The earliest inhabitants of the Morwell district were the
Braiakaulung people, one of the five
Indigenous Australian clans of the
Gunai/Kurnai nation. The Braiakaulung people manufactured stone tools, as long as 5,000 years ago, from
silcrete quarries in the Haunted Hills, west of Morwell The first Europeans to travel through the area include party of
Count Paweł Strzelecki on their journey from the
Snowy Mountains in April 1840, after Strzelecki had named Australia's highest peak as
Mount Kosciuszko. In 1838, Scottish pastoralist
Angus McMillan rode horses up the Latrobe River near Sale, but not as far as Morwell, then made further journeys to Latrobe River after Strzelecki had visited the area. McMillan named the region as 'Caledonia Australis' after his homeland, but the preferred name was 'Gipps Land', later becoming
Gippsland, as chosen by Strzelecki in honour of
New South Wales Governor George Gipps. The 1870s were a time of railway building in Victoria. In 1873, the government approved the construction of a railway line from Melbourne to
Sale and it was this decision which gave rise to the development of the township of Morwell. The railway station was approximately 3 miles (5 km) from the settlement by the river, leading to new development occurring around the railway station. The first public sale of land in the town took place in January 1879 but there were at least ten traders operating in the town by that time, a Post Office in the township having been open since 1875 (an earlier PO having served the rural area from 1870 to 1873). On 1 January 1880 Morwell PO was renamed Morwell Bridge and Morwell Railway Station PO (open since 1877) became the main Morwell PO. A major Research and Development project into the conversion of
brown coal into oil, (Brown Coal Liquefaction Victoria or BCLV) was established in Morwell in 1983/84. Funded by the Japanese Government at a cost of over one billion dollars this project established a 50 tonne per day pilot plant which ran until 1991. Thriving on the success of the power industry, Morwell developed into a city offering substantial housing and financial opportunities for its many residents. With the general growth of the Latrobe Valley, Morwell's success appeared destined to continue. However, the approval by the City of Morwell to build the Mid Valley Shopping Centre complex away from the CBD led to the decline of the CBD, with many empty shopfronts the result. Further, restructuring and privatisation of the State Electricity Commission in the 1990s led to massive job losses in the region, which accelerated the decline of Morwell's central business district. Many shops are now empty and in a state of disrepair. Amalgamation of the local councils following a Statewide review of local government boundaries in 1994 saw Morwell become part of the City of Latrobe and the civic centre established in Traralgon. With the re-establishment of an elected council, the civic centre was moved back to Morwell and the new council building constructed in 2005 in the hope of leading to a revitalisation of the city centre. Unfortunately, that revitalisation failed to eventuate. The new justice precinct was completed in 2006 and has somewhat increased CBD activity as alleged criminals come to the Morwell justice precinct for processing through the Justice System. Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in March 2011 show the average wage of Morwell residents to be the lowest of the three major Latrobe Valley towns. Morwell is the headquarters of the Central Gippsland Institute of
Technical and Further Education. It also is home to the
Latrobe Regional Gallery, a major regional art gallery with an excellent local collection, and is noted for its extensive rose gardens. Nearby at Churchill is the Gippsland Campus of Federation University. A commemorative bust of Lt Gen Sir
Stanley Savige was erected in 2006. Born in Morwell, Savige founded
Legacy Australia following World War 1 to assist widows and families of servicemen. Morwell is home to the Morwell Centenary Rose Garden, a parkland of over 2 hectares on a former railway reserve that showcases over 3500 roses. In 2009, the garden was presented an 'Award of Garden Excellence' by the World Federation of Rose Societies. Throughout April–July 2025, Morwell experienced an economic boom during the
mushroom murder trial of Erin Patterson, who was found guilty of the four charges (three of murder and another of attempted murder) laid against her. ==Geography==