Part of the Tambo Valley stock route established by pastoralists during the 1840's from the Monaro in NSW via Benambra and Omeo to the Gippsland coastal plains.
Matthew and Thomas Macalister took up a stock run in the area in 1845.
By 1858 a number of established businesses were catering to the requirements of drovers using the stock route as well as miners travelling to mining regions around Omeo.
A wharf was built at Mossiface on the Tambo River downstream from Bruthen during the 1860's. Steamers carried locally grown produce including crops such as wheat, oats, potatoes, maize and hops to Melbourne as well as delivering farming and mining supplies.
Diminishing gold deposits during the 1900's saw the consolidation of a local timber industry with of a number of sawmills and utilising the extensive local timber resources.