Moe, Victoria

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Moe
Victoria

Streetscape in central Moe
Population: 17,981 (2006)[1]
Postcode: 3825
Location:
LGA: City of Latrobe
State District: Narracan
Federal Division: McMillan

Moe (pronounced MO-ee, /'moui/) is a city[2] in the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is about 134 km east of Melbourne and has a population of approximately 17,981. It is administered by the City of Latrobe council. Moe includes Newborough, which is a suburb of Moe.

Moe was originally known as The Mowie, then Little Moi.[3] The town's name is believed to derive from a Kurnai (local Indigenous) word meaning 'swamp land'.

Moe is a navigation point and stopover for tourists en route to Erica, the Historic Goldfields Township of Walhalla, the Walhalla Goldfields Railway and Mt. Baw Baw. Moe is also home to the annual Moe Cup horse races, the Moe Jazz Festival in March, a recreated historic settlement Old Gippstown nearby Lake Narracan, locally produced indigenous Aboriginal/Koorie art and is regularly home to local football finals in the West Gippsland Latrobe Football League and the Mid Gippsland Football League. The region is represented by Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup competition.

Contents

[edit] History

George Street, Moe
George Street, Moe

A small gold discovery was made in 1852. The small settlement on the Narracan Creek was a stopover en route to the Walhalla goldfields further north. [4]. A Post Office opened on March 17, 1862 [5]

The town was surveyed in 1879, following proclamation of the Shire of Narracan the year before and the arrival of the railway from Morwell. Moe was declared a city in 1963.

Local industry is based around the brown coal deposits in the Latrobe Valley and electricity generation. The area is also noted for its dairy industry.

Moe High School opened in 1952. The school was closed and merged into Lowanna Secondary College, with the previous Moe High School location becoming a housing estate.

Moe Jazz Festival 2005
Moe Jazz Festival 2005

[edit] Population

On the night of the 2001 census there were 17,585 residing in Moe; 51.3% female and 48.7% male. At the time Moe had an indigenous (Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander) population of 1%, whilst 78.7% of the overall population were born in Australia. The other main countries of origin were: England (4.4%), Netherlands (1.6%), Malta (1.4%), Scotland (1.3%), and Germany (1.3%)[6]

[edit] Education

Moe is serviced by a number of primary schools including:

  • Moe (Albert Street) Primary School
  • Moe (South Street) Primary School
  • Moe (Elizabeth street) Primary School
  • St Keiran's Primary School (Catholic)
  • Barringa Special School (Day Special School)
  • St Mary's Primary School (Catholic)
  • Newborough Primary (Murray Road)
  • Newborough East Primary

Moe is also serviced by two high schools:

Tertiary education is offered through GippsTAFE (Yallourn, Warragul, Leongatha, Morwell). Monash University also has its Gippsland Campus at nearby Churchill.

[edit] Sporting Facilities

Moe has a varied and wide range of sporting facilities available for use.

Latrobe Leisure Moe Newborough is located at the corner of Southwell Ave and Old Sale Road Newborough. Comprising of a 25 metre 6 lane indoor heated pool, a unisex spa at one end of the complex and separate male & female saunas at the other, gymnasium with both electronic and state of the art pin loaded equipment (including rowers, treadmills, exercise bikes and steppers), squash court, 400m all weather athletics track and grass field with asphalt cycling track around the perimeter and three full sized basketball courts that are utilised by local basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton, archery and playgroup associations amongst other things.

Moe outdoor pool in Vale Street, Moe with fifty meter Olympic pool, diving pool, toddlers pool, learn to swim pool and kiosk.

Ted Summerton Reserve in Vale Street, Moe which is used for Australian Rules Football and Cricket and is an excellent facility with potential to be developed into a fully feldged stadium within walking distance of the Moe V/line train station.

Lake Narracan
Lake Narracan

Lake Narracan is a freshwater lake located immediately to the north of Moe. Lake Narracan is increasingly being used for recreational purposes, including waterskiing, jet skiing and recreational fishing and has a small caravan park and waterski club.

Moe Tennis Centre, Narracan Drive, Moe and the Moe Indoor Tennis Center in Haigh Street, Moe.

The Moe Golf Club and Yallourn Golf Club are both within a short drive of Moe itself.

The Moe Racing Club in Waterloo Road Moe is within walking distance of the CBD and holds 15 race meetings per year, including the ever popular GPG Mobil Moe Cup, held in October. The Moe Cup has long been regarded as Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley's Premier Raceday. In recent years the event has become one of the biggest in the Country Racing Victoria calendar. Other feature meetings include Boxing Day, Two Day Weekend Carnival, Labour Day, Jazz Festival and Anzac Day.

Nearby Mt. Baw Baw and Mt. St. Gwinear are popular destinations for skiing, with Mt. Baw Baw having a small ski resort and Mt. St. Gwinear used for cross country skiing.

[edit] Transport

Moe is located approximately one and a half hours' drive east of Melbourne along the Princes Highway. V/Line runs passenger rail services to Moe station and beyond from Melbourne's major stations Southern Cross Station on Spencer Street and Flinders Street Station several times a day.

Local bus services, Latrobe Valley Bus Lines in Moe are operated by Valley Transit, which also runs connecting buses to nearby towns such as Morwell, Traralgon, Churchill and Yallourn North.

Moe is approximately a 20 minute drive from Latrobe Regional Airport in Traralgon.

[edit] Media

Moe is serviced by the Latrobe Valley Express newspaper. The Latrobe Valley Express is delivered free to residences in the Latrobe Valley region and has a current circulation of apporoximately 34,128 (CAB).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Moe (Statistical Local Area). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
  2. ^ Latrobe City website: History section
  3. ^ Latrobe Visitor Information Centre: Moe
  4. ^ Local history of Moe' ' - LocalHero'Retrieved 1 July 2007
  5. ^ Premier Postal History, Post Office List, <https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocd.w?>. Retrieved on 11 April 2008 
  6. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Moe (Statistical Subdivision). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.

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Towns in the Latrobe Valley
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Cities of Victoria, Australia

Coordinates: 38°10′20″S 146°16′04″E / -38.17222, 146.26778

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