Brandy Creek, Victoria, Australia

Notes:

Though 102 km east of Melbourne, Warragul’s growth has always been closely tied to the state capital. The railway link in 1878 saw the township thrive, with its sawmills supplying Melbourne with wood for building. Dairying soon followed, and remains the region’s most important export, with higher yields than to be had in many other parts of Australia. One and a half hours to Melbourne by train, it is beyond comfortable commuting distance, so its population continues to grow modestly.

Warragul is a provincial town in West Gippsland. According to Bunce's Language of the Aborigines of the Colony of Victoria (1859) Warragul is an Aboriginal word meaning ferocious or wild.

The area was densely forested with swamps to the east and west. It was 1845 before a track was cut from Melbourne to Gippsland, skirting north of the swampy land. From 1867, a coach service operated on a more southerly route, now known as Old Sale Road. One of the staging posts was at Brandy Creek, about 9 km north of present Warragul. Brandy Creek was supposedly named after Squatter William Pearson threw a brandy bottle into the creek. A small township grew up there, with a post office, hotels, churches, banks, stores and houses.

From the early 1870s land was surveyed for selection around and south of Brandy Creek, and the township became the supply point for the selectors. However, the railway from Melbourne into Gippsland was surveyed to the south of Brandy Creek. A track was cut from Brandy Creek to the rail route, but once the line opened in 1878 the new township round the station rapidly eclipsed Brandy Creek which went into decline. By the next year, Warragul boasted four hotels, two general stores, a baker, butchers, blacksmiths, a shoemaker and a chemist.

Birth

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Birth		Person ID
1	George, Minnie Beatrice	1873	Brandy Creek, Victoria, Australia	I714