City of Traralgon

The City of Traralgon was a local government area about 160 kilometres (99 mi) east-southeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, in the Latrobe Valley region. The city covered an area of 22.37 square kilometres (8.64 sq mi), and existed from the time of its severance from the Shire of Traralgon in 1961 until 1994.

History

From 1879 until 1961, Traralgon was part of the shire which surrounded it. On 31 May 1961, it was incorporated as a borough, and on 2 April 1964, it was proclaimed a city.

On 2 December 1994, the City of Traralgon was abolished, and, along with the Cities of Moe and Morwell, the Shire of Traralgon, and parts of the Shires of Narracan and Rosedale, was merged into the newly created City of Latrobe.

The City of Traralgon was unsubdivided, and its 12 councillors represented the entire city.

Population

* Estimate in the 1958 Victorian Year Book.

References

Coordinates: 38°11′S 146°32′E / 38.183°S 146.533°E / -38.183; 146.533

Traralgon

Traralgon is a city located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The urban population of Traralgon at the 2011 Census was 24,590. It is the largest and fastest growing city in the greater Latrobe Valley urban area, which has a population of more than 75,000 and is administered by the City of Latrobe.

The origin of the name Traralgon is uncertain. It is popularly believed to be derived from words from the Gunai language: tarra meaning "river" and algon meaning "little fish". However, these words are not reflected in modern linguists' knowledge of the Gunai language, where, for example, the word for river is wun wun or wurn wurn.

History

The Gippsland region was originally inhabited by the indigenous Gunai people for a period in excess of 2,000 years. The area around Traralgon was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s soon after being explored by Count Paweł Strzelecki on his return from the Snowy Mountains where he named Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko. Due to the Latrobe Valley 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.