Paynesville, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Paynesville
state = vic

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caption = Another view of Paynesville, Victoria, Australia from the water
lga = Shire of East Gippsland
postcode = 3880
est =
pop = 2967 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC26421 | name = Paynesville (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Gippsland East
fedgov = Gippsland
dist1 = 293
dir1 = E
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 79
dir2 = NE
location2= Sale
dist3 = 17
dir3 = SE
location3= Bairnsdale

Paynesville is a tourist/holiday resort town in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Paynesville had a population of 2967. The town is located convert|293|km|mi|0|lk=on east of the state capital, Melbourne. It is often called the boating capital of Victoria.

History

Paynesville was originally called Toonalook which is an aboriginal name for "place of many fish". The Post Office opened on 8 November 1879 as Toonalook and was renamed Paynesville in 1886. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

The Town today

Paynesville has, in very recent years, enjoyed an enormous surge of wealthy holiday houses, increasing residential property values by an average of fourfold, and higher for waterfront houses. This has sparked expansive development of the historic canal system to create more water frontage for new houses and acted as the catalyst for further proposed commercial and retail development of the central business district.

Paynesville's canals create two artificial islands within the township. Burrabogie Island, home to the marina and well known Motor Cruiser Club is at the westernmost end of the small waterfront shopping district, and Fort King Island is a purely residential area. Although Burrabogie and Fort King Island are separated only by a (approx.) 5m-wide canal, they are the most distant points in Paynesville by road.

Paynesville is also well represented in the sporting arena, with bowls, tennis and netball clubs in the town, as well as a thriving local football and cricket club, the latter having won back to back Grand Finals in the Bairnsdale Cricket Association for 2007 and 2008. The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the East Gippsland Football League. Citation | last = Full Points Footy | title = Paynesville | url = http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/Paynesville.htm | accessdate = 2008-07-25 ]

It is located on the eastern end of Lake Victoria, near Lake King, two of the larger Gippsland Lakes and is a good launching point for exploring the lakes.

Other tourist attractions in the area include:
* Raymond Island - well known locally for its large koala population.
* Ninety Mile Beach - accessible by boat from the town.
* The Lakes National Park

Nearby towns include Bairnsdale, Metung, Eagle Point, and Lakes Entrance.

References