The Mirboo district was thrown open for selection in 1878, about four years after settlers began looking for land in the hills south of Morwell. The task they faced was a daunting one. Some of the settlers came up from the Port Albert district, working their way up the valleys of the Tarwin watershed.
Settlers from Morwell had just as rugged a task. They used packhorses to take in their supplies and tools, and then took the horses back out again because there was no feed for them in the hills until the land was cleared and sown.
Agitation for a railway soon began, as it always did. The railway was the 'kiss of life' to many small settlements before roads were developed and road transport became fast and efficient. The carting of goods was an expensive business, with costs running as high as eight pounds per ton between Mirboo and the main railway.
Mr Peacock, of Mirboo, recorded in his diary that he attended a meeting to form a Railway league on 24 April 1880. In May of that year a deputation of South Gippsland residents waited on the Minister for Railways to ask for a line north from Welshpool to the main Gippsland line as a means of opening up the area.
Later in 1880 the deputation again saw the minister, suggesting routes from Drouin through Poowong, or direct from Morwell to Mirboo. On 17 October 1880 a Railways Construction Bill provided for the construction of eighteen railways. One of these s to run south from Morwell to Mirboo.
The number of railways in the Bill meant that survey work did not start until July 1881 and was not completed until July 1882. Though the country was rough at least one surveyor liked it. He was W.H. Ritson, who gave away surveying and took up a selection at Yinnar on what had been the Scrubby Forest Run.
Hector Muirson was awarded the contract for the first stage of the line. This was about half the total distance, through fairly easy country, with only the Yinnar station to built. He tendered 18460 pounds but before he could begin it was decided to let the whole line as one contract, and this time his tender was unsuccessful. It seems a little unfair to me. This time the contract went to John S. White, for just under 75000 pounds.
While there were no rock cuttings there were many clay cuttings and embankments. Perhaps the biggest problem was the lack of rock for ballast. Nonetheless construction went steadily ahead, marked by incidents both funny and tragic. Martin Kildare was seriously injured in a earthfall but transport was so bad he could not be moved for four days. A large quantity of whisky was stolen in Morwell and police were unable to prove anything, but were convinced it had been stolen to 'christen' the line.
In early 1883 White ran into trouble with cost overruns and labour problems, and his contract was cancelled on June 1, 1883. A horse tramway was proposed as an alternative but the locals were. Quite predictably, not amused. John Robb was engaged to finish the line, and he was under pressure to move quickly because a new township, complete with the necessary hotel, was already growing at Mirboo.
Robb was helped by the discovery of a stone deposit at Stony Creek (what else?) just west of Yinnar. A spur line about three kilometres long was built and the ballast problem was solved at last.
Another town grew up about nineteen kilometres away. This was at first a railway camp but it was to become Boolarra. In April of 1884 the District Inspector of Schools reported that there were 32 children of school age in the camp. Of these, 31 were children from 'railway families'.
The first section of line was opened on April 10, 1885. The station 11 kilometres out was named Yinnar and the station at the 19-kilometre point became Boolarra. In the same month heavy rainfall caused damage to some of the earthworks on the Mirboo section, further delaying work. Rolling of the earth in the embankments was skimped to save time in culvert-building, but this only led to further slips and problems.
On September 8, 1885 the line was opened as far as the new Darlimurla station, 26 kilometres out. The original township of Darlimurla was three kilometres away, on Lidiard's Track, and this took the name of Delburn when the station was named Darlimurla.
On December 1, 1885, two and a half years after the survey began, the contractor's locomotive steamed into Mirboo for the first time, greeted with great enthusiasm by the townsfolk. The formal opening of the line was on 28 January 1886. The usual trainload of dignitaries from Melbourne and towns along the line was brought up and there were all the usual speeches and expressions of faith in the future. There was a huge banquet and a ball, and a great many rather self-congratulatory toasts. Perhaps, after all, this is understandable.
In the euphoria there were other proposals for lines. Someone suggested that a line to Yarram, starting at Rosedale, Traralgon or Yinnar might be a good idea. It was also thought that the Mirboo line was only a beginning, and that it would extend down into the Tarwin Valley to connect the Latrobe Valley to the coast. Survey parties went in search of routes to either Welshpool or Stockyard Creek (Foster),. None of these grand schemes was to come to fruition.
A route into South Gippsland was found, but it left the main line at Dandenong. The Mirboo line did not decay, as some had predicted when they heard it was to remain a branch line. The farmers who had fought for it were quick to use it. Timber, potatoes, butter and hay were railed out in large quantities, and passenger services were well supported for years.
During the 1929-30 coal strike in NSW a considerable quantity of local coal was taken down the line from Mirboo, though normally the cost would have been too high. Bauxite was also mined in the Mirboo North and Boolarra areas. One other product which farmers might have rather not produced was rabbit carcasses. The Victorian Railways shipped thousands of these from Mirboo,
The line was finally closed on June 22, 1974, defeated by the economies of road transport, but it had served the farmers in the hills well and truly for nearly a hundred years.