Newsletter: The shocking state of Gippsland’s roads

Get a mouthful of the region's new oyster industry, a million dollar post office repair and Foster’s new skate park.

Author

Jacob Wallace
October 22, 2025

⏱️ This midweek edition of our newsletter is a 6-minute read.

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

🏙️ I wasn’t in your inbox last Friday because my parents were visiting me all the way from the west coast.

🍽️ One of the places I took them to while they were in Victoria was Farmer’s Daughters in Melbourne’s CBD. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re a restaurant that gets all of their ingredients from Gippsland farmers and producers.

🥩 They cooked one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. If you’re ever spending a night in the city it’s definitely worth heading there for a feed.

👀 A quick rundown of the week

🔍 Even though the newsletter wasn’t in your inbox on Friday the Monitor was still putting out stories so there’s a tonne of local info to catch up on in this edition.

✍️ Here’s a quick list of the stories you can expect to see in this email: Gippsland’s roads get a one star review from the state government, South Gippsland debates the location of Foster’s new skatepark, Bass Coast Shire spends a million dollars on restoring Wonthaggi’s old post office and two local representatives are heading to Barcelona to chat about agriculture, industry and clean energy.

🦪 Also, Gippsland might be home to an emerging million dollar industry: Oyster farming. Check out a video I made on Gippsland’s oyster trial below.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

🤳 If you’re not already subscribed, you can keep up to date with everything we’re reporting on at the Gippsland Monitor on these platforms:
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🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns, local interviews and silly videos!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

The Department of Transport and planning has reviewed the safety of Victoria’s state owned roads using the Australian Road Assessment program, which rates how well roads protect drivers from serious crashes.

How do you think Gippsland went? Surprise surprise, not so good.

Read the whole story here or take a look at the video I made on this story below.

Is Wonthaggi’s 114-year-old heritage-listed post office worth a million dollars? Bass Coast Shire Council certainly thinks so.

What happened: Last week, the Bass Coast Shire council awarded a $1.01 million contract for the refurbishment of Wonthaggi’s Old Post Office to local builder TS Constructions.

  • The project is fully funded by Bass Coast Shire Council.

  • It aims to restore and preserve one of Wonthaggi’s significant heritage landmarks.

🎤 Mayor Rochelle Halstead told the Monitor: “It’s about ensuring the building remains safe, accessible and structurally sound.”

The history: Originally built in 1911, the building once served as the town’s communications hub. 

  • Telegrams were sent across Australia from the building and messages arrived by Morse code, connecting Wonthaggi residents to the rest of the country.

A new Foster skate park is heading to the showgrounds - but exactly where it lands within the grounds is still up for discussion after councillors heard strong pushback from some community groups.

What happened: South Gippsland Shire council has voted to put in motion plans to construct a new skate park in Foster. The current Pioneer Street facility needs replacing due to its age.

Showground location is likely: An alternate motion brought by councillor Brad Snell endorsed the Foster showgrounds as the site of the skate park but delayed choosing an exact location until the council’s 2026/27 master plan.

  • The master plan will lay out all South Gippsland’s infrastructure works.

  • Snell said more consultation would take place before to allow the council to make the best decision for the community.

The opposition: The Foster & District Agricultural & Pastoral Society, who use the showgrounds for events, "advocated strongly against" the location according to councillor Scott Rae.

  • Rae said the agricultural group had the largest turnout to community consultations on the skate park and thought it was important it goes "somewhere where it causes least amount of inconvenience to current users".

Latrobe City’s mayor and a South Gippsland councillor will travel to Spain in November, investigating new ways to improve agriculture, energy and business in the region.

What happened: Latrobe City Council Mayor Dale Harriman, along with South Gippsland councillor and chair of One Gippsland Nathan Hersey, will represent the region at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona in early November.

The Smart City World Congress seeks to promote international cooperation on sustainable urban and regional development.

Gippsland has always been a prominent farming region, and now the area looks set to cultivate a different industry: Sydney rock oysters.

Oyster trail in Gippsland lakes: A trial to grow Sydney rock oysters in Gippsland first began in 2022 at four sites around Flannagans and Rigbys islands, west of Lakes Entrance.

  • The project aimed to assess the viability and quality of growing the species in the area by planting over 10,000 oysters. And initial results are very positive.

Oysters are native to Gippsland lakes but have never been farmed at scale.

Supporting local industry and people: The project is a partnership between the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) and the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA).

  • It’s hoped that a native oyster industry in the Gippsland lakes will create jobs for Gunaikurnai First Peoples, support regional tourism and supply fresh, local and sustainable seafood.

🎥 WATCH: Chef Raj’s Kitchen pie review 🥧 

 🚗 As I travel around the region chatting to Gippslanders, I’m always looking out for good places to eat. A few people told me to try Chef Raj’s Kitchen in Drouin and I’ve got to say it didn’t disappoint. Take a look at my video review for one of their pies below.

🎊 Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this midweek issue of our newsletter and I’ll be back in your inbox on Friday morning with plenty more local content.

📧 If you have something that you think is worth sharing, whether it’s a bit of information about your town, some regional knowledge you think is important, details about an upcoming event or a photograph of a sunrise in Gippsland then send it to [email protected] and it might end up in our next newsletter.

👋 Have a great week everyone.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team