The La Trobe River is a river in Gippsland

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...

. It begins in the area between Powelltown and Noojee where it shares a watershed with the Little Yarra River, a tributary of the Yarra River

Yarra River

The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...

, and has a number of tributaries joining it from the southern slopes of the Baw Baw plateau, part of the Australian Alps

Australian Alps

The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in southeastern Australia and straddle the Australian Capital Territory, south-eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria...

. It first flows in an easterly direction, then south, and then east again through 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...

 into Lake Wellington, one of the Gippsland Lakes

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...

. Tributaries include the Moe, Tanjil and Tyers Rivers.

Lake Narracan

Lake Narracan

Lake Narracan is an artificial lake on the Latrobe River built to supply cooling water for the nearby brown coal fired power stations.-Location:...

 is a storage reservoir on the river near Newborough, Victoria

Newborough, Victoria

Newborough is a town in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia which shares a border to its west, mostly along the Narracan Creek, with the town of Moe. It can be divided into three areas, Old Newborough, East Newborough and North Newborough...

, built to supply cooling water for the nearby brown coal fired power stations.

Etymology

The river was Named by W. A. Brodribb in 1841 after C. J. La Trobe, Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant governor (Australia)

In contemporary Australian state constitutions, a lieutenant governor is a standing appointment for a deputy governor, to act in place of the governor if they are unable, unavailable or unwilling to act. There is no deputy for the Commonwealth governor-general; instead, the senior state governor...

 of the Port Phillip District

Port Phillip District

The Port Phillip District was an historical administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales, existing from September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria....

.