Morwell, Victoria
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| Morwell Victoria |
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 Corner of Hazelwood and Commercial Roads Morwell |
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| Population: | 13,766 (2006)[1] | ||||||||||||
| Established: | 1870s | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 3840 | ||||||||||||
| Elevation: | 80 m (262 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Location: | 149 km (93 mi) from Melbourne | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | City of Latrobe | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Morwell | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Gippsland | ||||||||||||
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Morwell is a city in central Gippsland, a region in the east of Victoria. Morwell is situated in the heart of Victoria's energy centre, the Latrobe Valley. It is also the administrative centre for the City of Latrobe. The name Morwell is believed to have been derived from the Aboriginal term More willie, meaning 'woolly possum'.
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[edit] History
The earliest inhabitants of the Morwell district were the Gunai Indigenous Australians. Their first contact with Europeans would have been with pastoralists who came south from the Monaro region of New South Wales in the 1840s in search of pasture for their stock.
In 1841, McMillan and Strzelecki made journeys of exploration through the region which would later be named Gippsland and during the 1840s the squatting runs of Maryvale, Merton Rush and Hazelwood were taken up in the area which is now Morwell.
The 1870s were a time of railway building in Victoria. In 1873 the government approved the construction of a railway line from Melbourne to Sale and it was this decision which gave rise to the development of the township of Morwell.
The first public sale of land in the town took place in January 1879 but there were at least ten traders operating in the town by that time, a Post Office in the township having been open since 1875 (an earlier PO having served the rural area from 1870 to 1873). On January 1, 1880 Morwell PO was renamed Morwell Bridge and Morwell R(ailway)S(tation) PO (open since 1877) became the main Morwell PO [2]
A brickworks and a pottery were established in the 1880s, a butter factory was built in 1890 and a cordial factory.
Even in the 1880s, coal was seen to be of importance to Morwell. In 1888 two coal mining companies were established—The Great Morwell Coal Mining Company and the Maryvale Proprietary Coal Mining Company. Both these companies produced steam coal and were part of the industrial growth of the town which included timber getting, food processing (butter and cordial factories), brick and pottery manufacture and the transport of goods along the main railway line. Fires in the commercial area in 1890 and 1912 caused major damage to shops. This led to the formation of the Morwell Waterworks Trust and in December 1913 a town water supply from Billy's Creek was connected.
The development of the Yallourn open cut coal mine and power station in the 1920s contributed to Morwell's development, providing employment and trade.
The 1980s and 1990s were a growth period for the township of Morwell. Schools were built to educate the children of families settling in the area.
A major Research and Development project into the conversion of brown coal into oil, (Brown Coal Liquefaction Victoria or BCLV) was established in Morwell in 1983/84. Funded by the Japanese Government at a cost of over one billion dollars this project established a 50 tonne per day pilot plant which ran until 1991. The project saw several hundred Japanese families move to the area and led to the establishment of a unique educational experiment in the form of a Japanese/Australian combined curriculum at the Commercial Road Primary School.
Thriving on the success of the power industry, Morwell developed into a city offering substantial housing and financial opportunities for its many residents. With the general growth of the Latrobe Valley, Morwell's success appeared destined to continue. However restructuring and privatisation of the State Electricity Commission in the 1990s led to massive job losses in the region.
The ascendency of Jeff Kennett to the premiership of Victoria saw the demise of the city accelerated with the cutting of services. Most State Government offices were moved away from Morwell - a predominantly Labor voting and strongly unionised city - to its neighbour, Traralgon, this caused much tension towards the Coalition and now the city has one of the highest Labor votes in the region.
Amalgamation of the local councils under a commission saw the major civic centre move to Traralgon. With the re-establishment of an elected council, the civic centre was moved back to Morwell and the new Council Building constructed in 2005 is leading to a revitalisation of the city centre. The new Justice Precinct was completed in 2006 and is further increasing CBD activity.
Morwell is the headquarters of the Central Gippsland Institute of Technical and Further Education. It contains a major regional art gallery with an excellent local collection and is noted for its extensive rose gardens. Nearby at Churchill is the Gippsland Campus of Monash University. A commemorative bust of Lt Gen Sir Stanley Savige was erected in 2006. Born in Morwell, Savige founded Legacy following World War 1 to assist widows and families of servicemen.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Morwell (State Suburb). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ^ Premier Postal History, Post Office List, <https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country=>. Retrieved on 11 April 2008
[edit] External links
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