Mirboo North is a town in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, located east of Melbourne, with a population of 1,697. It is in the

South Gippsland Shire The Shire of South Gippsland is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the south-eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 29,576. It includes the towns of Leongatha, Korumburra ...

local government area. The town is at the start of the Grand Ridge Rail Trail, which travels for 13 km through temperate rainforest and dry

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

forest in the

Strzelecki Ranges The Strzelecki Ranges (pronounced STREHZ leckee) 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 expl ...

History

The Mirboo area was settled by timber getters in the late 1870s, attracted particularly by the

Mountain Ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also * Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mounta ...

. The original railway branch line from

Morwell Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the seat of local governme ...

to Mirboo North was completed on 7 January 1886, with the last train being run on 22 June 1974. The railway was constructed through difficult hilly terrain requiring construction of massive embankments and numerous bridges. The convoluted history of the Post Office below demonstrates the attempts to form a viable Mirboo township, culminating in the township of Mirboo North at the railway station becoming predominant.

*8/1/1879 Mirboo (1) opened *22/11/1879 Tarwin (1) opened *6/4/1881 Mirboo North (1) renamed from Mirboo, Mirboo (2) renamed from Tarwin *29/6/1885 Mirboo South (1) renamed from Mirboo, Mirboo (3) opened *1/4/1886 Baromi renamed from Mirboo North (closed 1892), Mirboo North (2) renamed from Mirboo (remains open), Mirboo (4) renamed from Mirboo South (closed 1972) *1/5/1888 Mirboo Central opened (closed 1895) *c.1902 Russell's (Mirboo South) opened (closed c.1904)

Mirboo North became the focus of Victorian media on 10 August 2005, when about 15 cm of snow fell. The snow lay around for days.

The Town today

Mirboo North is where the

Grand Ridge Road (The) Grand Ridge Road is a long tourist drive through Gippsland, in Victoria, Australia. As the name suggests, the road primarily follows ridgelines through the heavily undulating Strzelecki Ranges. The road is known for the attractive scenery ...

, a scenic route running from Seaview (near

Warragul Warragul is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of 19,8 ...

) to Carrajung (near

Traralgon Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city of the City of Latrobe. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastes ...

) crosses the middle of the Strzelecki Highway between

Leongatha Leongatha is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo which trades in Australia ...

and

. The town has two schools. Mirboo North Secondary College (~450 students) and Mirboo North Primary School. The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the

Mid Gippsland Football League The Mid Gippsland Football League is an Australian rules football and netball league in the Latrobe Valley and South Gippsland regions of Victoria, Australia. History The Mid Gippsland Football League (MGFL) was founded in April, 1935. The MG ...

, a cricket team competing in the Latrobe Valley and District Cricket League and a soccer team (Mirboo North United Football Club) competing in the South Gippsland Soccer League. Golfers play at the course of the Mirboo North Golf Club on Galvins Road. There is a market that runs beside the main st. It is run on the last Saturday of every month and starts at 8:30 am and runs until 12:30 pm.

Notable people and animals

* Tim Forsyth (High Jumper, Silver medallist at the 1992 Olympic Games) *

Belinda Snell Belinda Snell (born 10 January 1981) is an Australian women's basketball player. She is a member of the Australia women's national basketball team, and has won two silver medals in basketball at the 2004 & 2008 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal at ...

(professional basketball player), currently competing in the WNBA for the Phoenix Mercury and a member of the Australian team that won silver at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. * Sam the Koala found in the forests of Mirboo North, Victoria

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in South Gippsland Shire of South Gippsland