Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the

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 nestle ...

in the

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 and the most populous city of the

City of Latrobe The City of Latrobe is a local government area in the Gippsland region in eastern Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 75,211. It is primarily urban with the v ...

. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastest growing city in the greater Latrobe Valley area, which has a population of 77,168 at the 2021 Census and is administered by the City of Latrobe.

Naming

The origin of the name Traralgon is unconfirmed. The name was used for the

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...

of the Hobson brothers in 1844, centred on Traralgon Creek, and was alternatively rendered 'Tralgon' by Dr Edumund Hobson. 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 or mean 'river', the words or mean 'little', while the words or mean 'fish'. It might be possible to combine words into , which sounds similar to 'Traralgon', but no such compound word was recorded. In 1989, Don Macreadie wrote that

Paweł Strzelecki Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki (;By Australian English speakers: pɔːl strʌzlɛki (paul struhzLECKi). 20 July 17976 October 1873), also known as Paul Edmund de Strzelecki and Sir Paul Strzelecki, was a Polish explorer, geologist, humanitarian ...

named Traralgon after

Taralga Taralga is the traditional land of the Gundungurra people. Today it is a small village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Upper Lachlan Shire. It is located at the intersection of the Goulburn-Oberon Road and the Lagga ...

, the hometown of Charlie Tarra, but the statement lacks evidence.

History

Traralgon is situated on the traditional lands of the

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

Gunai/Kurnai nation, which includes the lands of the Braiakaulung clan of Bunjil Kraura, who lived to the north of

Latrobe River The Latrobe River (or sometimes La Trobe or LaTrobe) is a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, located in the West Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The Latrobe River and its associated sub-catchment is an import ...

(called ''Durt'yowan'' in

Gunai language The Gunaikurnai or Gunai/Kurnai ( ) language, also spelt Gunnai, Kurnai, Ganai, Gaanay, or Kurnay ) is an Australian Aboriginal dialect cluster of the Gunaikurnai people in Gippsland in south-east Victoria. Bidawal was either a divergent di ...

), 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 The Brataualung are an Indigenous Australian people, one of the five tribes of Gippsland, in the state of Victoria, Australia, and part of a wider regional grouping known as the Kurnai. Language Brataualung language is a variety of what is gener ...

. Gunai/Kurnai people manufactured stone tools, as long as 5,000 years ago, from

silcrete Silcrete is an indurated (resists crumbling or powdering) soil duricrust formed when surface soil, sand, and gravel are cemented by dissolved silica. The formation of silcrete is similar to that of calcrete, formed by calcium carbonate, and ferr ...

quarries in the Haunted Hills, west of

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 ...

. Scarred trees and rock sites with axe-grinding grooves are also found in 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 New Guinea II is a limestone cave and rockshelter on the Snowy River at the end of New Guinea Track, near Buchan, Victoria. The cave was within the country of the Krowathunkooloong clan of the Gunaikurnai nation. The deep cave system has an overh ...

near

Buchan, Victoria Buchan ( ) is a town in the east Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The town is situated adjacent to the Buchan River, in the Shire of East Gippsland, upstream from the river's junction with the Snowy River. At the 2011 census, Buchan and ...

. In other parts of Victoria evidence of Indigenous occupation has been found for many more thousands of years.

Expeditions

The first non-Indigenous visitors to the area of Traralgon included the party of Count Paweł Strzelecki on their journey from the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system ...

in April 1840, after Strzelecki had named Australia's highest peak as

Mount Kosciuszko Mount Kosciuszko ( ; Ngarigo: , ), previously spelled Mount Kosciusko, is mainland Australia's tallest mountain, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. It is located on the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National ...

. Charley Tarra, a

Burra Burra Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company ...

man from the NSW town of

, 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 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 The Morwell River is a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, located in the West Gippsland and South Gippsland regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the West Branch and East B ...

, before making a difficult journey across the heavily forested mountain range. They reached Anderson's run in

Western Port Western Port, (Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it is do ...

in May 1840, then walked to Melbourne. To honour the men, the mountain range was named 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 ...

, part of the forest was named Tarra Valley, later merged into

Tarra-Bulga National Park The Tarra-Bulga National Park is a small national park located in the South Gippsland region of eastern Victoria, Australia approximately south east of Melbourne. The park is located south of Traralgon on the Traralgon-Balook Road and north o ...

, and the river running from the valley to

Port Albert Port Albert is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, on the coast of Corner Inlet on the Yarram - Port Albert Road, south-east of Morwell, south-east of Melbourne, in the Shire of Wellington. At the , Port Albert had a population of 293. L ...

was named Tarra River. Strzelecki named the region as Gipps' Land, later becoming

, in honour of his sponsor NSW Governor

George Gipps Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly conte ...

. In June 1840, a party consisting of Tarra, Riley, John Rutledge and

Shoalhaven The City of Shoalhaven is a local government area in the south-eastern coastal region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is about south of Sydney. The Princes Highway passes through the area, and the South Coast railway line traverses ...

Indigenous man John Pigeon went on a second expedition to retrieve the lost horses and managed to retrieved one, by travelling through the mountains of West Gippsland, across a path that would roughly trace the present-day

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 ...

. 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, 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 The Boonwurrung people are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory includes part of what is now the c ...

men.

Pastoral leases

The area around Traralgon was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s. Due to the

having relatively high rainfall, the land is very fertile, and farming was quickly established. As with much of central and western Gippsland, this 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 19,000 acre

in 1844, which they called Traralgon. In April 1844, Edward to a large mob of cattle out from their station near

Arthur's Seat Arthur's Seat ( gd, Suidhe Artair, ) is an ancient volcano which is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue ...

to Traralgon arriving two months later. Albert Brodribb and William Bennett started Hazelwood Station in 1844 and the following year James Rintoul had taken a run in Loy Yang and Thomas Gorringe had taken up a run at Maryvale.

Township established

The township was established in the early 1860s, the first Post Office opening on 1 January 1861. In 1877 the

Gippsland railway line The Gippsland line (also known as the Orbost railway line) is a railway line serving the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland regions of Victoria, Australia. It runs east from the state capital Melbourne through the cities of Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, ...

from

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 ...

was completed with 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 ...

at Traralgon giving the town a major economic boost. Traralgon was part of the area administered by the Rosedale Roads Board, before the

Shire of Traralgon The Shire of Traralgon was a local government area about east-southeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1879 until 1994. From 1961 onwards, it did not actually administer ...

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 Amcor plc is a global packaging company. It develops and produces flexible packaging, rigid containers, specialty cartons, closures and services for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical-device, home and personal-care, and other products. The ...

established a paper mill at Maryvale, around from Traralgon. Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

visited on 3 March 1954. The president of the Shire of Traralgon, Cr Clem Little met and welcomed the Queen, who was flown by the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

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 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 Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia built between the 1920s and 1950s to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station, Victoria, Yal ...

and Hazelwood Power Stations and the construction of the massive

Loy Yang Power Station The Loy Yang Power Station is a brown coal- fired thermal power station located on the outskirts of the city of Traralgon, in south-eastern Victoria, Australia. It consists of two sections, known as Loy Yang A (4 units) and Loy Yang B (2 units). ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. An

Australian Securities & Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

information processing centre 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 the economy of the

. Traralgon, with a more diversified economy, suffered to a lesser extent than the neighbouring towns of

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.

Heritage listings

Traralgon contains a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 161-165 Franklin Street:

Traralgon Post Office and Court House Traralgon Post Office and Court House is a heritage-listed post office and former court house complex at 161-169 Franklin Street, Traralgon, Victoria, Australia. It was designed by John Thomas Kelleher and J. R. Brown of the colonial Departmen ...

* Queens Parade:

Traralgon Engine Shed and Turntable 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 ...

* Victory Park, Mill Street: Azarole Hawthorn Tree

Geography

Traralgon is situated on expansive flat land in the Traralgon Creek valley catchment between the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

in the north and the

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.

Urban Structure

Traralgon 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. Estimated resident population, 30 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 a population of 27,958, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. 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 The Glengarry bonnet is a traditional Scots cap made of thick-milled woollen material, decorated with a toorie on top, frequently a rosette cockade on the left side, and ribbons hanging behind. It is normally worn as part of Scottish military ...

to the north. The Traralgon

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

is centred around Seymour and Franklin Streets. An indoor shopping mall called

Traralgon Centre Plaza Traralgon Centre Plaza, formerly Stockland Traralgon, is a shopping centre in Traralgon, Victoria, Australia. History Developed by the Grollo Group, it opened in November 1985 as Traralgon Centre Plaza. In June 1989 it was sold to Barnett Corpo ...

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.

Climate

Traralgon experiences an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfb''). Nights in Traralgon are about 2 °C colder than in

From 9 June 2021 Traralgon was one of the hardest-hit towns with 200 homes evacuated when an

east coast low Australian east coast lows (known locally as east coast lows, maritime lows and sometimes as east coast cyclones) are extratropical cyclones or low-pressure systems on the coast of southeastern Australia that may be caused by both mid-latitude an ...

weather system caused widespread flash flooding across

Economy

The economy is primarily driven by the

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...

, natural resources and the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

including

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, processing and fossil-fuel power generation for the

National Electricity Market The National Electricity Market (NEM) is an arrangement in Australia's electricity sector for the connection of the electricity transmission grids of the eastern and southern Australia states and territories to create a cross-state wholesale el ...

. Along with electricity production, Traralgon benefits from the mining for

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

in the nearby

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

fields. A significant

forestry industry The wood industry or timber industry (sometimes lumber industry -- when referring mainly to sawed boards) is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products (e.g. furn ...

operates including logging of both plantation and natural forest timber, The largest

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

in Australia is located nearby in Maryvale and provides local employment for over 2,000 people. The local

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

industry is involved in the production of

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

and

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

products, as well as

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

growing. The

tertiary sector of the economy The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

is also important for employment with major government administration offices for the

Department of Health & Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

, Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning and Environment Protection Authority.

Education

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 Chairo Christian School is a multi-campus co-educational independent non-denominational Christian School with campuses in Drouin, Victoria, Drouin East, Pakenham, Victoria, Leongatha, Victoria, and Traralgon, Victoria. Founded in 1983, Chairo ...

(formerl
Flinders Christian Community College
and St Pauls Anglican Grammar School.

St Paul's Anglican Grammar School St Paul's Anglican Grammar School is a multi-campus private Anglican co-educational early learning, primary, and secondary day school, with campuses located in and , Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1982 in Warragul, St Paul's is a member o ...

and

are also secondary schools. In addition Traralgon has 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 7–9) located on Liddiard Rd in Traralgon's east, with the senior campus (years 10–12) on Grey St in Traralgon's west. There is also a Catholic secondary school,

Lavalla Catholic College Lavalla Catholic College is a dual-campus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the towns of Traralgon and Newborough in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Currently, the school has approximately ...

. Lavalla has two campuses in Traralgon's West end, and 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 a campus in Traralgon as well as Warragul, or

Gippsland Grammar School (The truth will set you free) , established = 1924 , type = Independent, co-educational, day & boarding , denomination = Anglican , slogan = , principal = Mic ...

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
Federation Training

Sport

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 ...

is popular. There are two senior clubs, the Traralgon Maroons (which briefly competed in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

between 1996–1997) currently competing 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 Gipps ...

and Traralgon-Tyers United competing in the

North Gippsland Football League The North Gippsland Football League (NGFL) is an Australian rules football league in the Central Gippsland area of Victoria, Australia. History The NGFL was formed in 1955 through the merger of the Cowwarr Football League and the Sale Distric ...

. There is also a junior league, Traralgon and District Junior Football League, with most games played from the West End Sporting Complex.

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 ...

is also popular, with a local league, the Traralgon and District Cricket Association (TDCA) operating.

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

is represented by two clubs - Traralgon City and Traralgon Olympians - who both play in the

Latrobe Valley Soccer League Latrobe Valley Soccer League (LVSL) is a soccer league encompassing much of Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley. The association's headquarters are based in the Morwell, Victoria ( Victoria), and are affiliated under the auspices of Football Victo ...

. The Victorian regional leagues are the eighth level of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and the ninth nationally. The home grounds are Harold Preston Reserve and Harold Preston Park respectively. There is a local

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 ...

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 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Basketball competition during the 2006 Commonwealth Games which were held in

. The local baseball team is the Traralgon Redsox. Traralgon has a Thoroughbred racing in Australia, horse racing club, the Latrobe Valley Racing Club, which schedules two race meetings a year including the Cup meeting in December. The Traralgon Greyhound Racing Club holds regular Greyhound racing in Australia, 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, the Traralgon Marathon, held every June. The Latrobe Valley Cycling club hold road and track racing events on most weeks throughout the year. Traralgon Pistol Club and Traralgon small bore rifle Club also located in the town.

Entertainment

The entertainment precinct which spans Kay, Grey and Franklin Streets attracts people from surrounding towns to several nightclubs, bars and restaurants located there.

Local media

Newspapers

The weekly ''Latrobe Valley Express'' newspaper is delivered to all homes on Wednesday nights, in Traralgon, Morwell and Moe. The ''Traralgon Record'' newspaper has been digitised from 1886 to 1932 as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program. Melbourne Newspapers such as ''The Weekly Times'', ''The Age'' and the ''Herald Sun'' and national newspapers like ''The Australian'', ''The Saturday Paper, and the ''Australian Financial Review'' are also available.

Television

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 the three main commercial television networks (Seven Network, Seven, Nine Network, Nine and Network Ten, Ten) are all re-broadcast into

by their regional affiliates - Prime7 (AMV (TV station), AMV), WIN Television, WIN (VTV (TV station), VTV) and 10 (Southern Cross Austereo), Southern Cross Austereo (GLV/BCV, GLV). All broadcast from the

transmitter at Strzelecki Ranges#Vegetation, Mount Tassie. All the commercial stations are based in Traralgon, Victoria, Traralgon and have local commercials placed on their broadcasts. Local news is available on all three commercial networks: *VTV (TV station), WIN broadcasts a half-hour ''WIN News'' bulletin each weeknight at 5:30pm, produced from studios in Wollongong. *10 (Southern Cross Austereo), Southern Cross Austereo and Prime7 broadcast short local news and weather updates throughout the day, produced and broadcast from Prime7's Canberra studios and SCA's Tasmania, Australia, Tasmanian studios. Nine Network, 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 10 (Southern Cross Austereo), Southern Cross Austereo primary channel when it was previously affiliated with Nine. Both national Public broadcasting, public broadcasters, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC (ABC TV (Australian TV channel), ABC TV) and Special Broadcasting Service, SBS (SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS TV) are broadcast into the Latrobe Valley as well, via Strzelecki Ranges#Vegetation, Mount Tassie, as well as from 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 (Australia), Freeview to viewers in Traralgon and the Gippsland/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 (Australian TV channel), ABC News, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, 10 Bold, 10 Peach, 10 Shake, 7two, 7mate, 9Gem, 9Go!, 9Life and Sky News Australia, Sky News Regional. Television transmissions from Mount Dandenong (Victoria), Mount Dandenong for the Melbourne market (Seven, Nine and Ten) can also be received in digital terrestrial television, digital in Traralgon with a suitable roof-top antenna. Subscription television service Foxtel (previously Austar until 2014) is available via satellite.

Radio

There are two radio stations with studios located in Traralgon – TRFM (99.5 MHz) and Gold 1242, both owned by Ace Radio. The FM station is broadcast along with the television channels from Strzelecki Ranges#Vegetation, Mount Tassie while Gold 1242 is broadcast from an AM transmitter near Sale. Warragul radio stations Triple M Gippsland, Triple M (97.9 MHz) and 3GG (531 kHz) also service this region. Most Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC stations are rebroadcast locally and available in Traralgon, along with 774 ABC Melbourne which is able to be received directly from

and the local ABC Gippsland station (100.7 MHz). Some Melbourne stations both on the AM band and the FM band can be heard in the more elevated parts of Traralgon, however DAB+ is not available without a vertically polarized roof-top antenna. Community radio stations Gippsland FM (104.7 MHz) based in Morwell and Life FM (103.9 MHz) based in Sale are also broadcast into the Latrobe Valley and can be heard in Traralgon.

Transport

Road transport and the motor vehicle is the main form of transport. The

runs through the city and close to the CBD which received heavy regional traffic (although a Traralgon Bypass road is undergoing planning). The Hyland Highway also originates at Traralgon. Rail transport includes both passenger rail and Freight rail transport, freight rail. The city's only station is Traralgon railway station which is on the

served by V/Line services from Southern Cross railway station, Melbourne to Bairnsdale railway station, Bairnsdale. Victoria's electronic ticketing system, Myki, was implemented on rail services between Traralgon and Melbourne on 8 July 2013. Latrobe Valley Buslines provides local services around Traralgon and other cities in the Latrobe Valley. Latrobe Valley Airport is located close to Traralgon in nearby Morwell and provides general aviation. Traralgon has a minimal cycling infrastructure, bicycle infrastructure, with few segregated cycle facilities. An exception is the 63-kilometer-long Gippsland Plains Rail Trail which connects Traralgon to Stratford, Victoria, Stratford via Cowwarr, Heyfield, Tinamba and Maffra. A new cycling and walking path was opened in 2020 between Traralgon and Morwell and with a connection to the Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH).

Notable people

* Fran Hammond (Basketball player) * Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet (scientist, recipient of 1960 Nobel Prize in medicine) * Kristy McBain (Politician) * Irwin Thomas (Musician, formerly known as Jack Jones, of "Southern Sons") * Gord Bamford (Australian-Canadian country music singer) * W. F. Waters, Bill Waters (Scouting in Victoria, Headquarters Scout Commissioner, Commissioner for Rovers for 35 years, namesake of Rovering in Victoria#W.F Waters Award, W.F Waters Award) * Jenna O'Hea (WNBA player) * Derek Muller (Science YouTuber) * Bernie Quinlan (Australian Rules Footballer) * Michael Voss (Australian Rules Footballer) * Eva West (Accountant) * Tim Hein (Minister, University Theology Lecturer, podcaster, guitarist) * Thomas Headon (Musician)

References

External links

Traralgon Historical Society

Latrobe City Website

Mid Gippsland Family History Society

Traralgon Visitor Guide – Traralgon.com.au
{{Authority control Traralgon, Cities in Victoria (Australia) Towns in the Latrobe Valley City of Latrobe