Things to see and do in rutherglen

• Granthams Bend – Murray River Walk.   Black dot #1 Map A/G3
• St Leonards – Murray River Walk.   Black dot #2 Map A/G2
• Carlyle Community Hall – Once Carlyle School No. 4256, now a local hall.   Black dot #3 Map A/H4 
• Shaws Flats – Murray River Walk.   Black dot #4 Map A/J3
• Police Paddocks – Murray River Walk. Gooramadda State Forest.   Black dot #5 Map A/L2
• Mt Ochtertyre – Named in 1836 by Major Mitchell on his return to Sydney (225m).   Black dot #6 Map A/Q5
• Major Mitchell Memorial – Part of the official trail.   Black dot #7 Map A/R4
• Browns Plains Chapel – Once a common school and now a chapel for the local rural community.    Black dot #8 Map A/Q7 
• Fairfield House – Victorian mansion built in 1889, restored in 1975.    Black dot #9 Map A/P6 
• Olive Hills – Built 1886. Historic building (private property).    Black dot #10 Map A/P7
• Mt Ophir – Cellars built in 1891.    Black dot #11  Map A/M9 
• Great Northern Mine (historical site) – The first deep alluvial mine in the district (mine remnants).    Black dot #12  Map A/N8
• Great Southern Mine (historical site) – Commenced in 1889, closed in 1914.   Black dot #13  MAp A/K8
• Cornishtown Hall – Once Cornishtown school and now a hall for the local rural community.    Black dot #14 Map A/O10 
• Gold Battery – Erected in 1903, used to crush quartz to claim the gold.    Black dot #15 Map A/I7 
• Mt Carmel Convent – (1927 – 1989) No public access.    Black dot #16 Map A/J7 
• Vidal Cellars – Used as a distillery 1819 – 1925 (Ruin). No public access.    Black dot #17 Map A/I7 
• Bullers Bird Park – Over 100 different bird varieties.    Black dot #18 Map A/G9 
• Lake Moodemere – Canoe trees, rowing, bush walking, bird refuge.    Black dot #19 Map A/D8 
• Carlyle Cemetery – Commenced 1865. Chinese burning towers from the gold rush era.    Black dot #20 Map A/F7
• Pfeiffers Bridge – Historic bridge across Sunday Creek to vineyards.   Black dot #21 Map A/E7
• John Foord Cemetery – National Trust, private cemetary, 1859 – 1886.   Black dot #22 Map A/E6
• Mass Tree – Where the first mass was celebrated in Wahgunyah in 1869.   Black dot #23 Map A/E5
• Uncle Tobys – Major district emplyer producing many famous brands. No public access.   Black dot #24 Map A/F5
• Chinese Dormitory – Was built at All Saints Estate in 1869 and was used as living and eating quarters for the Chinese vineyard workers.  Black dot #25 Map A/F4
• Stantons Bend – Murray River Walk.  Black dot #26 Map A/C7 
• Red Hills Homestead - Century old homestead and gold rush ruins including poppet head (private property).    Black dot #27 Map B/J1
• Lake King - Arthur Mann Scenic Walk, 1.5km.    Black dot #28 Map B/H9
• Lake Moodemere - All weather interpretive walking trail, 4km.    Black dot #29 Map A/E7

History

The area around Rutherglen was originally settled in 1836 by a number of squatters searching for rich pastoral lands in the then largely uninhabited interior of the colony.

The discovery of gold in nearby Chiltern some twenty years later caused a great deal of excitement and saw the beginning of exploration in and around what is now the Rutherglen township. Within weeks of the original Rutherglen gold strike on September 9 1860 literally thousands of people had moved to the settlement. The entrepreunerial John Wallace anticipated the needs of the growing settlement and positioned the first major establishement, the Star Hotel, in its choice Main Street location. The town grew quickly and soon had 21 hotels to service a population of approximately 20,000 people. Legend has it that the name 'Rutherglen' was proclaimed for the township when John Wallace promised to shout the bar if he could name the town after his hometown of Rutherglen in Scotland, and so for the price of a few beers a town was christened.

Although gold was the original driver for migration to Rutherglen, it is wine that has endured and for which Rutherglen is world famous today. John Lindsay Brown is credited with the first plantings in the region in the late 1850's and many more vineyards followed. International recognition and export demand would soon come, and by 1890 Rutherglen was producing a quarter of all wine made in Australia. Another twist would emerge with the introduction of the vine louse Phylloxera which decimated the regions then bouyant industry. This would spell the end for many of the regions wineries and vineyards, though a handful would re-plant and continue, and the fifth and sixth generation of many of these families are still in operation, and indeed flourishing today.