This tour will introduce you to early Gippsland businesses, services and every day life through time.
Your tour guide will show you how townspeople accessed services in the late 1800s, houses and farm equipment ordered via catalogues, boots made from scratch to sending a telegram. Follow the shift in communication, health care, law and fashion and find out what stayed the same and what moved on. Tours will be on the hour between 10am and 2pm.
The 8 acres of parkland welcomes you to explore the rest of our history after your tour, the cafe on-site and the park is open until 4pm.
Category: Gardens and Architecture
Railway Dog Launch
Join the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail committee of management at the launch of the three Railway Dog sculptures along the trail.
All welcome, including dogs (on a lead).
With the uncovering of the story of the Railway Dog via the Gippsland History group, networks soon got together to initiate the creative project, with the committee receiving a generous grant from Alinta Loy Yang B power station and the contracting of Jo Caminiti, a local Cowwarr-based artist to commission the three Railway Dog sculptures.
The Story of the Railway Dog
In the 1930s, a female red kelpie known as the Railway Dog adopted the Traralgon rail crew and was a “confirmed tourist” travelling the trains around Gippsland.
In December 1935, the Railway Dog made the front page of the Melbourne Herald “Gippsland’s Wonder Dog Believes in Two Means of Locomotion” which told the story of her missing the Stratford train then giving chase for 20 miles from Traralgon to Cowwarr.
Come along and celebrate the epic adventures of a courageous and much loved local legend.
International Rose Garden Festival
The International Rose Garden Festival Morwell continues to grow in strength and popularity.
Held in mid-November to showcase the roses and garden in season and in full bloom, the festival program has evolved to deliver family-friendly activities and entertainment across multiple days.
Showcasing the international award-winning Rose Garden in the heart of Morwell and celebrating the work of the Friends of the Rose Garden Volunteers, the 2026 Festival promises to be a blooming spectacle of colour and light for all ages.
Visitors can explore the roses, take part in a range of free activities, treat their taste buds to a traditional Devonshire Tea at the CWA marquee or partake in retail therapy at the garden and market stalls.
The festival kick’s off on Friday night with food trucks, roving performers and a kid’s disco with DJ Nige from 6.30pm. On Saturday, parents and kids are in for a treat with Costa the Gnome, dirtgirl and scrapboy from dirtgirlworld, performing their grubby bucket live stage show and hosting a Storytime! Novice gardeners are invited to participate in the cut rose competition for the chance to win great prizes.
Festival partner AGL Loy Yang, presents the Night Light Installation during the evenings. Explore the garden at night when the roses are transformed into a kaleidoscope of colour from hundreds of fairy lights, festoons and LED lights. The popular roving insect puppets return and visitors are encouraged to find the giant animal and insect lanterns scattered throughout the garden.
Rug up, enjoy a picnic amongst the roses with food from the festival food trucks and chill out to the tunes from local musicians.
This event has free entry and the full program can be found on the event website.
Miniature Train Rides
Miniature steam and diesel train rides operate for the public, weather permitting, between 12:00pm and 4:00pm on the fourth Sunday of each month (February – November), with extra events scheduled during December.
Run by volunteers of the Gippsland Model Engineering Society within Newman Park, Peterkin Street, Traralgon.
Scheduled Ride Day:
- Sunday 22 February
- Sunday 22 March
- Sunday 26 April
- Sunday 24 May
- Sunday 28 June
- Sunday 26 July
- Sunday 23 August
- Sunday 27 September
- Sunday 25 October
- Sunday 22 November
Rides are $4.00 per person.
Please note: As with other miniature railways – insurance, health and safety regulations require that all passengers MUST wear enclosed footwear. No bare feet, thongs, sandals or other open-toed footwear can be permitted on the trains. To avoid disappointment, we do have suitable footwear in various sizes available at the station to borrow.
For safety reasons, babies and small children that need to be held are unable to ride the trains. All passengers must be able to be seated.