The changing municipal map

Over recent weeks, we've been looking briefly at the 14 shires in Gippsland in 1886. There are two to go. Before I talk about those, it is important to remember that the shire boundaries have been quite fluid in some ways and there have been many variations as new shires were created and bits and pieces were annexed here and there as changing populations and, particularly, changing access made adjustments necessary.
The 'municipal map' of Gippsland has changed greatly over the years.
The last two shires to be covered are Tambo and Warragul.
The Tambo Shire was created in January, 1882. The population was even more sparsely spread than that of the Omeo Shire, with 1800 people in its 6020 square miles (15,600 square kilometres). It included Bruthen, Buchan and Bendoc, Cunninghame (later known as Lakes Entrance), Metung, Orbost in the far east, on the Snowy, and Tambo. The Tambo River ran through the shire and down to the Lakes.
The Directory says, in 1886, that the 'snagging' of the Tambo meant that steamers would soon be able to come up to the Mossiface Landing, not far from Bruthen. It was almost rhapsodic about the rich soils of the Tambo flats 'of the most fertile and productive description". Tambo was more of a district name than of a township because settlers were still taking it up. Nowa Nowa was referred to as a place but not a township. It had deposits of ironstone.
Warragul Shire was created in October 1881 but I have kept it to last – alphabetically it was last, anyway. It was declared three years after the Buln Buln Shire. It had only 117 square miles, most of it still very heavily timbered. The population was 2600.
It included, at that time, Buln Buln, or part of it. That township straddled the shire boundaries, which must have made for interesting arguments about road maintenance costs. Darnum was in the Warragul Shire (and so, of course, was Warragul) but Nilma had yet to put in an appearance.
More than a third of the population was in Warragul, which is not surprising. It had "seven sawmills and several others were proposed…" and "timber exports exceed 1000 tons a month". That needed good rail yards and Warragul had them at its "very commodious and substantial" station. Here "the through trains stay here about 20 minutes thus giving the passengers the opportunity of obtaining refreshments" (which went on into the 1960s, at least).
I found it interesting that the entry for Buln Buln was more about the beauty of Brandy Creek than anything else, and the Directory says the mail coach from Warragul ran to Brandy creek, with a lower-case 'c', rather than to Buln Buln.
The "Warragul and Neerim Railway" had been approved by the government in 1884, but there was no Noojee at the time so there was no mention of it here.
I had to smile at the typographical error which said that the "rains stay here…" instead of the "trains stay here". I thought only Warragul people said that about Drouin and its weather.
There is a little space left here to look at the boroughs of Sale, Walhalla and Woods Point, all there in 1886.
The Woods Point Borough was proclaimed on May 5, 1865, with an area of only 2500 acres, 18 square kilometres. Woods Point was the only town in it, with 400 residents (though later in the entry this is given as 562). In 1886 it was in decline as many of the mines had been worked out. "Much of the carriage of goods over the mountains is done by pack-horses, the tracks being almost impassable for wheeled vehicles". Getting there was not easy. One could take the train to "Lillydale, the coach to Marysville, 50 miles from Woods Point by (the) Yarra track" which was "highly admired by holiday parties for its bracing air and magnificent scenery".
Covering that last 50 miles would require a certain keenness to get to Woods Point, or enough money to hire a horse.
The Walhalla Borough was created in November 1872. It had 1675 people in its 5120 acres. It was the "centre of an extensive and important mining district, viz. – Fulton's, Donnelly's, Toombon, Aberfeldy, Thomson, Tangil and other places" and the Directory goes to great length to describe the workings of the Long Tunnel and the Long Tunnel Extended mining companies.
The town was 20 years on from its founding and had "one newspaper published and about 390 dwellings; also savings bank, post, telegraph and money order offices, state school, police station, mechanics institute, three churches, masonic, foresters and oddfellows hall…there are several good hotels." Somehow Walhalla had a more settled air than most mining towns. One got to Walhalla by coach three times a week from Moe, or a daily coach from Toongabbie. In either case the fare was 10 shillings, quite a cost.
The only other borough in Gippsland at the time was Sale. This was proclaimed a borough in 1863, and the area was increased in 1873. It covered 4900 acres and had a population 4000. That made it a major centre in those days, but so did the meeting of the Gippsland Track, the Port Albert Road and the infant Port of Sale on the Thomson. It was Gippsland's first borough and it had effectively become the 'capital of Gippsland' once the Lakes Entrance was tamed and small ships could come up to almost within the town. Port Albert was then of diminishing importance as a port.
The Port of Sale was already busy, with daily sailings for Bairnsdale and, for much of the year, to Cunninghame (Lakes Entrance). The steamers 'met' the trains and it was possible to buy a combined train and steamer ticket to Bairnsdale.
In 1886 the Gippsland railway stopped at Sale but plans were being drawn up to take to the line up to Stratford, where it would join the line from Traralgon through Heyfield to Bairnsdale. I said Sale was a major junction, and it had coaches running to Bairnsdale, Port Albert, Upper Maffra, Heyfield, Glenmaggie and Seaton.
We should remember, too, that the 14 shires and three boroughs were run by local councils, and those councillors were men who had often to cover many uncomfortable miles to serve their area, and who had to be prepared for huge criticisms over the state of the roads (and other things but mainly the roads) while dealing with a small population that resented paying rates. It wasn't easy.