Traralgon's nightlife booms as people seek fun despite cost-of-living pressures

Hundreds descend on a Traralgon bar for one of the final nights of dancing at the venue. (ABC Gippsland: Rachael Lucas)

It's 3am on a Sunday, and while you might hear a pin drop in the main streets of many other country towns in Australia, Traralgon in Victoria's Latrobe Valley is pumping.

Synonymous with images of coal-fired power stations and powerlines rising from picturesque, green, dairy pastures, Traralgon — population about 27,000 —  is the unlikely facilitator of a bustling, cosmopolitan night-time economy.