Briagolong, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Briagolong
state = vic


caption =
lga = Shire of Wellington
postcode = 3860
est =
pop = 937 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC25209 | name = Briagolong (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Gippsland East
fedgov = Gippsland
dist1 = 246
dir1 = E
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 32
dir2 = N
location2= Sale
dist3 = 20
dir3 = NE
location3= Maffra

Briagolong is a town in the Australian state of Victoria, located 20 kilometres north of Maffra and some 270 kilometres east of Melbourne, in the Shire of Wellington region of Gippsland. At the 2006 census, Briagolong had a population of 937.

History

Briagolong Post Office opened on 1 May 1871. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

The town's principal industry has been timber, and it supplied red gum paving blocks for Melbourne's streets, and stringybark for the flooring at Australia House in London.

Today

The principal industries today are honey production and fruit growing.

Briagolong was the home town of Private Jake Kovco, Australia's first military casualty in the Iraq War. The funeral for Private Kovco was held in the town on 2 May 2006, and was attended by Prime Minister John Howard, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, Defence Force Chief Angus Houston and Army Chief Peter Leahy.

The town in conjunction with neighbouring township Boisdale has an Australian Rules football team Boisdale-Briagolong competing in the North Gippsland Football League.

References