'East of Melbourne, 135 kilometres down the Bass Coast, is the town of Wonthaggi. It's a small town of about 4,500 people; it's where people from nearby, more picturesque holiday towns like Inverloch and Cape Patterson do their shopping. The town was established in the early twentieth century by the Victorian government to accommodate the families of miners who worked in the State Coal Mine. In the centre of Wonthaggi, or halfway down the main street - it's a one-street-one-set-of-traffic-lights sort of place - there is an old whistle tower that used to signal the start and end of the three shifts at the mine. It is silent now. In the 1960s, when Victoria's rail network switched to diesel, the mine closed; now it's a local tourist attraction. The railway track, which was used to transport the coal to Melbourne, is now a cycling and jogging track, and only goes as far as San Remo, twenty-five kilometres down the road. In 2002 a planning permit was issued by the State Government of Victoria for a wind farm three kilometres from Wonthaggi town centre. Today, the largest employer in Wonthaggi and the surrounding shire is Bass Coast Regional Health.' (Publication abstract)
