The decentralisation of industry, as a wartime security measure and as a government policy in peacetime to foster urban growth outside the metropolis, has enabled Victorian towns to acquire industries which otherwise might have been established in Melbourne. Geelong, Ballarat,
Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley have been the foci of decentralisation activity, but the policy is also responsible for the location of many firms in
smaller towns. Although decentralisation measures have stimulated rapid growth only in a few places, the establishment of labour intensive
industries, such as clothing factories, have enabled towns to retain a greater proportion of the local-born workforce.
In addition to its role in decentralisation, the government has been instrumental in creating new towns and in revitalising some old ones. Wonthaggi was established to supply coal to the Victorian Railways, the towns of Terang, Rob invale and Redcliffs owe their origins mainly to soldier settlement projects, M t . Beauty was founded to accommodate
construction workers employed on the Kiewa hydro-electric scheme, and the Latrobe Valley towns of Yallourn and Churchill were built by the State Electricity Commission for workers in its coal mines and power stations.
Nevertheless, the state and federal governments' major contribution to the post-war growth of non-metropolitan urban centres in Victoria has
Universal Business Directories Pty. Ltd., Business and Street Directory, (Victoria), Section 6, Warrnambool , 22nd Edition, 1972, p.24.
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At the 1966 census, 54 percent of the manufacturing workforce in Shepparton were engaged in the 'food, drink and tobacco' industry. 88
At the 1966 census, 63 percent of the manufacturing workforce in Traralgon were engaged in the industry group 'paper, printing etc.' The Maryvale Paper Mill is situated ten kilometres from Traralgon.
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been in the expansion of existing centres in the Latrobe Valley together with Geelong and Portland. Prior to 1947, most of Victoria’s electricity
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was generated from black coal imported from New South Wales. The decision to increase exploitation of brown coal deposits in the Latrobe Valley, to meet rising electricity needs in Melbourne and the rest of the
State, was a turning point in urban evolution in the Valley. The expansion of coal mining and power generation greatly enlarged the populations of the long-established towns of Moe and Morwell, Moe-Yallourn growing by 118 percent 1947-1971, while Morwell grew by 325 percent. The provision of housing by the State Electricity Commission and the Victorian Housing Commission, and the intake of workers through the Australian government's immigration programme, made this rapid growth possible.
Immigration also contributed to the rapid and continuous growth of Geelong in the post-war period. In 1966, 30 percent of the population of the Geelong Statistical District were overseas-born people compared with the State average of 21 percent. The Victorian Housing Commission has been responsible for the development of housing estates at Norlane, Corio
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and Thomson, thereby facilitating the rapid growth of the city. As well, industrialisation has been greatly assisted by protective tariffs on imports and by government negotiations over the siting of large firms.
Although still only a small town compared with Geelong, the urban centre of Portland (1971 pop. 8,212) doubled its population between 1947 and 1971, almost entirely as a result of government expenditure on port development. Portland was the site of the first permanent white settlement in Victoria (1834), but its growth was stultified first by political
maneuvering and later by an inability to compete with Port Melbourne. Whereas political factors were an impediment to growth in Portland’s early history, in the post-war period political decisions were decisive in. the town's expansion. Between 1952 and 1961 a deep-sea port was developed on Portland Bay to serve western Victoria and southeastern South Australia. The port has been equipped especially for the handling of wheat, wool, meat, petroleum products and materials for fertilisers. Yet despite Portland's nearness to the main wheat growing district of the Wimmera, 89
Central Planning Authority, West Gippsland Region, p.84. 90
Smail, L.J., 'Post-War Urban Expansion in Geelong', Australian Geographer, 1968, 10, p.412.
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two-thirds of Victoria's wheat is still handled at Geelong, and the centralisation of container shipping at Melbourne has affected Portland's
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exports of wool, butter, cheese and meat. Thus Portland has not been able to fully exploit the advantages of its central location and its deep-sea port.
It is apparent that in the post-war period, the role of government, at both the state and federal levels, has been the single most important
factor in urbanisation in non-metropolitan Victoria. The exploitation of natural resources such as coal and natural gas, the development of ports, the preservation of tariff barriers, the siting of industry, the provision of housing and the promotion of immigration, have all been major influences on urban growth and have all been areas of government concern.
Although urbanisation can be managed to some extent by government intervention into growth processes, there are a number of developmental factors in Australian urbanisation which seem to be inherent in the
nature of the settlement pattern. These factors were deduced by Johnston from an investigation of population changes in Australian small towns
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(population 1,000 - 25,000) in the period 1961-1966. Johnston found that the probability of rapid population growth in towns increased directly with (1) initial size, (2) population increase in the neighbouring rural area, and (3) proximity to a metropolitan city.
Metropolitan areas have generated growth on their peripheries through suburban sprawl, the creation of dormitory towns and satellite industrial centres, as well as through the rising demand for places of retirement, weekend resorts and holiday centres. Such generative effects are not confined to the metropolis, as Geelong has induced similar growth in neighbouring areas. For example, the townships of Highton, Lara, Leopold and Grovedale have attracted home owners and Highton has now merged into the Geelong suburb of Belmont. Also, industrialisation near Geelong at P t . Henry, initially through the building of the Alcoa
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