WEST GIPPSLAND
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Gippsland is a geographic slice of the State of Victoria here in Australia. There is no white line painted on the ground to define it and to determine where it starts is difficult. If you look at older records which refer to Gippsland, it seemed to start about the town of Dandenong in the west, and extend to cover the whole eastern end of the State. The boundary to the north seems to follow the black snake ranges, then swerve to the north to pick up the Great Dividing Range and to the border. A more modern notion leaves Dandenong out of Gippsland, as Dandy is now a dormitory suburb of outer Melbourne. The actual starting point is therefore a bit airy fairy. My own estimate is about the town of Officer, on the Princes Highway. I use this as a starting point because it is the first town outside the "South Eastern Development Corridor", and a line to the south would link up with the top of Western Port Bay, at about the town of Tooradin.
Within Gippsland there are finer distinctions of the District. Don’t ask me to even start to try and define these. The best I can do is say that we have East Gippsland down past Bairnsdale - to the eastern end of the State, Central Gippsland covering Moe to Sale and which covers all of the LaTrobe valley with its important brown coal mining and power generating industry. West Gippsland can be said to be from the western end of the District to around about the town of Moe I suppose. South Gippsland covers the South coast from Phillip Island to Wilsons Promontory and the town of Yarram. The northerly border of South Gippy may be the Strzelecki range of hills and Grand Ridge Road which is a wonderful sightseeing road runs along the top of the hills here. There doesn’t appear to be a North Gippsland. If there is, it’s the Snowy Mountain Country of the Australian Alps (Great Dividing Range).
Having said all that, if anybody wants to dispute the different zones with me, I am sure that I will find an excuse to be elsewhere during the debate. There's always gunna be another opinion I suppose.
Anyway, West Gippsland is where I live. The centre of the universe, so to speak, here, is the town of Warragul. In one of the aboriginal languages of the area, warragul means "wild dog" which is convenient because I'm wild about dogs (well I never claimed to be humorous) and I am a member of 3 dog Clubs in that area.
There were a number of Aboriginal tribes or Clans who led a semi-nomadic lifestyles in these parts until settlement either drove them out, or disease took its toll. I take this opportunity to acknowledge my debt to them. The Clan that lived in the area now called the Koo Wee Rup swamp was the Bunurong (or maybe Boon Wirrung is more accurate) people. Their descendants are few and scattered now. I honour them.
I live in a village (I think that’s what it's called) called Bayles. I've been here just over nineteen years now. Here at Bayles we have a General Store, a Garage, a Primary School, a Tennis club, a Factory and a Fauna Park. This town was named after an Army Railway ganger who was killed in the first world war. It used to be a stop on the "Great Strzelecki" rail line for picking up local dairy and vegetable produce. The line is gone now, but Bayles Railway station remains and there is about 40 acres of land surrounding it which has been converted into the Bayles Fauna Park. Bayles is at about the centre of the "Koo Wee Rup Swamp" The swamp is a reclaimed tract of former swamp land, drained around the turn of the century, initially by hand, then as the land dried a little, by horse drawn scoops and finally with steam driven machinery. Settlers were given tracts of land here in return for labour on the drains. In return, they developed the land and have developed some of the most productive farmland in the world.
At the northern end of the Swamp, is the Hills and the Princes Highway, at the South is Western Port Bay. There is a rough line at the western end (the western contour drain) that would pass through Tooradin, Cardinia and Officer on the Highway, and to the East, the town of Lang Lang and Bunyip which is again, on the Highway.
Koo Wee Rup is a town at the south central point of the swamp. Koo Wee Rup is an aboriginal phrase which is said to mean "Black fish swimming". Very appropriate, as Westernport Bay is just at hand and is a rich source of aquatic lifeforms such as fish and chips. Well we grow spuds on the swamp and each year, in March the Koo Wee Rup Potato Festival raises money for the local Hospital. We're also famous as a source of Asparagus, Beef Production and Dairy Products. Oh - and Television aerials. That’s what I'm involved with - Television and Two Way Radio aerial installations, oh and TV/Radio Interference (looking for it, not causing it). I'm also an Amateur Radio operator, my callsign is VK3LR, for those of you with any interest in these sort of things. I also hold a Broadcast Radio Statio Operators Certificate, Tertiary certificate qualifications in Electronics and did my first training with what was called the Post Master Generals Department, years and years and years ago.
I've been renovating the house I live in for a long time now, I'll put some pictures up one day. The house itself is about 40 years old, weatherboard, and three quarters renewed.
Last updated 04/08/2006