Travelling to the New Country
The settlers came into South Gippsland by various routes. The following stories tell of the different ways used by pioneers to enter the region.
By land ...
In the days when a trip from central Melbourne to Cranbourne was a five hour journey, the long haul to South Gippsland was not for the faint-hearted.
Image of early land routes
Sketch map of Gippsland in 1870 ... see more >>
By sea ...
Hugging the coast, in small vessels, the sea leg of a journey to South Gippsland was the easy part ... read on >>
By rail ...
Started in the early 1870s, some rail lines weren't completed till almost 20 years later, with the Great Southern Line through South Gippsland a crowning achievement of the engineers' craft. For early settlers, the partially completed rail lines were a small comfort