Plaque corrects history

A recently unveiled plaque is setting the record straight on a 50 year error in the town's history.
The James Biram plaque, located at 75 Queen St, across the road from the Old Shire Hall, was installed in 1975, to commemorate the first building in the township of Warragul. It was a General Store owned and operated by James Biram, established in 1876. The wooden building existed where Anytime Fitness is now located.
The plaque initially misdated the store by a year and was amended on the 150th anniversary of Biram's store, thanks to Kerry Biram, great great great niece of James Biram, and the Warragul Historical Society.
Society president Wayne Hardie said the correction was long overdue.
"How we (the Society) got it wrong in 1975, we're not quite sure, but I'm pleased to see new form at the present time," he said.
Biram's store was far from a typical main–street shopfront when it opened in March 1876. At that time the railway line through West Gippsland was still two years away from opening, with work proceeding in disconnected sections between Oakleigh and Bunyip and from Morwell to Sale.
"Biram over the next 12 months built his business. Other people saw opportunities, came into the town and followed suit," Mr Hardie explained, detailing the impact of the town's original entrepreneur.
The township came to be formally known as Warragul a year after the store opened, in March 1877 when the Post Office opened in Biram's store. Previously, the unnamed town reserve area developed its own railway station.
The station originally used the incorrect phonetic spelling of the word (Warrigal) on signage. The name was likely drawn from the nearby parish of Warragul, as was common at the time. The earliest use of the current spelling of Warragul, as we know it, has been attributed to the original post office, which opened that March. The railway station didn't follow suit until 1879.
However, when government surveyor John Lardner arrived in late 1877 to formally subdivide the town, he made an awkward discovery.
"John Lardner came back and surveyed the town and discovered that Biram's store was in the middle of Queen Street and he had to shift it," Mr Hardie explained.
Under special concessions of the era, early settlers like Biram were allowed to relocate their businesses onto newly subdivided Crown parcels of land.
The society now hopes the plaque's unveiling will serve as the official launching pad for the town's 150th anniversary milestones in March 2027, for which extensive planning is currently taking place to ensure adequate recognition of the occasion.