Torrita

Torrita is a rural village on the Ouyen Highway and the railway line from Ouyen to Pinnaroo, South Australia, in the Mallee region of north-west Victoria. The nearest town is Walpeup, 8 km eastwards.

In 1903 the railway line to Mildura was opened, running via Ouyen. Shortly afterwards it was found that a band of country west of Ouyen appeared to be suitable for dry farming, and test bores confirmed the availability of water. The State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (1905) constructed catchment tanks, and the railway line west of Ouyen to Murrayville and Pinnaroo was opened in 1912. Torrita, then named Nyang was near the extreme edge of bore water of acceptable quality, and it took until about 1929 when enough water was available from channels supplied by the Western Waranga system and Grampians storages.

Settlers took up Mallee farms around Nyang, and in 1914 a hall and a school were opened. A store was built two years later. The district was mostly used for wheat growing, although livestock were in a greater numbers as water improved. The change of name to Torrita occurred in 1921: it is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning little emu.

A Methodist church, ex Berriwillock, was constructed in 1967, but has since been transferred to Ouyen. The school closed in 1969. Torrita has a public hall (1935), a recreation reserve and silos and grain bunkers at the railway siding.

Torrita’s census populations have been: