Rainbow, Victoria

Rainbow is a town in north west Victoria, Australia, 400km from Melbourne. The town is in the Shire of Hindmarsh and the nearest large towns are Warracknabeal, Dimboola and Nhill, all to the south. At the Rainbow had a population of 525.HistoryIn 1898 the railway line was extended from Jeparit to a projected town site, Rainbow Rise, named after a sand lunette covered with wild flowers in the shape of a rainbow. A post office opened on 2 July 1900 and town blocks in Rainbow were sold in October 1901. By 1910 the township was referred to as the Metropolis of the Mallee.Rainbow was part of the Dimboola Shire until 25 January 1995, when the shire was then united with the Lowan Shire.The town was the subject of an episode of the ABC television program, Enough Rope, with Andrew Denton, on 31 July 2006.Rainbow was well known for its wheat growing. The silos still stand sentinel over the township and are visible for many kilometres before reaching the township.Many of the towns original settlers were of German descent and came across country from South Australia. Names such as Strauss, Bretag, Rogasch, Fischer, Schumann, Schulz, and Heinrich were common-place in the early years along with the more English names of Dunn, Wallis, Smith, Brown, Fisher, Small.