|
Latrobe River
The largest and most central of the region's rivers is the Latrobe, also giving its name to the Latrobe Valley, where 85% of Victoria's electricity is generated. It is named after Charles Joseph La Trobe, Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor. Initially from 1839 Superintendent of the Port Phillip District, then a colony of New South Wales, he was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor of the new colony of Victoria after separation in 1851. He followed CJ Tyers' route through the region in 1848.
The Latrobe River Basin can be divided into two reaches. The Upper Latrobe, above the confluence of the Latrobe, Tanjil and Moe rivers, is relatively undeveloped and has no major diversions or storages. The Lower Latrobe from Lake Narracan near Yallourn North, to Lake Wellington near Sale has been extensively developed with storages and diversions.
The Upper Latrobe River rises between Powelltown and Noojee, in State Forests which were home to an extensive timber industry prior to the cataclysmic 1939 bushfires. Amongst the many fascinating relics from this era is "The Bump" railway tunnel, built to enable the huge and enigmatic Powelltown timber mill to access logs from the upper Latrobe once its leases in the upper Yarra had been exhausted. Flowing eastwards through Noojee, the Latrobe is boosted by the Ada, Loch and Toorongo Rivers.
Swinging south-east it passes through the Latrobe State Forest where there are many 4WD tracks and campsites popular with fishermen. Beyond the Sweetwater Conservation Reserve, the river flows through farmland near Willow Grove to Lake Narracan, immediately downstream of the confluence of the Tanjil and Moe rivers.
Lake Narracan was constructed in 1962 as a regulating storage for the Latrobe Valley power stations. However it also features facilities for picnicking and water sports, particularly power boating and water skiing.
Downstream it passes close by the Yallourn W power station and open cut coal mine. Here, in December 2007, a 70m block of riverbank collapsed, flooding the mine, and requiring an emergency re-routing of a section of river.
The Latrobe River is further boosted by inflows from the Morwell River, twice re-routed for expansions of the Yallourn and Morwell coal mines, and then the Tyers River.
Continuing eastwards, the river meanders through a wide flood plain north of Traralgon and Rosedale to Sale. A couple of kilometres south of Sale, the Latrobe is joined by the Thomson River near Longford. Just downstream of this confluence, a Swing Bridge was built in 1883 to allow river traffic to access the Port of Sale. Restoration of the Swing Bridge was completed in 2006. It now operates as a tourist attraction and has been the site of several recent films.
The last few kilometres of the river take it through the wetlands of The Heart and Dowds Morasses, and past silt jetties into Lake Wellington, part of the Gippsland Lakes system. These wetlands are popular with hunters during the duck season.
|
|
