Warrion, Victoria

Warrion is a village in south west Victoria, Australia. Its buildings include a motor vehicle and farm equipment workshop, the Ti Tree Hotel, a church, a fire brigade station manned by volunteers and a community hall. Warrion sits at the foot of Warrion Hill. At the, the town and surrounding area had a population of 525.There are a number of early and important references (see below) to first contact with local aboriginal inhabitants.Warrion Post Office opened on 24 August 1875 and closed in 1976.The general store was owned throughout the 1950s and later by George Glover and his wife. The Glovers drove a 100E Ford Prefect panel van and sold home-made lunchtime pies to schools across the district. Mr Glover sold the pies from a pie warmer from the rear tailgate. His wife sat on the tailgate dispensing tomato sauce for a penny a serve. The Glovers sold meat, fish, vegetable, apple and apricot pies.Augustus (Gus) Goonan owned and operated the Ti Tree Hotel, and the service station was owned and operated by Stan Tune.Main rural industries included cropping of peas and onions, and dairy farming. Warrion has important groundwater resources which are used widely in local farming activities. Farming families included Leahy, Carroll, Kerr, Hay, Cowley, Chant, De Lorenzo, Monaco and Illett.In recent years, farms have been absorbed into larger landholdings, with an associated decline in rural population. Underground water storage is under threat due to a prolonged drought and an increase in irrigation from large capacity bores on huge dairy farms.The historic stone walls have recently been roughly plundered without consideration for heritage or visual appeal. The walls have been bulldozed and transported for sale into metropolitan landscaping businesses by some local large dairy farming enterprises.