Avoca

Avoca is a town in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, 71km north west of Ballarat. It is one of two main towns in the Pyrenees Shire, the other being Beaufort to the south. At the 2016 census, Avoca had a population of 1,193.GeographyThe town stands in the gently undulating basin of the Avoca River, which rises in the Pyrenees Ranges to the west. To the south, the region is bounded by low hills of the Great Dividing Range; eastwards, the basin ends in a dry forested rise; to the north the Avoca River runs slowly through the plains of the Wimmera before joining Lake Bael Bael and the lake and swamps just south of the Murray. The town and river were named after Avoca, the village and River Avoca in County Wicklow, Ireland.The region takes in an area of about 200km2, and includes the towns of Redbank, Natte Yallock, Rathscar, Bung Bong, Lamplough, Amphitheatre, Percydale, Moonambel, and Warrenmang. A few miles to the northeast, bare paddocks mark the site of Homebush, once a flourishing mining village.