the town was known as "Parslow's Bridge". In August 1946 it was renamed "Yellingbo" after the last Aboriginal resident. The general store still exists today.

Did you know?

Yellingbo was originally known as "Claxton" (after a storekeeper) and "Parslows Bridge" (after a man who married the daughter of the first storekeeper) before taking the name of the district's last-known Aboriginal inhabitant in the 1940s. The word "Yellingbo" reputedly means "this day" or "today".