Leongatha is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, located south-east of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo which trades in Australia under the ''Devondale'' label, among others, has a dairy processing plant on the north side of the town producing milk-based products for Australian and overseas markets.

History

First settlement of the area by Europeans occurred in 1845. The Post Office opened as Koorooman on 1 October 1887 and renamed Leongatha in 1891 when a township was established on the arrival of the railway. The railway line from Melbourne reached the town in 1891, and stimulated further settlement. Regular

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

passenger operations on the line to the local railway station ceased in 1993. The Leongatha Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990.

Transport

The town is located on the South Gippsland Highway which links Leongatha to

. Leongatha was formerly situated along the South Gippsland railway corridor that operated to its terminus at Yarram in the early 1980s and Leongatha in the mid 1990s. A V/Line road coach service replaced the rail service on 24 July 1993, running between Melbourne and Yarram. A second service runs from Traralgon to Wonthaggi. There was also a third bus service running from Venus Bay, through Tarwin Lower and Koonwarra connecting with the V/Line services that depart from Leongatha. This was a trial service and no longer operates. The

Leongatha Airport Leongatha Airport is located southwest of Leongatha, Victoria, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian co ...

is located south of the town and serves general aviation.

Education

Leongatha is a major educational hub for South Gippsland, and contains several schools, including: * Leongatha Secondary College, result of a merger between Leongatha Technical School and Leongatha High School. * Leongatha Primary School * South Gippsland Specialist School * GippsTafe (Leongatha Campus) * St Laurence O'Toole Catholic Primary School * Mary MacKillop Catholic Regional College * Chairo Christian School - For prep level to year 10. Also provides three to four year-old Kindergarten. The town also has two kindergartens (Allora and Hasset Street), and two childcare centres (Brown Street and Leongatha Children's), which both have kindergarten rooms.

Tourism

* The Daffodil Festival is held annually in September. Competitions are held and many daffodil varieties are on display. A garden competition is also held. * The railway line from Leongatha to

Foster Foster may refer to: People * Foster (surname) * Foster Brooks (1912–2001), American actor * Foster Moreau (born 1997), American football player * Foster Sarell (born 1998), American football player * John Foster Dulles (1888–1959), American ...

has been converted into the

Great Southern Rail Trail The Great Southern Rail Trail is a 109-kilometre rail trail from Nyora to Welshpool in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. This mostly flat or gently undulating trail goes through lush dairy farmland, areas of remnant bush and lowland scrub. It ...

, for the shared use of horse riding, walking and cycling. The Great Southern Rail Trail is in the process of procuring finance to extend the trail as far as Yarram. At the present time the Wellington Shire have financed the first portion of the trail from Yarram to Alberton with the present Committee of Management intending to manage that portion in the foreseeable future. The Rail Trail commences at the end of Parr Street with a car park planned for the future to assist with access to the trail. Walkers can access the trail from the children's park next to the old rail bridge in Leongatha at the end of Bair Street, or by parking anywhere along Greenwood Parade.

Community

Leongatha has a community theatre company, the "Lyric Theatre Company" that regularly stages theatrical productions. The town has a medieval society, the "Leongatha Medieval Society", which re-enacts 14th-century weapons, armour and fighting styles. The Medieval Society can be seen each month at Coal Creek Community Park and Museum at Korumburra. Leongatha offers a range of sports including:

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, croquet, cycling (

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

, football (

Australian rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

and

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

, hockey (

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

and underwater), lawn bowls, martial arts (

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

and taekwondo),

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, squash, swimming,

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, and volleyball (

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

and

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

). The town's

Australian Rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

club, the Leongatha Football Club ("The Parrots"), competes in the

Gippsland Football League The Gippsland League (formerly known as the West Gippsland Latrobe Football League) is an Australian rules football and netball league in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is considered the only AFL Victoria major league in Gippsla ...

. Golfers play at the course of the Leongatha Golf Club on Inverloch-Koonwarra Road, Leongatha South, or at the course of the Woorayl Golf Club at the Recreation Reserve. Community services include CFA, SES,

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

, ambulance. Other community organisations include Scouts (cubs, scouts, venturers and rovers),

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

, and

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

Youth Corps. The town also boasts a large

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

complex (including pool, gym and basketball courts) plus a four theatre complex. File:Leongatha Mechanics Institute.JPG, Mechanics Institute File:Leongatha Otago Hotel.JPG, Bair's Otago Hotel File:Leongatha Post & Telegraph Office.JPG, Post Office File:Leongatha Roman Catholic Church.JPG, Catholic Church File:Leongatha War Memorial Hall.JPG, Leongatha War Memorial Hall File:Leongatha War Memorial.JPG, War memorial File:Leongatha Court House.JPG, Court House File:Leongatha eastview.jpg, Leongatha eastview File:Leongatha Anglican Church.JPG, Anglican Church File:"Leongatha, Counties of Buln Buln and Mornington," T.F. McGauran, Department of Crown Lands and Survey, Melbourne, 1892 (State Library Victoria).jpg, Leongatha, Crown Lands and Survey 1892

Notable people

Eleanor Patterson
Australian Olympic athlete who competes in high jump and has set national records. *

Jarryd Roughead Jarryd Roughead (born 23 January 1987) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach with the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football C ...

, Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club and part owner of McCartins Hotel. *

Dyson Heppell Dyson Heppell (born 14 May 1992) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Heppell won the AFL Rising Star award in his first season in 2011, and won a Crich ...

, Australian rules footballer with the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

and is the captain. * Roc Kirby, businessman who founded the Village Roadshow cinema chain and film production company. * Lennie Gwyther - 9 year old boy who traveled more than 1000 km on horseback to see the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932.

References

External links

Leongatha Community Website
{{authority control Leongatha, Victoria Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in South Gippsland Shire of South Gippsland