Editing Traralgon (section)

=== Expeditions ===

The first non-Indigenous visitors to the area of Traralgon included the party of [[Paweł Edmund Strzelecki|Count Paweł Strzelecki]] on their journey from the [[Snowy Mountains]] in April 1840, after Strzelecki had named Australia's highest peak as [[Mount Kosciuszko]]. Charley Tarra, a [[Gandangara|Burra Burra]] man from the NSW town of [[Taralga]], was the Indigenous guide for the party, which included Strzelecki; the New South Wales men James MacArthur and James Riley; and their servants, Irish convict James Nolan<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki Expedition |url=https://www.monumentaustralia.org.au/australian_monument/display/30900 |website=Monument Australia |access-date=18 August 2020}}</ref> and African convict John Rent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frew |first1=Ron |last2=Frew |first2=Catherine |title=Sounding the Ground: Nineteenth Century Journeys to Tumbarumba and the South East |date=2012|isbn=9780980653137}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Skurjat-Kozek |first1=Ernestyna |title=Strzelecki's team: pioneers of multiculturalism |url=http://www.zrobtosam.com/PulsPol/Puls3/index.php?sekcja=1&arty_id=19542 |website=Puls Polonii |access-date=18 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="legg92" />

The party crossed Latrobe River and travelled along Traralgon Creek to a heavily forested area, where the party was forced to abandon their horses and equipment. The location was commemorated by monument at Traralgon Creek, Koornalla, erected in 1927.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir PauEdmund de Strzelecki Expedition |url=https://www.monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/exploration/display/31860-sir-paul-edmund-de-strzelecki-expedition |website=Monument Australia |access-date=18 August 2020}}</ref> The team's rations were reduced to a slice of bacon and a biscuit per day, but Tarra hunted for animals to end their hunger.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Keith Vincent |title=Charley Tarra |url=https://www.eorapeople.com.au/uncategorized/charlie-tarra/ |website=Eora People |date=November 2017 |access-date=1 September 2020}}</ref> They traversed the headwaters of [[Morwell River]], before making a difficult journey across the heavily forested mountain range. They reached [[Samuel Anderson (Australian settler)|Anderson's]] run in [[Western Port]] in May 1840, then walked to Melbourne.<ref name="legg92" />

To honour the men, the mountain range was named the [[Strzelecki Ranges]], part of the forest was named Tarra Valley, later merged into [[Tarra-Bulga National Park]],<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Park |url=https://friendsoftarrabulga.org.au/park-information/history/ |website=Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park |date=6 March 2014 |access-date=1 September 2020}}</ref> and the river running from the valley to [[Port Albert]] was named [[Tarra River (Victoria)|Tarra River]]. Strzelecki named the region as Gipps' Land, later becoming [[Gippsland]], in honour of his sponsor [[Governor of New South Wales|NSW Governor]] [[George Gipps]].<ref name="legg92" />

In June 1840, a party consisting of Tarra, Riley, John Rutledge and [[Shoalhaven]] Indigenous man John Pigeon went on a second expedition to retrieve the lost horses and managed to retrieve one, by travelling through the mountains of West Gippsland, across a path that would roughly trace the present-day [[Princes Highway]]. A third expedition was made from Port Albert to Latrobe Valley in March 1841 that included [[William Adams Brodribb|William Brodribb]], Alexander Kinghorne, [[Norman McLeod (Australian politician)|Norman McLeod]] and Kirsopp with Tarra as their guide.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71614721 |title=THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA. |newspaper=[[Southern Australian]] |volume=IV |issue=212 |location=South Australia |date=1 June 1841 |access-date=7 October 2020 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In June 1841, a fourth expedition was made along the same route by William's brother Albert Brodribb, pastoralist Edward Hobson, Dr Edward Barker and four [[Boon wurrung]] men.<ref name="legg92" /><ref>{{cite journal |title=Minor Explorations 1840 and 1841 |journal=The Morwell Historical Society News |date=15 August 1975 |page=16 |url=http://www.morwellhistoricalsociety.org.au/newsletters/Vol21963.pdf}}</ref>