Drouin
Postcode: 3818
Drouin is a major service town, located in West Gippsland, 90 km east of Melbourne. Its local government area is the Baw Baw Shire. The town is supposedly named after a Frenchman who invented a chlorination process for the extraction of gold. New estate developments have accelerated the town’s residential growth in recent years. At the 2001 census, Drouin had a population of 5,800.
The town has progressed steadily. In 1904, the population was 700. By 1933, there were just over 1,000 inhabitants and by 1970, 2,750. From the 1970s, the subdivision of an industrial estate on the south-east edge of the town had encouraged the growth of light industry. A number of housing subdivisions have also been initiated, as well as rural residential subdivision on the fringes of the town. The construction of a freeway bypassing Drouin allowed the remodelling of the shopping centre. By 1981, the population was 3,492 and in 1991 was 4,100. The Victorian Municipal Directory described the town in 1994.
Drouin Nature Reserve has 3 km of walking tracks set in 14 hectares of natural bush land, featuring a boardwalk surrounded by Scrambling Coral and Soft Tree Ferns.
Drouin holds an annual Ficifolia Festival. Ficofolia are the flowering gum trees which occur throughout the town.