The name of the town is probably a corruption of the local Pangerangindigenous word, "Tucumiva" (or "Tucumival"), meaning "deep hole". Near Tocumwal is a 25-metre-deep hole in granite rock, now known as "The Blowhole", which is linked underground to the nearby Murray River.[3][4]
History
Prior to European settlement, the Tocumwal area was inhabited by the Ulupna and Bangerang people. The first pastoral runs were established in the 1840s. The town was established in the early 1860s and gazetted in 1862 as:
"a Village to be called TOCUMWAL ... Situated on the Murray River, on the road from Albury to Deniliquin, about 50 miles west of Corowa, and 40 south-east of Deniliquin."[5]
During World War II the town was the site of Royal Australian Air ForceStation Tocumwal, which was a major Royal Australian Air Force training airfield and aircraft depot. Units included (at various times) the 5 Operational Training Unit, 7 Operational Training Unit, 7 Aircraft Depot and the Paratroop Training Unit.[10] Today, the airfield is a renowned gliding site.
Also during the War, Tocumwal was the location of RAAF No.14 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 14 June 1944. Usually consisting of four tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).[10]
After the War ended, families were housed at the American Air Force Hospital and the men travelled daily over the river to Yarroweyah, in Victoria, to work on farms, which they could then apply for under the soldier settlement scheme. The hospital was on or next to Barooga Station. Living quarters were in long Nissen huts, with three or four families in each and a shared bathroom. Single quarters were at the front and a cook was employed.
Also after the War, about 200 Air Force houses in Tocumwal were disassembled and trucked to Canberra to be reused in as government housing for workers from Melbourne and Sydney who were constructing the new capital city. Called Tocumwal houses, they remain a distinctive architectural feature in Canberra's suburbs, such as O'Connor and Ainslie.[11]
Heritage listings
Tocumwal has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Tocumwal has a semi-arid climate (KöppenBSk). marginally too dry to be classified as a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), with hot summers and pleasant winters. Rainfall is moderate but somewhat erratic, with calendar year totals having ranged from 191.1 millimetres or 7.52 inches in 1982 to 873.8 millimetres or 34.40 inches in 1973.
Tocumwal was also where the largest Murray cod in the world was caught.[15]
Tocumwal has a 36-hole championship golf course at the Tocumwal Golf Club,[16] a bowls club[16] and is well known internationally for gliding at SportAviation.[17]
