Pioneers of Leongatha & DistrictPrint Page

The gates at the entrance to the Recreation Ground commemorate the pioneers of Leongatha and District.

Europeans first moved into the area in 1845 and settlers began to clear the huge mountain ash trees from the environment in the 1870s. Dairying became important in the area in the 1880s. It received a considerable boost with the exporting opportunities provided by the arrival of the railway in 1891. During the recession which followed the land boom of the 1880s the government sought ways to alleviate unemployment and the dangers believed to be associated with it.

Influenced by German examples they decided to establish a labour colony and selected Leongatha as a site, due principally to the large forests of blue gum and messmate considered to be in need of destruction by locals. The colony was intended to be self-supporting. Twelve men arrived in 1893 and were housed in tents. From that time until 1903, when it was closed due to the completion of the clearing project, 6000 men passed through the colony. The land was subdivided for soldier settlement after World War One

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