Bairnsdale, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Bairnsdale is a small city in Gippsland
, Victoria
, Australia
. With a population at the 2006 census
of 11,282, it is a major regional centre of eastern Victoria along with Traralgon
and Sale
.
Bairnsdale is located on the river flats of the Mitchell River, near where the Mitchell River flows into Lake King
.
Bairnsdale is the commercial centre for the East Gippsland region and the seat of local government for the Shire of East Gippsland.
The origin of the city's name is uncertain, however it is believed to have been derived from the name of the property owned by pioneer settler Archibald Macleod.
The Mitchell River flows into Lake King
at Eagle Point Bluff. Between the town of Bairnsdale and Eagle Point Bluff are found the Mitchell River silt jetties
(a type of digitate River Delta
), second only in length to those formed at the mouth of the Mississippi River
in the United States
.
Bairnsdale's commercial centre is laid out along the wide avenue of Main Street which is a continuance of the Princess Highway.
name for Bairnsdale was Wy Yung (or Wy-yung), meaning spoonbill
(a type of wading bird). Wy Yung is now the name for a suburb of Bairnsdale, located north of the town across the Mitchell River.
The current name was taken from the name of the property owned by pioneer settler Archibald Macleod, who took up the run on the west bank of the Mitchell River in 1844. Bairnsdale is probably derived from the name of Macleod’s family home on the Isle of Skye, Scotland
, which had the name ‘Bernisdale’. An alternative interpretation was that Macleod returned after a long absence to find a number of ‘bairns’ (a Scottish term for babies) at the station. The name may in fact be a conjunction of these two stories, accounting for the transformation of ‘Bernis’ to ‘Bairns’.
The town site was surveyed in 1859, with the first blocks of land sold in 1860. Lucknow on the east bank of the river (named for the Indian city of Lucknow
to which horses bred in the Bairnsdale area were sent to aid the British Crown during the Indian uprising
), was already a thriving village. The Post Office opened on 2 February 1858 at Lucknow and was relocated to the township and named Bairnsdale on 3 April 1862. Lucknow remains as a suburb of Bairnsdale.
Descriptions of Bairnsdale and its inhabitants in the 1920's feature prominently in The Watcher On a Cast-Iron Balcony, an autobiography by Hal Porter
Bairnsdale was proclaimed as a City on 14 July 1990.
One of the most notable landmarks of Bairnsdale is the St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Main Street known for its distinctively tall tower and murals on its ceiling and walls. These murals were painted by out of work Italian artist Francesco Floreani during the Great Depression
and remain a fascination to this day.
Also of note are the garden
s maintained on the median strip
of Main Street. This very wide median strip stretches from the Mitchell River to the western edge of town, a distance of about 4 kilometres (2 mi). The main garden section runs for over 500 metres (546.8 yd) through the central commercial district and features beds of flowering annuals
and perennials
, numerous mature deciduous
and evergreen
tree
s, war memorial
s and a restored historic band rotunda
. The rotunda was constructed in 1910 and restored to its present condition in 1993.
which has approx 1200 students (Government) and Nagle College
which has about 800 students (Catholic Private), a number of primary schools and kindergartens, and limited tertiary education facilities mainly consisting of the East Gippsland Institute of TAFE.
Bairnsdale's main form of transport is the automobile
. The city is near the junction of the Princes Highway
and the Great Alpine Road
. Bairnsdale is 285 kilometres (177.1 mi), or approximately three hours drive, east of the state capital Melbourne.
Rail transport is facilitated by the major railway station in Bairnsdale railway station
which is the terminus of the Bairnsdale railway line. V/Line
provides rail services.
Bairnsdale Cabs provides a local taxi
service around the city.
The East Gippsland Rail Trail
begins in Bairnsdale. Almost 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) in length, the multi-use trail permits walking, cycling and horseriding as it follows the alignment of the former railway line to Orbost
.
Bairnsdale also has a small regional airport
.
and Southern Cross Ten
all broadcast into Bairnsdale from the Latrobe Valley
transmitter at Mt Tassie as well as local relay transmitters located at Mount Taylor approximately 12-13km NNW from Bairnsdale. All the commercial stations are based in Traralgon
and have local commercials placed on their broadcasts. WIN TV also broadcasts a local news bulletin from Monday to Friday at 6.30pm. Both national public broadcasters
, ABC
(ABC1) and SBS
(SBS ONE) are broadcast into Bairnsdale as well, relayed from Melbourne via Mount Tassie.
New channels broadcast by all the networks in addition to the ones listed above are available on the digital service called Freeview (Australia)
to viewers in Bairnsdale and the Gippsland \ Latrobe Valley region. These channels include ABC2
, ABC3
, ABC News 24
, SBS Two, One HD, Eleven
, 7Two
, 7mate
, GEM
and GO!
.
and broadcast to Bairnsdale and most listeners in the Gippsland as far west as the town of Orbost. The Gold 1242 AM 1242 kHz transmitter is located in Myrtlebank between Maffra
and Sale. ABC
stations Triple J
and ABC Classic FM
are broadcast from Mount Tassie. ABC Radio National and ABC News Radio
are rebroadcast locally from Mount Taylor. ABC Gippsland
radio station 3GI broadcasts into Bairnsdale on 828 AM from Longford, near Sale.
clubs, with Bairnsdale Football Club (the Redlegs) competing in the Gippsland Football League and Lucknow and Wy Yung competing in the local East Gippsland Football League
.
Bairnsdale has a horse racing club, the Bairnsdale Racing Club, which schedules around eight race meetings a year including the Bairnsdale Cup meeting usually held on the first Sunday in January.
The town has two field hockey
clubs in the East Gippsland Hockey Association
. The Bairnsdale Hockey Club is based at the WORLD fields, while the Nagle Hockey Club is based at Nagle College
, just out of town to the west.
Golfers play at the Bairnsdale Golf Club on Paynesville Road, Eagle Point or at the course of the Goose Gully Golf Greens on Balfours Road.
With its close proximity to the Gippsland Lakes and Ninety Mile Beach, along with easy access to the Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo Rivers; Bairnsdale proves to be a popular destintion for recreational anglers and good catches are reported regularly. Bait and tackle supplies, along with the required angling licenses are readily available in Bairnsdale.
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. With a population at the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
of 11,282, it is a major regional centre of eastern Victoria along with Traralgon
Traralgon, Victoria
Traralgon is a regional city located in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Traralgon is a city within the City of Latrobe....
and Sale
Sale, Victoria
Sale is a city in the Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. It is the seat of the Shire of Wellington as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale and the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland. It has a population of around 13,336, and is expected to reach a population of 14,000 soon...
.
Bairnsdale is located on the river flats of the Mitchell River, near where the Mitchell River flows into Lake King
Gippsland Lakes
The Gippsland Lakes are a network of lakes, marshes and lagoons in east Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an area of about 600 km2. The largest of the lakes are Lake Wellington , Lake King and Lake Victoria. They are fed by the Avon, Thomson, Latrobe, Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo...
.
Bairnsdale is the commercial centre for the East Gippsland region and the seat of local government for the Shire of East Gippsland.
The origin of the city's name is uncertain, however it is believed to have been derived from the name of the property owned by pioneer settler Archibald Macleod.
Geography
Bairnsdale is sited on a bend of the Mitchell river, with the river flowing in along the northern edge of the town, before turning south to flow along the eastern edge, although suburbs are now found across the river to both north and east. The river floods at infrequent intervals, affecting town areas close to the banks.The Mitchell River flows into Lake King
Gippsland Lakes
The Gippsland Lakes are a network of lakes, marshes and lagoons in east Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an area of about 600 km2. The largest of the lakes are Lake Wellington , Lake King and Lake Victoria. They are fed by the Avon, Thomson, Latrobe, Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo...
at Eagle Point Bluff. Between the town of Bairnsdale and Eagle Point Bluff are found the Mitchell River silt jetties
Mitchell River silt jetties
The Mitchell River silt jetties are an unusually long, thin landform located in the Gippsland Lakes region in Victoria, Australia. A type of digitate delta, they have been formed over millions of years by sediment deposition from the Mitchell River during periods of low water flow and subsequent...
(a type of digitate River Delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
), second only in length to those formed at the mouth of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Bairnsdale's commercial centre is laid out along the wide avenue of Main Street which is a continuance of the Princess Highway.
History
The AboriginalIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
name for Bairnsdale was Wy Yung (or Wy-yung), meaning spoonbill
Spoonbill
Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the Ibises.All have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side...
(a type of wading bird). Wy Yung is now the name for a suburb of Bairnsdale, located north of the town across the Mitchell River.
The current name was taken from the name of the property owned by pioneer settler Archibald Macleod, who took up the run on the west bank of the Mitchell River in 1844. Bairnsdale is probably derived from the name of Macleod’s family home on the Isle of Skye, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, which had the name ‘Bernisdale’. An alternative interpretation was that Macleod returned after a long absence to find a number of ‘bairns’ (a Scottish term for babies) at the station. The name may in fact be a conjunction of these two stories, accounting for the transformation of ‘Bernis’ to ‘Bairns’.
The town site was surveyed in 1859, with the first blocks of land sold in 1860. Lucknow on the east bank of the river (named for the Indian city of Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
to which horses bred in the Bairnsdale area were sent to aid the British Crown during the Indian uprising
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
), was already a thriving village. The Post Office opened on 2 February 1858 at Lucknow and was relocated to the township and named Bairnsdale on 3 April 1862. Lucknow remains as a suburb of Bairnsdale.
Descriptions of Bairnsdale and its inhabitants in the 1920's feature prominently in The Watcher On a Cast-Iron Balcony, an autobiography by Hal Porter
Hal Porter
Harold Edward Porter was an Australian novelist, playwright, poet and short-story writer.Porter was born in Albert Park, Victoria, grew up in Bairnsdale, Victoria and worked as a journalist, teacher and librarian. A car accident just before the outbreak of war prevented him from serving in World...
Bairnsdale was proclaimed as a City on 14 July 1990.
Landmarks
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and remain a fascination to this day.
Also of note are the garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s maintained on the median strip
Central reservation
On divided roads, such as divided highways or freeways/motorways, the central reservation , median, parkway , median strip or central nature strip is the area which separates opposing lanes of traffic...
of Main Street. This very wide median strip stretches from the Mitchell River to the western edge of town, a distance of about 4 kilometres (2 mi). The main garden section runs for over 500 metres (546.8 yd) through the central commercial district and features beds of flowering annuals
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
and perennials
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
, numerous mature deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
and evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s, war memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
s and a restored historic band rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
. The rotunda was constructed in 1910 and restored to its present condition in 1993.
Education
Educational facilities in Bairnsdale include two high schools, Bairnsdale Secondary CollegeBairnsdale Secondary College
Bairnsdale Secondary College is a public co-educational secondary school located in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia. As of 2010 the school has approximately 1,100 students from Year 7 to year 12....
which has approx 1200 students (Government) and Nagle College
Nagle College
Nagle College is a Catholic Secondary School in Bairnsdale in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia.- Background and Location :Nagle College is a Catholic Regional College, established in 1958 to provide a Catholic Secondary Education for the families in the parishes of East...
which has about 800 students (Catholic Private), a number of primary schools and kindergartens, and limited tertiary education facilities mainly consisting of the East Gippsland Institute of TAFE.
Transport
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
. The city is near the junction of the Princes Highway
Princes Highway
The Princes Highway extends from Sydney to Port Augusta via the coast through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, a distance of 1941 km or 1898 km via the former alignments of the highway ....
and the Great Alpine Road
Great Alpine Road
The Great Alpine Road is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, and passing through the Australian Alps...
. Bairnsdale is 285 kilometres (177.1 mi), or approximately three hours drive, east of the state capital Melbourne.
Rail transport is facilitated by the major railway station in Bairnsdale railway station
Bairnsdale railway station, Victoria
Bairnsdale Railway Station is the current operating terminus of the Gippsland railway in Victoria, Australia. It serves V/Line rail and coach passenger services and is located on Macleod Street....
which is the terminus of the Bairnsdale railway line. V/Line
V/Line
V/Line is a not for profit regional passenger train and coach service in Victoria, Australia. It was created after the split-up of VicRail in 1983. V/Line is owned by the V/Line Corporation which is a Victorian State Government statutory authority...
provides rail services.
Bairnsdale Cabs provides a local taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
service around the city.
The East Gippsland Rail Trail
East Gippsland Rail Trail
The East Gippsland Rail Trail is a rail trail located in East Gippsland in Victoria, Australia. The trail is a popular cycling route, beginning in Bairnsdale and extending to Orbost, following the route of the former Orbost railway line...
begins in Bairnsdale. Almost 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) in length, the multi-use trail permits walking, cycling and horseriding as it follows the alignment of the former railway line to Orbost
Orbost, Victoria
Orbost is a town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, located east of Melbourne and south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about from the town of Marlo on the coast of Bass Strait. At the 2006 census, Orbost had a population of 2452...
.
Bairnsdale also has a small regional airport
Bairnsdale Airport
Bairnsdale Airport is located at Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia, off the Princes Highway.It was originally RAAF Station Bairnsdale, which was a training establishment formed during World War II. No. 1 Operational Training Unit and the General Reconnaissance School were based there during the...
.
Newspapers
Bairnsdale's local newspapers are the Bairnsdale Advertiser for sale on Mondays and Fridays and East Gippsland news delivered free on Wednesday every week. Both publications along with several others are owned and published by East Gippsland Newspapers.Television
Commercial television networks Prime7, WINWIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a...
and Southern Cross Ten
Southern Cross Ten
Southern Cross Ten is an Australian television channel broadcast by the Macquarie Media Group in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. The channel is owned by the Macquarie Media Group as is affiliated to Network Ten...
all broadcast into Bairnsdale from the Latrobe Valley
Latrobe Valley
The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical region and urban area of Gippsland in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is east of the City Of Melbourne and nestled between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Great Dividing Range to the north – with the highest peak to the north of the...
transmitter at Mt Tassie as well as local relay transmitters located at Mount Taylor approximately 12-13km NNW from Bairnsdale. All the commercial stations are based in Traralgon
Traralgon, Victoria
Traralgon is a regional city located in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Traralgon is a city within the City of Latrobe....
and have local commercials placed on their broadcasts. WIN TV also broadcasts a local news bulletin from Monday to Friday at 6.30pm. Both national public broadcasters
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
, ABC
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
(ABC1) and SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
(SBS ONE) are broadcast into Bairnsdale as well, relayed from Melbourne via Mount Tassie.
New channels broadcast by all the networks in addition to the ones listed above are available on the digital service called Freeview (Australia)
Freeview (Australia)
Freeview is the brand given to the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia. It is intended to bring all of the free-to-air broadcasters on to a consistent marketing platform to compete against subscription television, in particular Foxtel, and coincides with the expansion to 3 digital...
to viewers in Bairnsdale and the Gippsland \ Latrobe Valley region. These channels include ABC2
ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...
, ABC3
ABC3
-Future shows:Programming confirmed for future broadcast will include:* After School Care * Bindi's Boot Camp * Bushwacked! * Dance Academy * Dancing Down Under...
, ABC News 24
ABC News 24
ABC News 24 is an Australian 24-hour news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the former ABC High Definition simulcast of ABC1 and commenced broadcasting at 7:30pm 5:30 on Thursday, 22 July 2010.-Pre-launch:The ABC announced in January 2010...
, SBS Two, One HD, Eleven
Eleven (TV channel)
Eleven is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel, which was launched by ElevenCo, on 11 January 2011.-Joint venture:...
, 7Two
7Two
7TWO is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel which was launched by the Seven Network on Sunday 1 November 2009 at 12pm....
, 7mate
7mate
7mate is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010.The network stated that 7mate would contain sport and regular programs aimed primarily at a male audience, with programming drawn from a combination of new...
, GEM
GEM (Australian TV channel)
GEM is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 26 September 2010 at 6am...
and GO!
Go! (Australian TV channel)
GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...
.
Radio
Local commercial radio services TRFM 99.9 and Gold 1242 are operated by Ace RadioAce Radio
ACE Radio is an Australian radio company, owning several AM and FM stations in Victoria.Its latest acquisition is 2AY Albury Wodonga, purchased from Macquarie Regional RadioWorks in 2005.-AM network:*1494 2AY Albury-Wodonga...
and broadcast to Bairnsdale and most listeners in the Gippsland as far west as the town of Orbost. The Gold 1242 AM 1242 kHz transmitter is located in Myrtlebank between Maffra
Maffra, Victoria
Maffra is a town in Victoria, Australia, 220 km east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agriculture, and is the site of one of Murray-Goulburn Cooperative's eight processing plants in Victoria...
and Sale. ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
stations Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
and ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
are broadcast from Mount Tassie. ABC Radio National and ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the radio service of ABC News, a division of the ABC Television Network. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Cumulus Media Networks, newscasts on the hour to its more than 2,000 affiliates...
are rebroadcast locally from Mount Taylor. ABC Gippsland
ABC Gippsland
ABC Gippsland is an ABC Local Radio station in Gippsland, Victoria. The station is based in Sale but also covers Bairnsdale, Orbost and Moe...
radio station 3GI broadcasts into Bairnsdale on 828 AM from Longford, near Sale.
Sport
The town has three Australian rules footballAustralian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
clubs, with Bairnsdale Football Club (the Redlegs) competing in the Gippsland Football League and Lucknow and Wy Yung competing in the local East Gippsland Football League
East Gippsland Football League
The East Gippsland Football League is an Australian rules football League in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia.-History:The East Gippsland FL in its present incarnation began in 1974 with the merger of the Gippsland Football League and the Bairnsdale District Football League...
.
Bairnsdale has a horse racing club, the Bairnsdale Racing Club, which schedules around eight race meetings a year including the Bairnsdale Cup meeting usually held on the first Sunday in January.
The town has two field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
clubs in the East Gippsland Hockey Association
East Gippsland Hockey Association
The East Gippsland Hockey Association is a field hockey league in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The league features five divisions, Open , Women's, under 18s, under 15s and under 13s.-History:...
. The Bairnsdale Hockey Club is based at the WORLD fields, while the Nagle Hockey Club is based at Nagle College
Nagle College
Nagle College is a Catholic Secondary School in Bairnsdale in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia.- Background and Location :Nagle College is a Catholic Regional College, established in 1958 to provide a Catholic Secondary Education for the families in the parishes of East...
, just out of town to the west.
Golfers play at the Bairnsdale Golf Club on Paynesville Road, Eagle Point or at the course of the Goose Gully Golf Greens on Balfours Road.
With its close proximity to the Gippsland Lakes and Ninety Mile Beach, along with easy access to the Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo Rivers; Bairnsdale proves to be a popular destintion for recreational anglers and good catches are reported regularly. Bait and tackle supplies, along with the required angling licenses are readily available in Bairnsdale.
Notable people
- Hal PorterHal PorterHarold Edward Porter was an Australian novelist, playwright, poet and short-story writer.Porter was born in Albert Park, Victoria, grew up in Bairnsdale, Victoria and worked as a journalist, teacher and librarian. A car accident just before the outbreak of war prevented him from serving in World...
(author) - Cameron WhiteCameron WhiteCameron Leon White is an Australian cricketer and current Australian Twenty20 captain. A powerful middle order batsman and right-arm leg-spin bowler, White made his first-class cricket debut as a teenager in the 2000–01 season for the Victorian Bushrangers as a bowling all-rounder...
(Australian cricketer) - Tom AlvinTom AlvinTom Alvin is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Carlton and Victoria.-AFL career:Easily identifiable on the field due to his flowing black hair and determined aggression, Alvin was recruited by Carlton from the Bairnsdale Football Club in the Latrobe Valley Football League.He was...
(Carlton AFL footballer)