In the heart of Victoria’s Wimmera, GrainCorp’s Murtoa site has long been one of the state’s most significant grain hubs – a place where Australian grain history and future innovation meet.
That enduring importance was recognised last week when the site team welcomed the Governor of Victoria, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC.
During the visit, the team showcased the quality of grain produced across the Wimmera, the vital role Murtoa plays in connecting local growers with customers around the world, and the innovative operational practices helping shape the future of grain logistics.
Murtoa’s story began in the late 1800s, when the arrival of the railway transformed the small farming settlement into a major receival and transport point for western Victoria’s growing wheat industry.
But one of the site’s most remarkable chapters came during World War II, when Murtoa was chosen as the location for an emergency bulk wheat store to help manage a national grain storage crisis.
Built in just four months between 1941 and 1942, the now-famous Stick Shed was constructed using more than 560 unmilled mountain ash poles and designed to hold up to 92,000 tonnes of wheat. At the time, wartime shipping disruptions had created a wheat surplus across Australia, and urgent new storage was needed to protect grain from spoilage.
The Stick Shed became a vital part of the region’s grain handling network and remained in active grain service for decades as bulk handling systems modernised around it.
Today, it is the only surviving stick-built grain store of its kind in Australia and stands as a nationally heritage-listed symbol of Murtoa’s place in Australia’s grain industry.
That legacy lives on in the GrainCorp site next door.
Today, the grain storage and handling site remains a critical link connecting Wimmera and Mallee growers to domestic processors and export markets, handling wheat, barley and canola as core commodities, alongside seasonal pulses and specialty grains.
Since 2020, the site has averaged around 230,000 tonnes of winter crop receivals each season, with 171,000 tonnes received during the 2025 harvest. Its biggest intake on record remains the exceptional 2010 season, when more than 341,000 tonnes were delivered.
Over the last eight months, the site team has outloaded more than 120,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds, including by rail to GrainCorp’s Geelong port terminal, and transferring canola to Numurkah for processing at our oilseed crush facility.
Its direct connection to the Melbourne–Adelaide rail corridor remains one of the site’s defining strengths, enabling efficient movement of grain from one of Australia’s most productive cropping regions to customers across the country and around the world.
From the wartime ingenuity of the Stick Shed to the modern supply chain operating alongside it today, Murtoa continues to evolve while staying true to its purpose.
Last week’s visit from the Governor of Victoria was a timely reminder that this iconic site remains as important to the future of Victorian agriculture as it has been to its history.
