106-588: Traralgon ( / t r ə r æ l ɡ ə n / trəh- RAL -gən , locally / t ə ˈ r æ l ɡ ən / tə- RAL -gən ) is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria , Australia and the most populous city in the City of Latrobe and the region. The urban population of Traralgon at the 2021 census was 26,907. It is the largest and fastest growing city in
212-526: A campus in Traralgon as well as Warragul, or Gippsland Grammar School in Sale. TAFE and University education is also available within the region. Traralgon is a 15-minute drive from Federation University Australia's Gippsland Campus , located in the neighbouring town of Churchill. Traralgon is also home to one of a number of campuses for the region's TAFE provider, TAFE Gippsland. Australian rules football
318-784: A deep-bore geothermal heating system. The system taps in to the aquifer below ground in Traralgon at a depth of more than 600 metres where the ground water is about 65 degrees Celsius. Traralgon features a number of primary and secondary schools, including state, catholic and independent schools. The local primary schools include Grey Street Primary School (formerly Traralgon Primary School), Kosciuszko Street Primary School, Liddiard Road Primary School, Stockdale Road Primary School, St Michaels Primary School, St Gabriels Primary School, Chairo Christian School (formerly Flinders Christian Community College]) and St Pauls Anglican Grammar School. St Paul's Anglican Grammar School and Chairo Christian School are also secondary schools. In addition Traralgon has
424-409: A fourth expedition was made along the same route by William's brother Albert Brodribb, pastoralist Edward Hobson, Dr Edward Barker and four Boon wurrung men. The area around Traralgon was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s. Due to the Latrobe Valley having relatively high rainfall, the land is very fertile, and farming was quickly established. As with much of central and western Gippsland, this
530-504: A good burn. And if left unchecked, the scrub and weeds quickly reoccupied the cleared ground before pasture could be established. The trees were huge, some with a girth of 18 metres and giant buttresses running up 6 metres or more. Some of the larger stumps were used as dwellings. Big trees were central to the culture of the early settlers in the Strzeleckis. In 1927 a local identity and axeman, Jack Pattinson cut 45 springboards into
636-641: A heavily forested area, where the party was forced to abandon their horses and equipment. The location was commemorated by monument at Traralgon Creek, Koornalla, erected in 1927. The team's rations were reduced to a slice of bacon and a biscuit per day, but Tarra hunted for animals to end their hunger. They traversed the headwaters of Morwell River , before making a difficult journey across the heavily forested mountain range. They reached Anderson's run in Western Port in May 1840, then walked to Melbourne. To honour
742-696: A number of heritage-listed sites, including: Traralgon is situated on expansive flat land in the Traralgon Creek valley catchment between the Great Dividing Range in the north and the Strzelecki Ranges in the south. The Traralgon Creek runs through the city's centre and its green belt separates its eastern and western suburban areas. The urban area is hemmed to the south east by the Loy Yang Open Cut. Traralgon
848-480: A population of 27,958, also at June 2018. Greater Traralgon includes localities such as Traralgon, the suburb of Traralgon East and the relatively sparsely populated satellite localities of Hazelwood and Traralgon South to the south, and Tyers and Glengarry to the north. The Traralgon central business district is centred around Seymour and Franklin Streets. An indoor shopping mall called Traralgon Centre Plaza
954-620: A result of clearing for agriculture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and of some logging activity, the native vegetation of the overall Strzelecki Ranges bioregion is highly depleted, with only 19% of its original extent remaining, mostly in the east. Most of the remaining forest is in the eastern ranges, with the Tarra-Bulga National Park , Gunyah Rainforest Reserve, the Morwell National Park , Mount Worth State Park , Mirboo North Regional Park and
1060-458: A second expedition to retrieve the lost horses and managed to retrieve one, by travelling through the mountains of West Gippsland, across a path that would roughly trace the present-day Princes Highway . A third expedition was made from Port Albert to Latrobe Valley in March 1841 that included William Brodribb , Alexander Kinghorne, Norman McLeod and Kirsopp with Tarra as their guide. In June 1841,
1166-459: 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
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#17327757118661272-577: A third campus in Newborough. The junior campus, St Paul's, neighbours Traralgon College's senior campus on Grey St. The senior campus, Kildare, is located in Kosciuszko St. Chairo Christian School on Liddiard Rd is a P– 8 school. A number of Traralgon families also send their children to the three independent Anglican grammar schools in the region, two of which are about 40 minutes drive from Traralgon: St. Paul's Anglican Grammar School, which has
1378-466: A tree to a height of 160 feet. He was ambidextrous, so the springboards went straight up the tree rather than spiraled around as usual. For a dare, he put a local Gunyah Football Club 'Dingos' jumper at the top. Legend has it that he bet any man a month's wages to climb up and get the jumper down. No one ever did; so it just rotted away. But over time the Pattinson Tree came to represent a totem in
1484-650: A year including the Cup meeting in December. The Traralgon Greyhound Racing Club holds regular greyhound racing meetings at Glenview Park. The first meeting was held on 28 June 1973. Golfers play at the course of the Traralgon Golf Club on the Princes Highway. The Traralgon Harriers are a running club that runs 5 or 6 km races every Thursday night and also organise Victoria's oldest marathon,
1590-869: Is a local basketball league, the Traralgon Basketball Association with a stadium at the Traralgon Sports Complex. The Traralgon Sports Stadium played host to preliminary round games of the Basketball competition during the 2006 Commonwealth Games which were held in Melbourne . The local baseball team is the Traralgon Redsox. Traralgon has a horse racing club , the Latrobe Valley Racing Club, which schedules two race meetings
1696-618: Is a set of low mountain ridges located in the West Gippsland and South Gippsland regions of the Australian state of Victoria . The Ranges are named after Paweł Edmund Strzelecki , a Polish explorer, who with the assistance of Charley Tarra the small party's Aboriginal guide, led an expedition through this region in 1840. They also form a biogeographic subregion of the South Eastern Highlands . "Land of
1802-590: 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
1908-642: Is also in the east, whereas most of the western Strzeleckis is privately owned farmland. The Ranges are very similar in formation and appearance to the Otway Ranges southwest of Melbourne. The eastern Strzelecki Ranges fall within the territory of the Gunai or Kurnai people and part of the western Ranges within the territory of the Bunurong nation. In the Aboriginal Boonwurrung language,
2014-571: Is also popular, with a local league, the Traralgon and District Cricket Association (TDCA) operating. Soccer is represented by two clubs - Traralgon City and Traralgon Olympians - who both play in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League . The Victorian regional leagues are the eighth level of soccer in Victoria , and the ninth nationally . The home grounds are Harold Preston Reserve and Harold Preston Park respectively. There
2120-486: 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
2226-536: 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
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#17327757118662332-625: 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
2438-504: 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
2544-864: 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
2650-417: Is part of the Latrobe Valley tri-city urban area, a small area of industry and agricultural land separates it from neighbouring Morwell. Traralgon together with adjacent Morwell forms an urban area with an estimated population of 41,984 as at June 2018. In the five years prior, the urban area had experienced a modest average annual growth in population of 0.5%. The Traralgon portion the combined Morwell area had
2756-811: Is popular. There are two senior clubs, the Traralgon Maroons (which briefly competed in the Victorian Football League between 1996–1997) currently competing in the Gippsland Football League and Traralgon-Tyers United competing in the North Gippsland Football League . There is also a junior league, Traralgon and District Junior Football League, with most games played from the West End Sporting Complex. Cricket
2862-714: 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
2968-576: The Holey Plains State Park set aside as formal conservation reserves. There are also significant areas of State Forest, including Won Wron and Mullungdung , as well as other conservation reserves inside the Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP) estate, such as the "Cores and Links". Much of the land was degraded, covered with weeds and infested with rabbits after it was abandoned by the early settlers. During
3074-488: 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
3180-741: The Snowy Mountains in April 1840, after Strzelecki had named Australia's highest peak as Mount Kosciuszko . Charley Tarra, a Burra Burra man from the NSW town of Taralga , was the Indigenous guide for the party, which included Strzelecki; the New South Wales men James MacArthur and James Riley; and their servants, Irish convict James Nolan and African convict John Rent. The party crossed Latrobe River and travelled along Traralgon Creek to
3286-578: 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)) 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
Traralgon - Misplaced Pages Continue
3392-567: The Traralgon Marathon , held every June. The Latrobe Valley Cycling club hold road and track racing events on most weeks throughout the year. Latrobe Valley 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
3498-424: The reforestation and plantation establishment, considerable effort went into controlling weeds like blackberry and ragwort. While not able to fully eradicate these pests, the biodiversity of the eastern Ranges has slowly been restored as tree cover increases and the understorey recovers to smother some of the weeds. After McMillian and Strzelecki opened the way, it did not take long for settlements to develop along
3604-581: The 1920s, there were advances with kiln drying mountain ash and it became highly sought after as a building timber. Small sawmills such as the Duff sawmill operated in the higher part of the Strzeleckis until the timber became too difficult to extract. In what is believed to be the largest, most sustained and expansive reforestation project of its type in Australia the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) began purchasing farming properties in
3710-550: The 1930s and promoted as a tourist drive. The other hope was the timber industry but Melbourne's timber was being adequately supplied from the Central Highlands until the mid-1950s. Often in the higher rainfall areas, once the forest had been removed, large chunks of the hillsides began to move and slump down the steep slopes, causing deep erosion scars that sometimes blocked streams and roads with tonnes of saturated topsoil and sticky clay. Bushfires also swept through
3816-547: 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
3922-467: The Crown … every acre of this land has passed into the hands of private selectors." But high rainfall, steep hills, the lack of an adequate road system and long distances to markets ultimately caused farming to fail in many of these areas, particularly in the eastern Ranges. In winter, the roads degenerated and became boggy channels of mud. Corduroy tracks were built with small logs laid cross ways along
4028-691: 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
4134-647: 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
4240-514: The Gippsland Times available in 1861. The Gippsland Farmers' Journal wrote in 1889 that the town name was originally spelt 'Tarralgon' and that it was the Indigenous name for 'the river of little fish'. However, these words are not reflected in modern linguists' knowledge of Gunai/Kurnai language . Records of the language show that the words wun wun or wurn wurn mean 'river', the words dala or tarlo mean 'little', while
4346-579: 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
Traralgon - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-582: The Latrobe Special Developmental School catering for students from 4.5 to 18 years of age with an intellectual and physical disability. The local government secondary school, Traralgon College , has two campuses, the junior campus (years 7 & 8) located on Liddiard Rd in Traralgon's east, with the senior campus (years 9–12) on Grey St in Traralgon's west. There is also a Catholic secondary school, Lavalla Catholic College . Lavalla has two campuses in Traralgon's West end, and
4558-472: 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
4664-707: 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
4770-565: The Latrobe Valley is approximately 125,000. The valley draws its name from 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
4876-588: The Lyrebird" is also a common alternative name for the Strzelecki Ranges based on a popular 1920s book. The Strzelecki Ranges generally run east-west and extend for roughly 100 km. They are composed of deeply dissected sandstone and mudstone, rising from 300 to 500 metres, with the highest point at Mount Tassie being 740 metres. The north is bounded by the Latrobe River and the south by
4982-517: 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. Strzelecki Ranges The Strzelecki Ranges ( / s t r ɛ z ˈ l ɛ k i / strehz- LECK -ee )
5088-549: 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
5194-629: 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
5300-654: The Rosedale Roads Board, before the Shire of Traralgon was established in 1879. In the latter part of the 19th century the Shire grew strongly. It was not until the 1930s however that Traralgon began to move away from a farming based economy. In 1939, Australian Paper Manufacturers established a paper mill at Maryvale, around 8 kilometres (5 mi) from Traralgon. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited on 3 March 1954. The president of
5406-656: The Shire of Traralgon, Cr Clem Little met and welcomed the Queen, who was flown by the Royal Australian Air Force from Sale . She returned to Melbourne by train. In 1961, Traralgon formed its own borough, the Borough of Traralgon following a decade of lobbying to separate the urban areas of Traralgon from the Shire. Traralgon was proclaimed a city in 1964. The old town hall and mechanics institute were demolished in 1973. Further development resulted from
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#17327757118665512-558: 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
5618-422: The Strzelecki Ranges was Angus McMillan , who came in search of pastures from New South Wales in 1839. However, the Strzelecki Ranges are named after the Polish explorer, Paweł Edmund Strzelecki (also known as Paul Edmund de Strzelecki). In 1840, after climbing and naming Australia's highest mountain Mount Kosciuszko , he journeyed further south into Gippsland. Heading towards Port Phillip Bay, his party entered
5724-457: The Strzeleckis and railway construction beginning in the hills, the timber industry developed. The railway line to Boolarra opened in 1885 and the line extended to Mirboo North in 1886. At Boolarra and Mirboo North several sawmills operated and paling splitting was also widespread. The palings and blackwood logs were transported out by rail. The sawmills operating at Darlimurla from the 1880s also produced significant numbers of sawn logs. Sawmilling
5830-409: The Strzeleckis. The company then proceeded to establish a plant at Maryvale in LaTrobe Valley for the manufacture of Kraft papers which came into production in October 1939. Before the end of the Second World War, the Forests Commission began making additional plans to reforest and rehabilitate the Strzeleckis and establish a timber supply. It was joined in the venture by APM. The company announced
5936-407: 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
6042-412: 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
6148-526: The Victorian State Parliament, smaller farms were developed, and the land was aggressively cleared for more intensive use. While most of the western Strzeleckis was transformed into productive farms, attempts to select land in the higher eastern parts of the Ranges largely resulted in failure. Clearing the vast forests was a formidable task that took the settlers years of back-breaking toil. The original selections were limited to 130 hectares, but some held less. Even to clear 40 hectares with an axe, saw and shovel
6254-525: The coast dominated by Wilsons Promontory , Corner Inlet and the Ninety-Mile beach . The Strzelecki Ranges presents a diverse range of landscapes that are difficult to simply categorise, but they are essentially in two parts: western and eastern. The western ranges have been successfully cleared for agriculture and feature green rolling hills with small farms and settlements in the south like Korumburra , Foster , and Leongatha and towns like Yarragon , Trafalgar , Warragul , Morwell , and Traralgon in
6360-416: The coast to the south of the Strzeleckis was visited by sealers and wattle bark gatherers, but they did not settle. Samuel Anderson (1803–1863), a Scottish immigrant from Kirkcudbright , agriculturist and explorer, established a squatter agricultural settlement on the Bass River in 1835, the third permanent settlement in Victoria (then called the Port Phillip District ). The first European to explore
6466-451: The early 1930s, and increasingly through the 1940s and into the 1950s, reaching a peak between 1944 and 1951. However, it seemed not all the community was pleased about the acquisition of farmland. The project ran for over 60 years with fluctuations of investment but essentially ended with the creation of the Victorian Plantations Corporation in 1993. Albert Lind was the Minister for Forests and local Member in Legislative Assembly for
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#17327757118666572-399: The eastern Strzeleckis initially discouraged attempts to open up the hill country until later. Then in the early 1880s, selectors began penetrating the forest, selecting land in Jumbuk, Boolarra, Budgeree and Callignee. The rainfall was higher in the densely forested Strzelecki Ranges, and it was wrongly assumed the land was fertile because of the giant trees that grew there. In the aftermath of
6678-416: The eastern Strzeleckis, the worst being on Red Tuesday 1898 when 50 homesteads were destroyed. The fires are dramatically illustrated by the paintings "The homestead saved" by James Alfred Turner and "Gippsland, Sunday Night, February 20, 1898" by John Campbell Longstaff . Other bushfires followed between 1899 and 1944 , but the Ranges largely escaped the Black Friday bushfires of 1939. As
6784-423: The eastern portion is mostly within the City of LaTrobe and Shire of Wellington . In the east towards Sale , there are substantial tracts of state forest, including Won Wron and Mullungdung , Tarra-Bulga National Park and the Holey Plains State Park . Agnes Falls at Toora which cascades over a series of rocks on a 59-metre drop are probably the best known. The large Hancock Victorian Plantation (HVP) estate
6890-410: The economy is also important for employment with major government administration offices for the Australian Securities & Investments Commission , Department of Health & Human Services , Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning and Environment Protection Authority . The Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre in Traralgon is the first public aquatic facility in Victoria to incorporate
6996-400: The economy of the Latrobe Valley . Traralgon, with a more diversified economy, suffered to a lesser extent than the neighbouring towns of Morwell and Moe both of which relied almost exclusively on the power stations for their livelihood. Traralgon grew strongly in the mid 2000s, with a figure of 2.7% making it the largest and fastest growing city in the Latrobe Valley. Traralgon contains
7102-448: The end of the Victorian gold rush there was a severe economic recession in the 1890s . Many Melbourne families believed the county offered a better life but with most of the easier grazing land in western Victoria and Gippsland already selected they moved into the remaining land in the eastern Strzeleckis. Ahead of them was the Herculean task of clearing the giant trees and of trying to get their produce to market. Under various acts of
7208-402: The expansion of the power generation industry following World War II, particularly through the now defunct State Electricity Commission of Victoria . This included large expansions at Yallourn and Hazelwood Power Stations and the construction of the massive Loy Yang Power Station in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australian Securities & Investments Commission information processing centre
7314-407: The following year James Rintoul had taken a run in Loy Yang and Thomas Gorringe had taken up a run at Maryvale. The township was established in the early 1860s, the first Post Office opening on 1 January 1861. In 1877 the Gippsland railway line from Melbourne was completed with a railway station at Traralgon giving the town a major economic boost. Traralgon was part of the area administered by
7420-448: The foothills of the western Strzeleckis. In 1976, a monument was unveiled by the Hon Jim Balfour to the "World's Tallest Tree" near Thorpdale , which in 1881 was measured by a surveyor, George Cornthwaite, at 375 feet (114.3 metres) after it had been chopped down. This account was reported in the Victorian Field Naturalist many years later in July 1918 and is often considered the most reliable record of Victoria's tallest tree. As
7526-405: The formation of a subsidiary company, APM Forests Ltd, in 1951 and planned an enormous reforestation scheme to supply softwood and hardwood pulp to the mill. They also began purchasing properties to establish plantations that would eventually supply the new mill. Meanwhile, research indicated that the best softwood to plant in dryer areas was Pinus radiata and the best hardwood in the wet sites
7632-512: The greater Latrobe Valley area, which has a population of 77,168 at the 2021 Census and is administered by the City of Latrobe. The origin of the name Traralgon is unconfirmed. The name was used for the pastoral lease of the Hobson brothers in 1844, centred on Traralgon Creek, and was alternatively rendered 'Tralgon' by Dr Edumund Hobson. The town was also spelt "Taralgon" in the earliest records of
7738-683: The lands of the Braiakaulung clan of Bunjil Kraura, who lived to the north of Latrobe River (called Durt'yowan in Gunai language ), as well as the clan of Woollum-Woollum, who lived on the hills to the south of the river and were more affiliated with the Brataualung people . Gunai/Kurnai people manufactured stone tools, as long as 5,000 years ago, from silcrete quarries in the Haunted Hills, west of Morwell . Scarred trees and rock sites with axe-grinding grooves are also found in
7844-438: 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
7950-575: The local area. The Gippsland region was inhabited by the Gunai/Kurnai people for a period in excess of 20,000 years, according to evidence of occupation found at the New Guinea II cave near Buchan, Victoria . In other parts of Victoria evidence of Indigenous occupation has been found for many more thousands of years. The first non-Indigenous visitors to the area of Traralgon included the party of Count Paweł Strzelecki on their journey from
8056-718: The local community and its remnants can still be found on the Grand Ridge Road . In addition to the discovery of gold at Walhalla in 1862, agriculture and forestry, the mining of large coal deposits in the LaTrobe Valley , at Wonthaggi as well as Gelliondale near Yarram from the 1920s strongly influenced the pattern of later settlement across Gippsland. By 1887 the Minister for Lands, Mr John Lamont Dow , expressed regret that "the magnificent blue gum ridges throughout south Gippsland have been alienated from
8162-549: 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
8268-478: The men, the mountain range was named the Strzelecki Ranges , part of the forest was named Tarra Valley, later merged into Tarra-Bulga National Park , and the river running from the valley to Port Albert was named Tarra River . Strzelecki named the region as Gipps' Land, later becoming Gippsland , in honour of his sponsor NSW Governor George Gipps . In June 1840, a party consisting of Tarra, Riley, John Rutledge and Shoalhaven Indigenous man John Pigeon went on
8374-466: The mid-twentieth century, much of the land in the rolling hills of western Strzelecki Ranges had been taken up. In west Gippsland near Warragul land settlement began from about 1862 while further south it was a bit later in 1870. People came from all points of the compass and spread out, with the final part being settled near the Tarwin Valley. However, the dense forests and steep terrain of
8480-515: The mining for oil and natural gas in the nearby Bass Strait fields. A significant forestry industry operates including logging of both plantation and natural forest timber, The largest paper mill in Australia is located nearby in Maryvale and provides local employment for over 2,000 people. The local agriculture industry is involved in the production of wool and dairy products, as well as vegetable growing. The tertiary sector of
8586-467: The north that extend along the Princes Highway. The eastern Strzeleckis remain heavily forested with steep dissected ridges and valleys with high rainfall. The settlements that encircle the Ranges include Boolarra , Churchill , and Gormandale in the north and Toora and Yarram in the south, while the eastern boundary is identified by Longford and Sale . The township of Mirboo North sits between
8692-542: The north-eastern end of the Strzelecki Ranges and struggled through the rugged and thick forest for 22 days, before finally emerging starved and exhausted at Corinella on Western Port Bay . The eastern Ranges were originally covered by a mosaic of wet forest, dominated by 90-metre-tall mountain ash ( Eucalyptus regnans ) and cool temperate rainforest of myrtle beech and tree ferns. Drier mixed forest of messmate ( Eucalyptus obliqua ), peppermint ( E. radiata ) and mountain grey gum ( E. cypellocarpa ) were more common in
8798-495: The range is called Tolone. Stone axes, grinding stones and bush ovens provide evidence of Aboriginal use of the tall dense forests of the ranges. It is believed that Aboriginal people did not permanently occupy the wet forested mountain ranges because of uncertain food supplies and the harsh climate. During summer and spring short trips were common. The Ranges were a source of lyrebird tail feathers, which were used for ornamentation and for trade. Before permanent European settlement,
8904-545: 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
9010-418: 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
9116-476: 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
9222-409: The river flats in the more favourable grazing lands of Gippsland . In the same way that the Strzeleckis can be geographically described in two-halves, western and eastern, the early settlement of the land followed a similar pattern. The selection era began with the passing of a series of Land Acts in the 1860s, which by the end of that decade opened up almost the whole of Victoria for selection. By
9328-478: The river was discovered by Angus McMillan in 1840 who named 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
9434-518: The seat of Gippsland East from 1920 to 1961 and was instrumental in advocating for State Government funding of the reforestation program. Around the same time, and with the support of Lind, the Forests Commission Chairman A.V. Galbraith and Sir Herbert Gepp from Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd (APM) finalised a pioneering legislated agreement for pulpwood supply from State forests and from softwood plantations including
9540-407: 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
9646-650: The timber industry was haphazard and it was not until the establishment of the Forests Commission of Victoria (FCV) in 1918 that a more coordinated approach to harvesting and management of forest resources was initiated. The FCV played an important role in the development of the forest industry by providing infrastructure and capital to support activities such as sawmilling and, perhaps more importantly, developing long term strategies to manage and sustain Victoria's forest resources. With selectors moving into
9752-517: The two parts, straddling the main ridge. The average annual temperature in Mirboo North ranges between a cool 12.8 °C in winter and a temperate 26.6 °C in summer, with annual rainfall averaging 1040 mm. The Strzelecki Ranges are so expansive they overlap five Local Government Areas. The western section primarily sits within Baw Baw , South Gippsland and Bass Coast shires while
9858-461: The understanding grew among people that the clearing of the eastern Strzeleckis had been a tragic mistake, a slow blight settled. The first world war broke out, and many young men left their farms to serve, leaving older people confronted with the reality and hardships of the land. Farms were ill-equipped and when the soldiers returned butterfat prices collapsed and never recovered, the steep hills were not suited to agricultural machinery and later there
9964-452: 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
10070-519: The words kine or kain mean 'fish'. It might be possible to combine words into tarlo-kain , which sounds similar to 'Traralgon', but no such compound word was recorded. In 1989, Don Macreadie wrote that Paweł Strzelecki named Traralgon after Taralga , the hometown of Charlie Tarra, but the statement lacks evidence. Traralgon is situated on the traditional lands of the Indigenous Gunai/Kurnai nation, which includes
10176-544: The worst stretches. The hill farmers believed that Government investment in a major roads program would be their salvation. The Grand Ridge Road was built by the Country Roads Board in the 1920s joining all the local north-south roads in one long east-west strip but proved little practical use. However, the road was progressively improved in unemployment relief works during the Great Depression of
10282-472: Was also an important industry at Yinnar . The mills were located in the forest and tramways linked them to the railway station. Henry Collins set up his mill in Mill Road south-east of Yinnar around 1911 and built a tramline along Whitelaw's Track. Higher in the Strzeleckis, where mountain ash forests grew, settlers burnt the trees they had ringbarked and felled, although some were split for palings. During
10388-538: Was established in the early 1990s, at the time employing around 400 people. The City of Traralgon and Shire of Traralgon continued a separate existence until they were amalgamated into the Shire of Latrobe in 1994. Completion of the Loy Yang power stations, extensive voluntary departures from the electricity industry and privatisation of the Victorian electricity industry in the early 1990s had devastating effects on
10494-582: 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
10600-577: Was mainly dairy farming. In the Gippsland region between 1840 and 1860, the population of settlers grew from a few to 2,000 and the recorded Gunai population fell from 2,000 to a handful. The first Europeans to take land in Traralgon were the brothers Dr Edmund Hobson and Edward Hobson who purchased a 19,000 acre pastoral lease in 1844, which they called Traralgon. In April 1844, Edward to a large mob of cattle out from their station near Arthur's Seat to Traralgon arriving two months later. Albert Brodribb and William Bennett started Hazelwood Station in 1844 and
10706-459: Was mountain ash, Eucalyptus regnans and shining gum E. nitens . One of the first initiatives was to establish softwood and hardwood plantations and during the 1930s Depression and considerable planting work was carried out as part of unemployment relief measures. At the same time, programs were developed to reforest previously cleared land in the Strzelecki Ranges that had been abandoned by failed settlement schemes. This plantation program
10812-474: 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
10918-504: Was one of the hardest-hit towns with 200 homes evacuated when an east coast low weather system caused widespread flash flooding across Gippsland . The economy is primarily driven by the primary sector , natural resources and the secondary sector including coal mining , processing and fossil-fuel power generation for the National Electricity Market . Along with electricity production, Traralgon benefits from
11024-624: Was opened in 1985. Commercial and light industry sprawl along most of the eastern stretch of the Princes Highway. Notable heritage buildings include the Post Office and Courthouse erected in 1886 and Ryans Hotel erected in 1914, both in Franklin Street. Traralgon experiences an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ). Nights in Traralgon are about 2 °C colder than in Melbourne From 9 June 2021 Traralgon
11130-573: Was the Great Depression of the 1930s. Over the next fifty years, farmers and their families progressively sold their land and moved on or simply abandoned them and walked away. The scrub, blackberries, rabbits and weeds then took over, and the area became known locally as the Heartbreak Hills. Today there are many place names on a map that are names only – all the homes are gone, leaving little trace. The early development of
11236-454: Was too big a task. The method they followed was to partly cut through the trees as they worked up the side of the steep slopes. At the top, they would fell a large tree that, by its own weight, brought down all the trees below into a giant tangled mess. The scrub and trees would be left to dry and then were lit on a hot day in January or February. The success depended on getting a clean fall and
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