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Boolarra is a small township located in the Latrobe Valley, in central Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Boolarra had a population of 528 (The postcode area had a population of 1119 which includes the nearby town of Yinnar). The Boolarra Folk Festival is held in the town every year in March and attracts music lovers from around Australia and the world. The town is also infamous for producing the Boolarra strain of carp (''Cyprinus carpio'') which, after their release into the Murray River near Mildura, spread throughout Australia. The name Boolarra is believed to be derived from an expression in one of the local Aboriginal languages meaning 'plentiful' or 'twenty'. The Post Office opened on 1 September 1884 prior to the railway arriving in 1885. The town is at one end of the Grand Ridge Rail Trail, which travels for 13 kilometres through temperate rainforest and dry sclerophyll forest in the Strzelecki Ranges. The original railway branch line from Morwell to Boolarra, was opened on 10 April 1885, with the last train being run on 22 June 1974. The railway was constructed through difficult hilly terrain requiring construction of massive embankments and numerous bridges. The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Mid Gippsland Football League. ==History== The first settler, W.H. Penaluna, arrived around 1878 taking up land along the Morwell River and erecting the Settlers' Arms Hotel. Land was quickly taken up, when a railway line was built in 1884‑5, connecting Mirboo North, Boolarra and Yinnar to Morwell, on the main Melbourne‑Sale line. The hill country south and east of the Morwell River opened up and a series of small communities, Budgeree, Gunyah, Ruyton Junction, English's Corner among them, began to flourish as goods and services flowed to and from Boolarra, which acted as the commercial and agricultural centre of the district. Initially, the early settlers depended on timber and mixed farming for their livelihood. Blackwood for furniture and palings, cut from the surrounding forests, was freighted to Melbourne. Butter, salted and packed on the farm, was also sent to the city. In 1905, the Danish firm Heyman set up a butter factory in Boolarra, and dairying became the main industry of the district. This was the time when Boolarra's population rivalled that of Morwell. At its peak, Boolarra supported three general stores, three hotels and four churches along with two butchers, two bakers and three confectionery shops, which satisfied the needs of the community. Horses were harnessed and shod by two blacksmiths and the Butter Factory provided the bulk of employment for the town's youth. At one stage, a black coal and bauxite mine triggered an investment flow into the town. Sadly, in 1937 a large fire raged through Tarwin Street, destroying many of the original shop fronts. After WW II residents banded together to erect a Memorial Park, with the names of the town's fallen soldiers inscribed on its gates. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Boolarra, Victoria」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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