The historic township of Mirboo North  may be found in the north-eastern corner of the South Gippsland Shire.

It is known as the "capital" of the scenically spectacular Grand Ridge Road, and marks the half-way point along a 132-kilometre route through the Strzelecki Ranges from Nyora to Carrajung.

Mirboo North was established during the 1870s, where the Grand Ridge Road now crosses paths with the Strzelecki Highway, about half-way between Leongatha and Morwell.

The town's wide main street is known as Ridgway, and has the South Gippsland region stretching away towards the coast and Bass Strait on one side, with the LaTrobe Valley opening out to the north on the other.

The land all around Mirboo North was once completely covered with forests of mountain ash, blackwood and tall tree ferns.

Clearing began in the 1870s when the district was opened up for selection and soon dairy-farming replaced timber-cutting as Mirboo North's main industry.

These days, Mirboo North still serves the district's farming community as well as a growing number of visitors who come to enjoy country life, fresh air and natural beauty.

 

The former Mirboo North Butter actory is where the prize-winning Grand Ridge Brewery now makes the region's own range of fine beers and stouts.

 

 
 


Josh Green tests his BMX skills on
Mirboo North's skate and cycling
bowl in Baromi Park
 
 

A railway line linking Mirboo North with Morwell via Boolarra was built in 1886 and carried both passengers and goods until it was closed in 1974.

After the tracks, sleepers and ballast were lifted between Mirboo North and Boolarra, the railway became a 16-kilometre-or-so trail through remnant and regrowth bushland for walkers, horse-riders and cyclists to explore.

   
The Mirboo North- Boolarra Rail Trail gives the visitor a sense of just what the massive Great Southern Forest that used to cover Gippsland would have been like before the land was cleared.

Mirboo North's Baths Road Reserve features an unusual spring-fed water fern plant community known as the King Fern Gully and about two kilometres of walking tracks.

The 4.8-kilometre Lyrebird Forest Walk, which starts about 2.8 kilometres out of Mirboo North, winds its way through the Strzelecki State Forest.

   
   
   
 

Look out for the town's gallery of life-size murals depicting  the pioneer era to be seen on many of the commercial buildings along Ridgway.
 

On the front of Connell's Bakery is a mural depicting the early days of the timber industry.
   

 

The Mirboo North to Morwell Railway was built in 1886, closed in 1974 and is now a Rail Trail for walkers, horse-riders and cyclists as far as Boolarra.

  

 
 

Mirboo North's many parks, reserves and sporting grounds still look as they did at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. 

  
 

 

Mirboo North's Commercial Hotel Motel still operates on its original site on Ridgway, and the beer is as popular as ever!

  
 
 

The rolling farmland continues in the distance beyond the mural on the side wall of Mirboo North's FoodWay Supermarket.