Warragul is a rural centre with a population of 10,397 people (census 2001), 100 kilometres east of Melbourne. The town is named after an aboriginal word meaning, "Wild Dog."
It is the home of the Gippsland Field Days, and was settled after the construction of the Traralgon railway line in 1877. Warragul has produced outstanding gourment foods for most of its existence. Also noted for its sports heroes: Kathy Watt (cycling gold medal, Barcelona Olympics 1992); former coach of Adelaide Crows Football Team and former Hawthorn premiership player Gary Ayres ; Footscray (Western Bulldogs) and Sydney Swans Brownlow Medalist Barry Round; first Brownlow Medalist and Geelong Footballer Edward 'Carjie' Greeves; and boxing champion Lionel Rose.
It is regarded as a dairy farming and niche agriculture centre which lies between the Strzelecki Hills to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau to the north.
McMillan Institute of Land and Food Resources (University of Melbourne) has a campus in Warragul specializing in training for dairy, horticulture and horses as well as farm management.
Warragul's Petersville Milk Products Factory in Queen Street, supplied the famous Peters Ice Cream brand's factory in Mulgrave with all the dairy raw material (fresh cream and concentrated skim milk) for 35 years.
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