Trafalgar is a town in the West
Gippsland
Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...
region of
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
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 ...
. The town lies on the
Princes Highway
Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...
and main Gippsland railway line about west of
Moe. The town backs onto the foothills of 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 ...
to the south. The township sits at approximately 70 metres above sea level. At the , Trafalgar had a population of 3,912.
The town is named in honour of the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
, 1805, which established the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
's supremacy at sea; allowing consolidation of Britain's Australian colonies at the time.
Trafalgar Post Office opened on 2 June 1879.
Trafalgar was noted for having a
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
factory producing award-winning cheeses. The factory was owned by
Petersville from 1960 until its closure in 1990.
The town has a
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
on the
Bairnsdale railway line. It also has a swimming pool, tennis courts,
Scouts
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
hall,
Uniting church and town hall.
Education
Trafalgar is serviced by a number of schools:
* Trafalgar Primary School
* St Josephs School (Primary)
*
Trafalgar High School
, motto_translation = As much as I am able
, established =
, type = Government-funded co-educational secondary day school
, pushpin_map = Australia Victoria
, pushpin_image =
, pushpin_mapsize = 240
...
Sport
Trafalgar has an
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 ...
football team, The Bloods, which competes 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 ...
. In their distinctive colours of blood red with white stripes, The Bloods have had great success since joining the league in 1969, winning over 100 premierships, their latest being in 2017 when they defeated Newborough by 69 points.
Golfers play at the course of the Trafalgar Golf Club on Gibsons Road - a beautifully crafted course in a rural setting, often listed by golfing magazines as one of the best in Australia.
[
]
Trafalgar has a lawn bowling club, the Trafalgar Bowls Club with a synthetic green and a grass green, situated in Seven Mile Road. The Club officially opened in September, 1915.
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 ...
Radio stations
Triple M Gippsland
Triple M Gippsland (official callsign: 3SEA) is a commercial radio station owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo as part of the Triple M network. The station is broadcast to townships in the Gippsland region of Victoria from studios in Wa ...
and
3GG also service this region.
Notable people
*
Judy Hall, local musician and piano teacher in Gippsland for over 70 years.
*
Tim Forsyth
Tim Forsyth (born 17 August 1973 in Mirboo North, Victoria, Australia) is a retired Australian three-time Olympic high jumper: 1992, 1996, and 2000).
Forsyth's first success on the international scene came in 1990 with a silver medal ...
, Olympic highjumper, attended Trafalgar High School
*
Harold Mitchell, Melbourne based media tycoon and philanthropist.
*
Bill Collins, race-caller.
* Jackson Noonan, notable local cricket player with history playing throughout the Gippsland and English leagues.
See also
*
Thorpdale, Victoria
Thorpdale is a town in the Gippsland area of eastern Victoria in the Shire of Baw Baw. Famous for its potatoes, it is located amongst the rich farmland of the Latrobe Valley. Thorpdale spuds are eaten around the country and also exported oversea ...
*
Moe, Victoria
Moe ( ) is a town in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is approximately east of the central business district of Melbourne, due south of the peak of Mount Baw Baw in the Great Dividing Range and features vie ...
*
Trafalgar railway station
Trafalgar railway station is located on the Gippsland line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Trafalgar, and it opened on 1 August 1878. On 5 May 1884, it was renamed Narracan, and was renamed Trafalgar on 2 June of that year.
References
External links
A tourism page(
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
)
TrafalgarOfficial Trafalgar Website.
{{authority control
Towns in Victoria (Australia)
Shire of Baw Baw