| Thorpdale Victoria |
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"Welcome to Thorpdale - Heart of Potato Country" |
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Thorpdale
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| Population: | 447(2006)[1] |
| Postcode: | 3835 |
| Location: | |
| LGA: | Shire of Baw Baw |
| State District: | Narracan |
| Federal Division: | McMillan |
Thorpdale is a small country town in the Gippsland area of eastern Victoria, Australia, less than 20 km south of Trafalgar. Famous for its potatoes, it is located amongst the rich farmland of the Latrobe Valley. Thorpdale spuds are eaten around the country and also exported overseas. The name "Thorpdale" means "village in a valley".[2] The soil in the area is particularly rich as the town is located in a former volcanic crater. It is administered by the Shire of Baw Baw. At the 2006 census, Thorpdale and the surrounding area had a population of 447.
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The Thorpdale district, known at first as the Narracan district, was settled in the 1870s. The first settlers arrived from the old Melbourne – Sale Road via McDonalds Track – a former stock route that had been surveyed in 1862 through the hills from Lang Lang to Morwell Bridge, but which shortly became disused and very much overgrown. Land selection began at Narracan (near the eastern end of the track) in 1873. The main selection front progressed steadily along the track, reaching Narracan West in 1876. The Post Office opened on 1 October 1879 as Narracan West and was renamed Thorpdale in 1884 and Thorpdale South in 1888 closing in 1968. A new Thorpdale Post Office opened in 1888 near the railway station. [3] The present town of Thorpdale (situated about 2 km north of the old town) was founded in 1888 following construction of a branch railway line from Moe. At the height of its time it was a business centre for all the farming activity that surrounded it.
Much of the old town was destroyed during the large Red Tuesday (20 January 1898) bushfire that ravaged Gippsland and the Otway Ranges.
Today, the Thorpdale township is becoming smaller and smaller as more farming families opt to live in larger townships such as Trafalgar. The national decline in consumption of potatoes is making even farming difficult in the small town.
The town has an Australian rules football team competing in the Mid Gippsland Football League.
In late 2008, the town was hit by the news that a potato disease (potato cyst nematode) had been found among its crops. The disease is not harmful to humans but can significantly reduce crop yields. Thorpdale farms were quarantined and banned from exporting potatoes interstate and overseas.[4] Interstate trade has since resumed.[5]
The township holds the Thorpdale Potato Festival each year on the Victorian Labour Day holiday in March but as the insurance cost is too great for the small community to bear, it has not been run since 2002. The festival features potato sack races. The lush farming surrounds give the town a peaceful rural atmosphere and there are several scenic sights nearby, including the Narracan Falls, Trafalgar South Lookout and Henderson's Gully.
A mountain ash gum tree (Eucalyptus regnans) at Thorpdale South once held the record for the tallest tree in the world. The tree was measured as being over 114 m (375 feet) tall by a certified surveyor using a theodolite. The tree was later felled in 1880 and re-measured along the ground, confirming the initial measurement. In 1976 the tree's location was marked by a plaque and a pole one-tenth the height of the tree.
1. Jim Tilgner, Recalling 100 Years (Thorpdale Centenary Committee, 1976). 2. John Adams FRHSV, So Tall the Trees (Narracan Shire Council, 1978). 3. Walter E. Savige - Savige Russell Powell 1848-1880 (Camberwell, 1981). 4. Kevin Murray – The Murrays Part 1 1840s-1890s (Melbourne, 1996). 5. Walter Savige - Historic Narracan [electronic resource], 2004. 6. Kenneth Cox - Call Back Yesterday (North Balwyn, 1979), pp 50-53.
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