West Gippsland

West Gippsland, a region of Gippsland in Victoria, Australia, extends from the southeastern limits of metropolitan Melbourne and Western Port Bay in the west to the Latrobe Valley in the east, and is bounded by the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau in the Great Dividing Range to the north.

Geography

The western part of the region around Western Port Bay and the Bunyip River is mostly flat (much of it having been reclaimed from the drained Koo Wee Rup Swamp), while the eastern part consists of low rolling hills.

To the north these hills become steeper as they merge into the Great Dividing Range. Relatively fertile, the lowland areas are mainly given over to dairy farming, but are also noted for their niche agricultural produce, giving rise to the term "Gippsland Gourmet Country". In the mountainous north around Noojee logging remains an important industry, while a small winter resort is located to the northeast at Mount Baw Baw. Further to the east are the small township of Erica and the historic gold mining town of Walhalla.

Gippsland

Gippsland is an economic rural region that occupies much of the south-eastern part of Victoria, Australia.

Covering an area of 41,556 square kilometres (16,045 sq mi), Gippsland lies to the east of the eastern suburbs of Greater Melbourne, to the north of Bass Strait, to the west of the Tasman Sea, to the south of the Black-Allan Line that marks part of the Victorian/New South Wales border, and to the east and southeast of the Great Dividing Range that lies within the Hume region and the Victorian Alps. The region is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations— Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, Walhalla, the Baw Baw Plateau, and the Strzelecki Ranges.

As at the 2011 Australian census, the Gippsland region had a population of 255,718, that is generally broken down into the East Gippsland, South Gippsland, West Gippsland, and the Latrobe Valley statistical divisions. The principal centres of the region, in descending order of population, are Traralgon, Moe, Warragul, Morwell, Sale, Bairnsdale, Drouin, Leongatha, and Phillip Island.