Yea, Victoria

Yea Victoria
High Street, Yea
Yea
Coordinates	37°12′45″S 145°25′26″E / 37.21250°S 145.42389°E / -37.21250; 145.42389
Population	1,789 (2021 census)[1]
• Density	10.090/km2 (26.134/sq mi)
Established	1855
Postcode(s)	3717
Elevation	172 m (564 ft)
Area	177.3 km2 (68.5 sq mi)
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)
• Summer (DST)	AEDT (UTC+11)
Location	112 km (70 mi) NE of Melbourne 38 km (24 mi) SE of Seymour 34 km (21 mi) W of Alexandra
LGA(s)	Shire of Murrindindi
County	Anglesey
State electorate(s)	Eildon
Federal division(s)	Indi
Mean max temp[2] Mean min temp[2] Annual rainfall[3] 20.6 °C 69 °F 6.6 °C 44 °F 638.9 mm 25.2 in
Localities around Yea: Ghin Ghin Killingworth Molesworth Homewood Yea Limestone Flowerdale Glenburn Murrindindi

Yea (/ˈjeɪ/ YAY)^[4] is a town in Victoria, Australia 112 kilometres (70 mi) north-east of the state capital Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Melba Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. In an area originally inhabited by the Taungurung people, it was first visited by Europeans of the Hume and Hovell expedition in 1824, and within 15 years most of the land in the area had been taken up by graziers. Surveyed in 1855, the township grew as a service centre for grazing, gold-mining and timber-getting in the area.

The town has had a fairly stable population (around 1,100) since 1900, though it now has a relatively old population. The town economy is based around servicing the farming sector, and tourism, with good road links but little public transport. The town has education supplied by three schools (state primary and high schools, and a Catholic primary). It has three churches, and active sporting clubs.

Heritage sites around the town include the railway station buildings, Purcell's General Store (run by the same family for approximately 100 years), and the nearby Yea Flora Fossil Site, where the most ancient leafy foliage so far found on earth was discovered.