Picture a small town nestled in Gippsland. This is Nilma. Its story begins not with grand pronouncements but with the rhythmic chug of a steam train. The railway line to Gippsland surveyed in the mid-1870s changed everything. A small settlement blossomed. It was called Bloomfield then. Named perhaps after a place in Ireland.
Before the railway’s arrival in 1878 supplies came by packhorse from Brandy Creek. A ten kilometer journey. Imagine the effort. The first store opened in 1882. A butcher a baker and a hotel soon followed. Life in Bloomfield hummed with the sounds of industry. Sawmills thrived. Tramlines transported timber to the railway siding.
By the end of the 1880s much of the forest was gone. A firewood mill even began operations in 1893. Farming flourished. Settlers grew wheat barley onions and potatoes. Dairying boomed. A creamery was established. A new butter factory opened near the railway station in 1903.
By 1903 Nilma was thriving. A flourishing township the Australian Handbook called it. But confusion arose with mail destined for another town. In 1910 the name changed. Nilma an Aboriginal word meaning either call or the home of the gang gang parrot was chosen.
A new school opened that year. An Anglican church was built in 1908. A new hall in 1912. A Methodist church arrived in 1933. Life in Nilma continued. Dairying remained the main industry.
Improvements in roads and transport led to gradual decline. Nilma’s railway station closed in 1950. The Methodist church closed in 1973. The post office followed in 1978. The Anglican church is now a private residence. In 1984 the hall and four houses were demolished for highway improvements.
Today the railway line and Princes Freeway divide the town. The school survives. It’s popular with Warragul residents who prefer a rural setting. There’s an antiques shop a reminder of the past. Nilma stands as a testament to a bygone era a place where the echoes of steam trains and sawmills still resonate. A place where history and nature meet.