108-796: The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria , Australia . The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation . The district lies east of Melbourne and nestled between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Baw Baw Ranges , part of the Great Dividing Range , to the north. Mount St Phillack (1,567 m (5,141 ft))
216-625: A Curtiss P-40 Warhawk of the United States Army Air Force flown by Captain Joseph P McLaughlin crashed near Walhalla on a flight from Canberra to Laverton. It was discovered in 1948. In 2006 his remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery . In 1945, the Mechanics Institute, Bank of Australasia and St Patricks Catholic Church were destroyed by a fire started by a State Lands Department employee who
324-584: A Post Office agency, shop and Tourist Information Centre with the adjoining shop housing a museum. Throughout the town, there is a Heritage Walk with over 30 interpretive signs that include photos and text explaining the various sites and buildings of the gold era. These signs were first piloted by the WHDL in 1996 and a grant from the Federation Fund saw a major expansion of the Heritage Walk. Over
432-475: A debating club, and (briefly at least) a chess club, choral union and dramatic club. By January 1870, the Walhalla Chronicle newspaper was being published, and by December of the same year, a two-acre (0.8 ha) site had been gazetted for State School No. 957, which had taken its first enrolments in 1868. A self-appointed "Council of Ten" sought registration as a Borough in 1869, but dissolved without
540-644: A dozen hotels, breweries and an aerated waters factory. A branch of the Bank of Victoria was opened in September 1865, and a branch of the Bank of Australasia was opened in February 1866. Shopkeepers, publicans and other traders built the town up quickly in support of the rush. By May 1866, the township of Stringer's Creek had been surveyed and renamed Walhalla, after one of the most prosperous mines then working. Most of
648-469: A monetary reward of £100 for the discovery, Stringer was unable to capitalise on his finds, dying in September 1863. After news of the discovery became known, a rush to the creek began and a small town sprang up, The settlement was initially called Stringer's or Stringer's Creek, but after the township was surveyed it was later rechristened Walhalla – the name of the town's largest mine at that time. The creek running through town still bears his name. Access to
756-470: A representative on council. Phil Mouritz, the owner of the [then] Walhalla Lodge Hotel was a councillor for the Shire of Narracan in the mid 1960s. On Sunday 3 February 2019 Walhalla was directly threatened by bushfire. A fire that had been started by a lightning strike five days earlier to the east of the town was burning away from the town in a south easterly direction when an unexpected easterly wind caused
864-420: A reticulated electricity supply, although some other towns do not have mains electricity yet, such as Licola nearby, they do have a central generator unit that supplies the community. Walhalla was unusual in that every individual property wishing to have their own electricity supply had to provide their own generator. It was illegal to reticulate electricity (even to a next door neighbour) without permission from
972-459: A substantial engineering sector supporting the power generation, pulp and paper production and food processing industries, etc. The tertiary education sector attracts local, interstate and international students. Despite its outside image as a regional economy dominated by mining and electricity, the region employs more hospital and aged care workers than power industry workers and has important service, health care and education sectors. Hospitals are
1080-528: Is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria , Australia , mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range ). It covers an elongated area of 41,556 km (16,045 sq mi) east of the Shire of Cardinia ( Melbourne 's outermost southeastern suburbs ) between Dandenong Ranges and Mornington Peninsula , and
1188-475: Is a town in Victoria , Australia , founded as a gold-mining community in late 1862, and at its peak, home to around 4,000 residents. As of 2023, the town has a population of 20 permanent residents, though it has a large proportion of houses owned as holiday properties. It attracts large numbers of tourists and is a major focus of the regional tourism industry. The town's name is taken from an early gold mine in
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#17327661782711296-642: Is also home to The Gippslander Newspaper which covers the entire Gippsland region. The now defunct Latrobe Valley Voice was a new paper to the region, having been established in March 2011. The Latrobe Valley Voice was delivered free of charge to over 30,000 residences in the Latrobe Valley region on Wednesdays. The paper collapsed on 7 May 2011 after its financial backers withdrew their support. Warragul commercial radio stations Triple M Gippsland (94.3 and 97.9 MHz) and 3GG (531 kHz) service
1404-541: Is an exact replica built to the Victorian Railways plans of the original station building (now located in the Melbourne suburb of Hartwell), although the interior is different from the original configuration. It is on the opposite side of the station yard from its original location because the main road into Walhalla was realigned over the culvert across Stringers Creek in the 1960s. Train rides are operated by
1512-536: Is approximately 800 millimetres (31 in). Temperatures on Mount Baw Baw , to the north of Moe, generally peak around 10 to 12 °C (18 to 22 °F) cooler than the major urban areas during the day. There are three major population centres in the Latrobe Valley, all located within the City of Latrobe local government area: The primary hospital is the Latrobe Regional Hospital located on
1620-536: Is available on all three commercial networks: Nine previously produced a local news bulletin branded Nine News Gippsland and later Nine News Local for a brief period between 2017 and 2021 that aired on the Southern Cross Austereo primary channel when it was previously affiliated with Nine. Both national public broadcasters , ABC ( ABC TV ) and SBS ( SBS TV ) are broadcast into the Latrobe Valley as well, via Mount Tassie , as well as from
1728-850: Is bounded to the north by the mountain ranges and plateaus / highlands of the High Country (which separate it from Hume region in Victoria's northeast), to the southwest by the Western Port Bay , to the south and east by the Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea , and to the east and northeast by the Black–Allan Line (the easternmost section of the Victoria/ New South Wales state border). Gippsland
1836-505: Is currently no active mining exploration occurring in or around Walhalla. Walhalla has been impacted by major fire events in 2005, 2006/07, 2009, 2013 and 2019 although the town proper has not sustained any damage from bushfire although a small rail bridge on the Walhalla Goldfields Railway was destroyed in the 2006/07 fire and quickly rebuilt and one cottage was lost in the February 2019 fire. A new CFA fire station
1944-479: Is divided by the Strzelecki Ranges and tributaries of the Gippsland Lakes into West Gippsland , South Gippsland , Latrobe Valley , Central Gippsland and East Gippsland . At the 2016 Australian census , Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal centres Traralgon , Warragul , Drouin , Bairnsdale , Moe , Sale , Morwell , Wonthaggi , Leongatha , and Phillip Island . Gippsland
2052-625: Is home to 2,000 on-campus students, 5,000 off-campus students and nearly 400 staff. The campus sits in the Latrobe Valley town of Churchill, 142 kilometres (88 mi) east of Melbourne on 63 hectares (160 acres) of landscaped grounds. The campus offers many undergraduate degrees, and attracts many students from the Latrobe Valley, East and West Gippsland. The Centre for Gippsland Studies is a research and community engagement facility which has conducted research and community outreach since 1985. The Gippsland Medical School, offering postgraduate entry Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) courses
2160-502: Is home to four of the highest electricity producing thermal power stations in Australia. Power plants located in the Latrobe Valley include Loy Yang Power Stations A & B , Yallourn Power Station , Jeeralang Power Station (Gas) plus the former Hazelwood Power Station (closed 2017) and Energy Brix Power Station (closed August 2014). The Latrobe power stations emit more mercury than hard coal stations. Local government within
2268-471: Is known for mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations — Phillip Island , Wilsons Promontory , the Gippsland Lakes , Walhalla , the Baw Baw Plateau , and the Strzelecki Ranges . It also includes around a hundred islands, mostly between the mainland and Tasmania. The traditional owners are Indigenous Australians of the Gunai nation and in part of West Gippsland
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#17327661782712376-921: Is one of the largest regional race meetings outside of Melbourne on the Victorian Racing calendar – and the Melbourne Cup Day meeting on the first Tuesday in November. The Moe Racing Club is the largest capacity racecourse in Gippsland. The club also offers members and guests other facilities, including Turfside Tabaret, the Turfside Bistro and the Turfside Function Centre. Glenview Park in Traralgon hosts both horse and greyhound racing. Traralgon greyhounds race at
2484-461: Is required for agriculture or pastoral development. Despite this, parts of Gippsland have become highly productive dairying and vegetable-growing regions: the region supplies Melbourne with most of its needs in these commodities. A few alluvial soils (chiefly near the Snowy) have much better native fertility, and these have always been intensively cultivated. In the extreme northeast is a small section of
2592-714: Is serviced by the Latrobe Valley Express , which is delivered free of charge to residences in the Latrobe Valley region on a Wednesday and has a current circulation of approximately 34,128 (CAB). In the past there was also the Moe-Narracan News , the Morwell Advertiser and the Traralgon Journal , which were distributed free of charge once per week on Tuesday and has a circulation of approximately 11,034 (CAB). Latrobe Valley
2700-420: Is the first Mayor from Walhalla since 1918. Major flood damage occurred following storms on the night of 9/10 June, 2021 when 204 mm of rain fell in a 12 hour period. The deluge lead to substantial damage to the creek walling in several area throughout the township. The North Gardens Camping area was severely impacted when debris blocked the creek flow at the access bridge causing flood waters to pour through
2808-431: Is the highest peak to the north of the Latrobe Valley, due north of Moe . The highest peak to the south is Mt Tassie (740 m (2,430 ft)), south of Traralgon. The area has three major centres, from west to east, Moe , Morwell and Traralgon , with minor centres including Churchill , Yinnar , Glengarry , and Tyers . The population of the Latrobe Valley is approximately 125,000. The valley draws its name from
2916-448: Is traditionally subdivided into four or five main sub–regions or districts: Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland is an endangered vegetation community within the region. The climate of Gippsland is temperate and generally humid, except in the central region around Sale , where annual rainfall averages around 600 millimetres (24 in). In the Strzelecki Ranges annual rainfall can be as high as 1,500 millimetres (59 in), while on
3024-582: The Alfred National Park , Baw Baw National Park , Coopracambra National Park , Croajingolong National Park , Errinundra National Park , Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park , Lind National Park , Mitchell River National Park , Morwell National Park , Snowy River National Park , Tarra-Bulga National Park , The Lakes National Park , and Wilsons Promontory National Park . There are also large areas of State forest that contribute towards conservation objectives. Walhalla, Victoria Walhalla
3132-612: The Bunurong nation. Before permanent European colonisation, the area was visited by sealers and wattle bark gatherers who did not settle . Samuel Anderson (1803–1863), a Scottish immigrant from Kirkcudbright , agriculturist and explorer, arrived in Hobart, Tasmania , in 1830, and in 1835 established a squatter agricultural settlement on the Bass River in Gippsland, the third permanent colonial settlement in Victoria (then called
3240-548: The Latrobe River which flows eastward, through the valley. According to Les Blake, in 1841 William Adams Brodribb , an early European settler, named the river in honour of Charles La Trobe , Lieutenant Governor of the Port Phillip District . A. W. Reed also attributes Brodribb to naming the river in honour of La Trobe; yet Reed claims that the river was discovered by Angus McMillan in 1840 who named
3348-471: The Monaro Tableland used for grazing beef cattle . Gippsland possesses very few deposits of metallic minerals ( gold rushes in the nineteenth century around Foster , Buchan petered out quickly). However, the deep underground gold mines operated at Walhalla for a fifty-year period between 1863 and 1913. Gippsland has no deposits of major industrial nonmetallic minerals, but it does feature
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3456-471: The Port Phillip District ). His business partner Robert Massie joined him in 1837. Both had worked for the Van Diemen's Land Company at Circular Head, Tasmania. Samuel's brothers Hugh (1808–1898) and Thomas (1814–1903) arrived at Bass shortly after, where they established a successful farming venture. Further European colonisation followed two separate expeditions to the area. During his expedition to
3564-488: The Princes Highway in Traralgon. Smaller towns are Tyers, Newborough , Yinnar , Yallourn North , Churchill (site of the local campus of Federation University ) and Boolarra . Key industry sectors include health care, power generation, retail, paper manufacture, timber mills, agriculture, dairy, timber, information technology, engineering and education. The valley provides 85% of Victoria's electricity and has
3672-610: The Thomson River immediately before the bridge. With the restoration of the Thomson River Bridge, trains began to take tourists back up the Stringer's Creek Gorge, with a temporary terminus being created at Happy Creek due to the need for reconstruction of the timber trestle bridges completing the journey into town. This terminus was the end point for tourist trains from Thomson Bridge from 1996 until 2002, when
3780-541: The Thomson River . The area around the town is designated as a historic area, adjoining the Baw Baw National Park . The township is mainly located along one road which winds along the valley floor due to the steep terrain. After the 52 year mining period ended in December 1914, Walhalla's population declined rapidly and the town and surrounding area lost its status as the Shire of Walhalla in 1918. For
3888-684: The Walhalla Goldfields Railway over the restored section between Walhalla and the Thomson . The Long Tunnel Extended Mine is open daily for tours underground to view the original gold workings, Cohens line of reef and the impressive machinery chamber carved out of the mountain. The Walhalla Corner Stores was purchased by the Walhalla Heritage & Development League (WHDL) in the early 1970s and were restored to their original design. The Corner Store now operates as
3996-509: The swamp wallaby , koala , echidna and wombat . Native plants and trees include grass trees ( Xanthorrhoea australis ), which provide a valuable food source of nectar, pollen, larvae and seeds for birds, insects and mammals. The soils in Gippsland are generally very infertile, being profoundly deficient in nitrogen , phosphorus , potassium and calcium . Apart from frequently flooded areas, they are classed as Spodosols , Psamments and Ultisols . Consequently, heavy fertilisation
4104-417: The (former) S.E.C.V. (State Electricity Commission of Victoria). The S.E.C.V. had half heartedly considered connecting Walhalla to the grid in the early 1970s, however this never proceeded due to the S.E.C.V. not really being interested, and the then town population being concerned that power poles and wires in the main street would ruin the heritage look and feel of Walhalla. The privatisation of electricity in
4212-547: The AM band and the FM band can be heard across the region, however DAB+ is not available without a vertically polarized roof-top antenna. Community radio stations Gippsland FM (104.7 MHz) and Life FM (103.9 MHz) are also broadcast into the Latrobe Valley. The area was the first in Australia to receive its own regional television station, GLV-10 Gippsland (now Southern Cross 10), when it launched on 9 December 1961. Programs from
4320-691: The Dandenong Ranges transmitters located east of Melbourne. Additional digital multi-channels broadcast by all the networks in addition to the ones listed above are available on the digital service called Freeview to viewers in the Latrobe Valley region. These channels include HD simulcasts of the primary channel (available on channels 20, 30, 50, 60 and 80). As well as ABC TV Plus , ABC Me , ABC News , SBS Viceland , SBS World Movies , 10 Bold , 10 Peach , 10 Shake , 7two , 7mate , 7flix , 7Bravo , 9Gem , 9Go! , 9Life and Sky News Regional . Television transmissions from Mount Dandenong for
4428-647: The Gippsland League (or equivalent) by a team based in the Latrobe Valley was Traralgon Maroons in 2005. The Mid Gippsland Football League is the second largest football league in the area and comprises 10 teams – all of which are exclusively based in the Latrobe Valley. Nine of the ten teams in the Gippsland Soccer League are based in the Latrobe Valley (the other team is based in Sale). The Central & Southern Gippsland Competition league
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4536-579: The Glenview Park Racing Complex which is owned by the Latrobe City Council. It was specifically designed for the racing of horses and greyhounds. The inaugural greyhound race was held in 1973. Typical greyhound races at Glenview are run over a distance of 298, 513, 658 and 730 metres. There are a large number of golf courses in the Latrobe Valley area within an approximate 35 km radius of Moe . They include
4644-628: The Jordan River encouraged other prospectors to follow the nearby Thomson River in their search for the valuable metal. A group of four prospectors who had been exploring in creeks flowing into the Thomson River valley found gold in late December 1862. A claim was pegged out and a member of this group, former convict Edward Stringer, registered the claim at the stage post town of Bald Hills, now called Seaton, about 12 January 1863. Although his party were later posthumously presented with
4752-472: The Latrobe Valley area between Moe and Traralgon – consisting of inter-city services that run between Moe and Traralgon to nearby towns such as Morwell, Churchill and Yallourn North – and connecting town services that run in each major centre. Latrobe Valley Airport (IATA: LTB, ICAO: YLTV) is located in the Latrobe Valley approximately two hours east of Melbourne, off Princes Highway, on the west side of Traralgon. The Gippsland campus of Federation University
4860-707: The Latrobe Valley is administered by the Latrobe City Council and the Baw Baw Shire Council . Latrobe City LGA has a population of approximately 75,000 with four major population centres: Moe, Morwell, Churchill and Traralgon, with smaller townships including Boolarra, Glengarry, Toongabbie , Tyers, Traralgon South, Yallourn North, and Yinnar, with the administrative headquarters located in Morwell. The Princes Freeway runs through Latrobe Valley, bypassing most major rural cities and connecting
4968-415: The Melbourne market (Seven, Nine and Ten) can also be received in digital in the Latrobe Valley with a suitable roof-top antenna with. Reception in the west Latrobe Valley, namely Moe, can receive these Melbourne transmissions clearly. Subscription television service Foxtel (previously Austar until 2014) is available via satellite. Gippsland Gippsland ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ p s l æ n d / )
5076-549: The Moe Golf Club, nestled next to Lake Narracan , Churchill & Monash Golf Club, which is located near Federation University Campus in Churchill, and Yallourn Golf Club and Yallourn Bowling Club at Newborough. Within the Latrobe Valley there are also large communities within various other sports associations, including; soccer, basketball, netball, dancing, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, Baseball and cricket. The area
5184-628: The Monash graduate medical program when we had an existing pathway in Gippsland.' The area has a rich and intricate Australian Football history. There are currently approximately thirty players on Australian Football League team lists from the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland. The region is represented in the Victoria State TAC Cup Under 18's competition by the Gippsland Power . Gippsland Power played its first season in
5292-631: The Nationals. For elections for the Victorian Legislative Assembly , the electoral districts of Bass , Narracan , Morwell , Gippsland South and Gippsland East lay entirely or partly in the Gippsland region. Bass is held by Labor, Narracan is held by the Liberals, while Gippsland East, Gippsland South and Morwell are held by the Nationals. Gippsland contains six local government areas : The Gippsland region contains
5400-666: The South (December 1839 – May 1840) in March 1840, Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki led an expedition across Gunai country, and gave his own names to many of their natural landmarks and places. Following these expeditions, the name "Gippsland" stuck, a name chosen by Strzelecki in honour of the New South Wales Governor , George Gipps , his sponsor. Angus McMillan led the second European expedition between 1840, naming Gunai country "Caledonia Australis". The naming of this geographical region, however, remained
5508-626: The Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the westernmost reaches of the Victorian Alps to the north. It has a temperate climate meaning mild temperatures with large amounts of rain, the occasional frost and snow on neighbouring hills. February is the warmest month in the Latrobe Valley with an average temperature range of 12.5 to 26.4 °C (54.5 to 79.5 °F) and the coldest month is July with an average temperature range of 3.6 to 13.5 °C (38.5 to 56.3 °F). The most rain occurs in late winter and spring, and average yearly rainfall
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#17327661782715616-462: The TAC Cup as voted by the umpires; Matthew Stolarczyk in 1999, Jarryd Blair in 2008 and Dyson Heppell in 2010. The Gippsland League Football competition is the largest league in the region and one of the largest and highest standard football leagues in Victoria outside of Melbourne. Five of the ten teams in the Gippsland League are based in the Latrobe Valley. The most recent premiership won in
5724-475: The TAC Cup competition in 1993. The Power have won one premiership to date in 2005 – and been runner-up on two occasions in 1999 and 2010. Over sixty players have been drafted from Gippsland Power onto Australian Football League club lists since the first player was drafted in 1993. Gippsland Power has had three players win the TAC Cup Under 18's Morrish Medal – the award for the best and fairest player in
5832-635: The Victorian government eventually agreed to the construction of a rail line into town. The line was completed into Walhalla in 1910, the last of four narrow gauge (760 mm or 2 ft 6 in) railways built by the Victorian Railways . The seventeen small 2-6-2 NA-class tank engines which operated were interchanged between the four lines . The six remaining NA-class locomotives are owned by Puffing Billy Railway near Melbourne—five of which are preserved and operating. Branching from
5940-575: The Walhalla Heritage League and now operate as a Post Office, museum and gift shop. In 1991, a group of interested parties formed a taskforce to investigate reconstruction of the Walhalla railway as a tourist attraction, something which had been unsuccessfully attempted on at least one other occasion previously. Work by the newly formed Walhalla Goldfields Railway commenced in 1993 at the former Thomson Station site, situated next to
6048-422: The Walhalla Heritage League in the early 1970s. Efforts to re-establish mining activities continued between 1915 and the early 1940s, though these were small scale operations producing only small amounts of gold. The town never became a ghost town and has been continuously inhabited with the population supporting basic facilities such as post office, hotel, church, general store and masonic lodge. On 10 March 1942
6156-517: The Walhalla and Erica/Rawson areas were placed under the control of the distant Baw Baw Shire at Warragul, 80 km to the west. Despite strong local representation pointing out the much closer proximity and strong historical, social and economic linkages to the neighbouring Latrobe Valley cities of Moe, Morwell and Traralgon, the then Kennett Liberal/National Coalition Government elected to place Walhalla in Baw Baw. The Gold Era Shops were restored by
6264-545: The area came in 1873, when Pietro Bombardieri opened a tram station at the bottom of Little Joe Hill. They quickly proved themselves hardy and resourceful countrymen, particularly with their farming skills, and by 1882 were represented in the town's business community when Anthony Simonin opened the Alpine Hotel. Their two neighbourhoods, one extending along the Long Tunnel Extended tramway to the north, and
6372-410: The area, named for the German hall of fame, the Walhalla temple ( Valhalla from Norse sagas ). Walhalla is located in South-East Australia , in the eastern Victorian region of Gippsland , about 180 kilometres from the state capital Melbourne . It is located in the Great Dividing Range , in the steep Stringers Creek valley, approximately four kilometres upstream of the creek's junction with
6480-412: The camping area eroding the creek bank. Further downstream, the road edge was impacted near Valhalla House, the Star Hotel and the CFA shed near the Walhalla Lodge Hotel as the creek wall was swept away. The Walhalla Goldfields Railway sustained damage to bridges. Community donations assisted with the costs of the railway's repairs in the following weeks so services could recommence. Repairs to creek walling
6588-501: The creek was an ongoing problem in the town's early days owing to the goldfield's remote and inaccessible location. In February 1863, two prospectors John Hinchcliffe and William Myers, discovered an immensely rich quartz outcrop in the hill just above the creek, which was named Cohen's Reef, after a storekeeper at Bald Hills. Gold panning and related techniques quickly exhausted all the alluvial (surface) deposits. By late 1863 mining operations began as prospectors sought and then followed
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#17327661782716696-413: The early 1860s, and died in Collingwood, Victoria in 1957 (aged 66 years) before being able to return to rebuild. The school closed in 1965 and further floods and neglect slowly degraded the remains of the town. The last buildings lost to fire in Walhalla were Foley's Cottage behind the old fire station in 1993, (fire was caused by a candle), and Cumings Cottage—an original miner's home above the tramway on
6804-451: The east and west sides of the valley. At 8:37pm rain started to fall and by 9:45pm over 15 mm of rain had fallen essentially quelling the fire. One cottage was lost in Walhalla [on the western hillside north of the Long Tunnel Extended Mine], and five buildings were destroyed in Maidentown. The Walhalla-Stoney Creek Road Fire was active for over five weeks and burnt 8775 hectares. Mobile phone coverage came to Walhalla on 16 July 2019 with
6912-438: The end of 1879, Walhalla had daily coach services connecting it to the railway line at Moe to the south and to Traralgon to the east, and its isolation had been considerably reduced. In late December 1874 a visitor recorded an account of Walhalla. He described the township as consisting “of a street about a mile long, situated at the foot of the mountains, with ranges running up almost perpendicular from south-east and west, and
7020-450: The enormous expenses of underground gold mining, small claims operated by individuals or small groups soon folded, being replaced by large companies such as the Long Tunnel Mining Company. This company owned the richest mine working the reef, the Long Tunnel, which produced over 30 tons of gold alone over its operation between the years 1865 and 1914, and paid £1,283,000 in dividends to its shareholders. The crushing machinery used to extract
7128-402: The farming and timber industries of the area, but it gradually decreased in patronage, until it too was closed in 1954. The line was dismantled late in 1958. A sawmill operated on the site of the former Long Tunnel Mine yard (now Stringer's Park) from 1949 until 1971. The Corner Stores opposite the mill was used as a barracks for mill workers and was in a poor state of disrepair when purchased by
7236-400: The first impression a visitor receives is that the houses are a number of birds' nests situated in the branches of trees, for they are built on the side of the ranges in every conceivable position”. The Long Tunnel Company introduced both electricity (1884) and the telephone (1891) into the mine. Although Walhalla briefly led the world in having two electric street lights in 1884, this service
7344-414: The first lots of township land were sold to the already-resident householders. That year saw a church building was erected for the Wesleyan Church , and establishment of a Police reserve and Court of Petty Sessions. The growing number of families in the area saw the Mechanics' Institute and Free Library also serving as a school when it opened in 1867. Before long, Walhalla could boast fraternal societies,
7452-400: The fishing of abalone , whose shells could fetch very high prices because of their use for pearls and pearl inlays. For Australian federal elections for the House of Representatives , the electoral divisions of Flinders , Monash , and Gippsland lay entirely or partly in the Gippsland region. Flinders and McMillan are currently held by the Liberal Party, while Gippsland is held by
7560-400: The front to the fire to burn rapidly to the west. The town had been essentially evacuated during the day with only a handful of residents remaining and a CFA Strike Team. At 5:23pm the town's fire siren was sounded, and two hours later the flames were visible on the ridge to the east of the town near Maidentown. More firefighting resources were rushed to Walhalla as numerous spot fires started on
7668-579: The gold from the quartz-based ore required large amounts of energy, supplied largely by wood-burning steam engines. The need for fuel wood led to the hills being denuded for some considerable distance around town, timber tramways bringing freshly cut timber for the boilers. The associated costs of bringing wood from further and further away were a key factor in the economic problems which eventually ended mining in Walhalla. By late 1863 there had been more finds made nearby at Happy-Go-Lucky, three kilometres from Stringer's Creek, and at Cooper's Creek, where copper
7776-418: The grid. The Star Hotel was the first to be connected on 16 December with the official switch on held on 21 December. Several significant attempts have been made resurrect commercial gold mining in the Walhalla area, with Walhalla Resources and Goldstar Resources investing significant amounts in the 1980s and 2002+ respectively. Both companies hoped to use modern mining techniques to access gold bearing ore that
7884-581: The high mountains of East Gippsland it probably reaches similar levels – much of it falling as snow . In lower levels east of the Snowy River , mean annual rainfall is typically about 900–950 millimetres (35–37 in) and less variable than in the coastal districts of New South Wales. Mean maximum temperatures in lower areas range from 24 °C (75 °F) in January to 15 °C (59 °F) in July. In
7992-517: The highlands of the Baw Baw Plateau and the remote Errinundra Plateau , temperatures range from a maximum of 18 °C (64 °F) to a minimum of 8 °C (46 °F). However, in winter, mean minima in these areas can be as low as −4 °C (25 °F), leading to heavy snowfalls that often isolate the Errinundra Plateau between June and October. Gippsland is home to many species of flora and fauna. Animals that live there include
8100-437: The largest employer in the regional economy at 5% of the workforce, followed by power industry workers at 4.2%, supermarket and grocery store workers at 3%, and aged care workers at 2.9%. Logging is also an important industry in the hills to the north and south, with a major paper mill located at Maryvale, near Morwell. In the rugged north of the region is located the historic gold-mining town of Walhalla , amid mountains forming
8208-414: The last few hundred metres into town. It was hoped that the railway would bring new life back into the community, however gold mining was already becoming largely unprofitable and the last of the major mines closed in 1914. With the disappearance of the main industry in town, the bulk of the population soon left. The Shire of Walhalla was incorporated into the neighbouring Shire of Narracan in 1918. One of
8316-463: The latter part of the 20th century fewer than 20 people lived in the town as permanent residents. The history of Walhalla is closely linked to the history of gold in Victoria. The first gold had been found in Victoria in 1851, leading to the Victorian gold rush . By 1859 prospectors had pushed far east of Melbourne into the trackless wilderness of the Great Dividing Range . Major gold strikes on
8424-408: The line was opened through to the old station site at Walhalla. The current station building is an exact replica of the original, although the yard layout is considerably different owing to a section of the former station's location having been covered by earlier road deviation works of the main road into Walhalla. In December 1998, Walhalla became the last mainland town in Australia to be connected to
8532-444: The main Gippsland line at Moe , the Walhalla line crossed hilly farming country, until it reached the town of Erica where it entered heavily mountainous territory, crossing the Thomson River by means of a large steel and concrete bridge then snaking up Stringer's Creek Gorge over a track featuring ledges blasted from sheer rock faces, dry stone walls built rising from the creek bed, and six timber trestle bridges and brackets within
8640-549: The major population centres of Warragul, Moe, Morwell and Traralgon. Other services – including the Gippslander rail service – stop at all stations in the area. Services to the Latrobe Valley run between Melbourne and Traralgon, whilst Gippsland services run between Melbourne and Bairnsdale . The Latrobe Valley/Gippsland rail line is connected to the metropolitan Melbourne Pakenham line. Latrobe Valley Bus Lines are operated by Valley Transit, which runs connecting bus services in
8748-415: The mid-1990s provided the opportunity for Walhalla to be reconsidered for connection with Eastern Energy (owned by TXU) undertaking a feasibility study. The new proposal was to run the cables entirely underground from nearby Rawson via 4WD tracks and then along the main street. A total of 6,940 metres of cable was laid from Rawson; this is under half the road distance and it cost $ 640,000 to connect Walhalla to
8856-463: The name given by P. E. Strzelecki – Gippsland. The township of Bass was surveyed and colonised in the early 1860s. The intensive colonisation of south Gippsland began late in the 1870s. A story of that process is told in, The land of the Lyre Bird (1920). Before the cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games , Gippsland was set to serve as one of its hosts in regional Victoria. Gippsland
8964-410: The necessary public support for rating the town's properties before it could accomplish much more than commissioning the construction of the stone retaining wall that still stands today in the centre of town. A Borough was eventually proclaimed in late 1872, and by 1878 was able to successfully agitate with the state government for the completion of the first section of the present main road from Moe . By
9072-483: The official switch-on of a Telstra tower, the 600th tower to be commissioned under the Black Spot Program. The community had campaigned for almost ten years to get mobile phone coverage into the valley which posed a number of technically difficulties due to the steep topography. In October 2020 Michael Leaney was re-elected for a second term with Baw Baw Shire and in November 2021 he was elected Mayor. He
9180-435: The other in the southern end of town, peaked around 1910. The wood cutters and splitters among them would set up camp in bark huts close to the area they were working, and it seems they rarely came into town. Around the turn of the century several of these families took up land at a remote station along the Thomson River to the north west, which was called Poverty Point . After many years of lobbying from business interests,
9288-449: The railway's main uses became the removal of old buildings out of town, with the original railway station being relocated in 1938 to Hartwell in suburban Melbourne. In 1944, the section from Platina to Walhalla was closed, with the small copper and lime producing settlement of Coopers Creek using Platina as a supply point until the section of line between Platina & Erica closed in 1952. The service from Moe to Erica continued to service
9396-545: The region along with the Traralgon based commercial stations - TRFM (99.5 MHz) and Gold 1242 . Most ABC stations are rebroadcast locally and available in the Latrobe Valley, along with 774 ABC Melbourne which is able to be received directly from Melbourne and the local ABC Gippsland station (100.7 MHz). National ABC stations Triple J (96.7 MHz) and ABC Classic FM (101.5 MHz) are also broadcast from Mount Tassie. Some Melbourne stations both on
9504-418: The region to both Melbourne and East Gippsland . The centrally located centre of Moe is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes drive from the central business district of Melbourne. V/Line runs a rail service from metropolitan Melbourne to the Latrobe Valley and also runs services that go through the Latrobe Valley to East Gippsland. Some rail services run limited express to the Latrobe Valley – stopping in
9612-475: The regional campus. The only direct pathway to the medical degree was through a course offered at Monash University's Melbourne-based Clayton campus, whilst graduates from Federation University in Gippsland were not offered a direct pathway to the degree. Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester , criticised Monash University arguing that: 'We should not be saying to our students who are completing year 12 this year that they have to move to Melbourne to access
9720-417: The restored 1903 Merryweather Fire Cart. In October 2016, Michael Leaney, a long time Walhalla resident, business owner and community advocate, was elected to Baw Baw Shire Council to represent the newly created East Ward of the Shire. This ward is nearly 3,200 square kilometres in size with Walhalla being the most remote town in the shire accessible via a sealed road. 50 years had passed since Walhalla has had
9828-701: The structure seen today has been rebuilt from the floor up. The Band Rotunda was built at the junction of the left- and right-hand branches of Stringers Creek in 1896, commissioned by the Mountaineer Brass Band , who held a competition for its design. Two hotels were situated opposite the Band Rotunda, the Star Hotel on the north side of the creek fork, and the Grand Junction Hotel on the south side. The original Star Hotel
9936-407: The three main commercial television networks ( Seven , Nine and Ten ) are all re-broadcast into Latrobe Valley by their regional affiliates - Prime7 ( AMV ), WIN ( VTV ) and Southern Cross Austereo ( GLV ). All broadcast from the Latrobe Valley transmitter at Mount Tassie . All the commercial stations are based in Traralgon and have local commercials placed on their broadcasts. Local news
10044-423: The top of a nearby hill as no other flat land was available. The Walhalla Football Association operated at the cricket ground between 1888 and 1913. The Italian community made a substantial contribution to the development of Walhalla, working a number of jobs including mine managers, wood cutters and splitters, farmers, miners and mine labourers, merchants and builders. The first Italian residents to settle down in
10152-414: The underground veins of gold. At Walhalla this could mean tunnelling into the steep valley walls as well as the more traditional digging downward. The vast majority of gold extraction from Walhalla centred on Cohens Reef, the largest single reef in Victoria. By 1900 the reef had already produced around 55 tonnes of gold (approximately 1.8 million troy ounces, worth around US$ 790 million in 2005). Due to
10260-477: The watercourse as Glengarry River. While the Latrobe River flows into Lake Wellington to the east of Sale and includes in its drainage basin a significant part of central Gippsland, the region conventionally known as the Latrobe Valley occupies an inland area between the Strzelecki Ranges and Baw Baw Ranges between Drouin and Rosedale – with three major urban areas Moe, Morwell and Traralgon, between
10368-452: The west of Alpine National Park and nearby Baw Baw National Park , which includes a small winter ski resort . The Latrobe Valley is significant as the centre of Victoria's energy industry , specifically the mining and burning of brown coal to produce electricity. The area produces a total of approximately 85% of the electricity for the entire state of Victoria and supplies some electricity to New South Wales and Tasmania . The valley
10476-575: The western side, destroyed during a major bushfire in February 2019. Since around 1977, Walhalla has experienced something of a renaissance with a booming tourist industry and the restoration or reconstruction of numerous historical buildings in the town, including the Star Hotel, Mechanics Institute and reconstruction of the Thomson–Walhalla section of the former narrow-gauge railway. Following amalgamation of local government in Victoria in 1994,
10584-401: The world's largest brown coal deposits and, around Sale and offshore in the Bass Strait , some of the largest deposits of oil and natural gas in Australia. Like the rest of Australia, the seas around Gippsland are of very low productivity as there is no upwelling due to the warm currents in the Tasman Sea . Nonetheless, towns such as Marlo and Mallacoota depended for a long time on
10692-506: The years, additional signs have been added including on the 8 km walk to Poverty Point Bridge on the Australian Alps Walking Track. The Walhalla Visitor Map which is available for free in town shows the locations of these signs. The Walhalla Fire Station was built straddling Stringers Creek and is now open to the public as a museum. It was totally reconstructed in the early 1960s after many years of neglect and
10800-434: Was burning off invasive blackberries, and embers spread to the Mechanics Institute. The Star Hotel, Oddfellows Hall and Walhalla Shire Hall were also destroyed in December 1951 due to the use of the wrong fuel in the kitchen's ovens while making Christmas puddings in the Star Hotel, then owned by Arthur Malley. Malley was a descendant of Alice and Daniel Barber who owned Barbers Restaurant and Boarding House in west Walhalla from
10908-429: Was burnt down by a fire caused by a faulty hot water service in December 1951, but reconstructed in 1999 with a recreation of the original facade. The American actor Patrick Swayze visited Walhalla in his youth, where he enjoyed exploring the country side and the local history. Windsor House was built by German Johannes Gloz between 1878 and 1888 from around 90,000 handmade bricks, the only surviving brick residence in
11016-526: Was conducted by Regional Roads Victoria and was completed by July 2022. As well as historical buildings, the township features many mines and mineshafts, and the mountainous terrain is popular with hikers and bushwalkers. It is the starting point for the 650 km Australian Alps Walking Track , which continues to near Canberra. Walhalla also features two camping grounds; the North Gardens (free) and Chinese Gardens (paid). The current railway station
11124-582: Was founded in 2019. The Moe Racing Club schedules around fourteen race meetings a year. The racecourse is in Waterloo Road within a very short walk of the Moe central business district and V/Line train station. Raceday race calling can be heard in the central business district of Moe during race meetings. The two largest race meeting in Moe are the GPG Mobil Moe Cup meeting in mid October – which
11232-553: Was later to be discovered in even greater abundance. By March 1864, Walhalla had a weekly mail service from Toongabbie , and the Walhalla Post Office was opened on 22 August 1864 (known as Stringer's Creek until 1868). Happy-Go-Lucky had a post office open from 1865 until 1916, as did Cooper's Creek from 1868 until 1893. The first hotel, the Reefer's Arms , was opened in September 1863. In time, there were more than
11340-431: Was never extended further into the town. But the community continued to grow, with houses and gardens lining the hillsides along the valley, to a peak population of more than 2,000 with more than that many again living in the surrounding mountain-top "suburbs" of Maiden Town, Mormon Town, Happy Go Lucky and Pig Point. Sporting activities included cricket and football clubs, with a cricket ground being created through levelling
11448-576: Was not economically winnable in the town's gold era. In 2008, GoldStar was well advanced to obtaining a mining licence, but the company folded in early 2009 due to lack of funds, in part caused by the Financial crisis of 2007–08 . The company was then refloated as Orion Gold NL with a new management team and has adopted a less aggressive approach to restarting gold mining in and around Walhalla. In February 2016, Orion Gold sold its Walhalla tenements to A1 Consolidated Gold Limited (A1 Gold) for $ 850,000. There
11556-474: Was officially opened by the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing , Nicola Roxon on 5 June 2008, providing students with an opportunity to learn medicine in a rural setting working with rural practitioners. The Gippsland Medical School was subject to some local criticism in 2016 and 2017 when it was revealed that there were only 12 Gippsland-origin students among the cohort of 50 studying medicine at
11664-538: Was opened in Walhalla on 24 November 2013. This is the fifth location for the fire brigade over the town's 150-year history and is a satellite of the Erica and District Fire Brigade as the Walhalla Fire Brigade was deregistered in 1961. This is the second official fire station in Walhalla for 112 years. The first was the station that straddles the creek which was built in 1901 which is now a museum and houses
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