Melbourne Australia

MARIBYRNONG
Maribyrnong is a residential and industrial suburb enclosed on three sides by the Maribyrnong River, 6 km. north-west of Melbourne. The southern side is adjacent to Maidstone. Maribyrnong city and the Maribyrnong River valley are discussed at the end of this entry. Maribyrnong was spelled "Marriburnong" in a map dated 1840. The name is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning saltwater river. Joseph Raleigh operated a punt near the present Raleigh Street bridge, and he established a boiling-down works for the production of tallow when the livestock market collapsed in 1843, the year of Raleigh's arrival in Port Phillip. He went on to establish a meat preserving works on the river bank, overlooked by a castle-like structure evidently meant for accommodation of shepherds and workers. The present-day location of these buildings is Pipemakers Park, which is overlooked by the basalt hill which goes back toward Highpoint Shopping Centre.

MAROONDAH
Maroondah is a city formed on 15 December, 1994, by the amalgamation of the former cities of Croydon and Ringwood and the district of Kilsyth South. Its western boundary adjoins Mitcham and its eastern boundary Mooroolbark. The northern boundary adjoins Warrandyte and the southern boundary is the Dandenong Creek. The administrative centre is the former Ringwood civic centre, and the former Croydon municipal offices are a customer service office. The name Maroondah comes from the Maroondah reservoir (1927) and the Maroondah Highway, which is a main road from Melbourne to Lilydale and thence across the Yarra Ranges, in which the reservoir is situated. Maroondah is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning pine trees. Most of Maroondah city is undulating landscape, other than the valley plain along the Dandenong Creek.

MEADOW HEIGHTS
Meadow Heights is a residential area 18, km. north of Melbourne and 2 km. north of the Broadmeadows town centre. The east-west flight path for the Melbourne International Airport separates it from Broadmeadows. Until about 1995 Meadow Heights was part of Coolaroo, from which it is divided by Pascoe Vale Road, although the Urban Land Authority had described the area as Meadow Heights since it acquired land in the area in 1983. The Authority's land comprised about 3,900 house lots, which followed on from the Housing Commission's earlier estates in Westmeadows and which preceded the Authority's next estate at Roxburgh Park to the north.

MELTON / MELTON SOUTH / MELTON WEST
Melton is a residential township 35 km. west-north-west of Melbourne on the Western Highway to Ballarat. It was characterised as a satellite town during the 1970s, and to some extent was still that in the 1990s, as Rockbank to its east was sparsely settled in a residential sense. Melton is on undulating basaltic and alluvial plains, dissected by the Toolern and other creeks which enter the Werribee River to the south of the township. Eastwards are two basaltic cones, Mounts Cottrell and Kororoit. The name came from Melton Mawbray, England, a place famous for hunting and coursing. Several early settlers ran hounds on their properties, which were also venues for hunt clubs.


Mentone

MENTONE
Mentone, a sea-side residential suburb on Port Phillip Bay, is 22 km. south-east of Melbourne. Before the formation of the township the area was known as Balcombe, after the name of the occupier of land between Balcombe Road and the Bay, west of Warrigal Road, where central Mentone is now situated. When the railway line between Caulfield and Frankston was opened in 1881 the station was named Balcombe's Road and remained so until 1884.
The land booming 1880s attracted developers J.H. Knipe and Sir Matthew Davies to the area, and Davies was chiefly responsible for laying out the Mentone Township Estate. It was named after the British Prime Minister Gladstone's favourite Italian Mediterranean resort and contains Italian Mediterranean street names such as Venice, Naples, Florence and Como. Whilst the foreshadowed residential development did not equal expectations, the population was sufficient by 1889 for a primary school to be opened.

MENZIES CREEK
Menzies Creek is a rural township in the Dandenong Ranges, 42 km. south-east of Melbourne, and 5 km. east of Belgrave. It was the second station from Belgrave on the narrow gauge railway to Gembrook, now the "Puffing Billy" scenic railway. The station, however, was named Aura after a nearby property, and the two names co-existed until the 1940s. Aura is now part of the name of a lake linked to the Cardinia reservoir. The name Menzies Creek came from James Menzies, an early miner on the Emerald diggings. Extensive gold workings occurred in the Menzies Creek area in the 1860s, followed by timber splitters and, later, selectors in 1873. The slopes above Menzies Creek were noted for giant mountain ash trees and tree ferns.

MERINDA PARK
Merinda Park is a railway station located in the suburb of Cranbourne North, on the Cranbourne railway line. Merinda Park station opened on March 24, 1995, as part of the electrification of the Cranbourne line.

MERNDA
Mernda, on the edge of metropolitan Melbourne, is 26 km. to its north. Originally known as Morang until 1893, then South Yan Yean, the name Mernda was given in 1913 to distinguish the locality from the Yan Yean reservoir and picnic grounds. The name Mernda is derived from an Aboriginal word thought to mean earth. When Mernda was named in 1913 it had a school, a Methodist church, a store, a railway station and a mechanics' institute. The institute was used for the Whittlesea shire council's chambers until the 1920s. Mernda had several dairy farms for metropolitan milk supply. A live stock sale yards operated beside the Bridge Inn, which had been built in 1841.

MERLYNSTON
Merlynston is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Upfield line in the suburb of Coburg North. Merlynston station opened on October 8, 1889 as North Coburg. It closed in 1903, and reopened in 1914. It was renamed Merlynston in 1922.

MERRI
Merri is a railway station located in the suburb of Northcote, on the Epping railway line. Merri station opened on October 8, 1889 as Northcote. It was renamed Merri in 1906.

MERRICKS / MERRICKS BEACH / MERRICKS NORTH
Merricks is a small town located in the southeastern Mornington Peninsula between Hastings and Flinders. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula. Merricks was part of the Parish of Balnarring and is believed to be named after an early cattle station owner. It was first settled in 1865 by John Caldwell, who built "Koonoona", a wattle cottage. Unlike Balnarring and Hastings, Merricks's early settlers preferred running cattle and sheep to growing orchards. Marricks takes its name from an early European settler. An interesting fact about Merricks Beach is that all of the streets in the area are still unsealed and it has experienced little change since the 1960s. The area also has a significant Koala population.

MICKLEHAM
Mickleham is 32 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hume. At the 2006 Census, Mickleham had a population of 1,287. Mickleham Post Office opened on 1 February 1862. To the west of the locality a Konagaderrer office opened in 1913 as settlement took place along Deep Creek but closed in 1920. This area is now known as Konagaderra Springs. The locality is named after the village of Mickleham in Surrey, England, which lies in the Mole valley between Dorking and Letherhead.

MIDDLE PARK
Middle Park, between the suburbs of Albert Park and St. Kilda, is 5 km. south of Melbourne. Its southern border is the Port Philip Bay and the northern border is the Albert Park parkland. In 1857 a railway line was opened between Melbourne and St. Kilda, running along high ground to the south of the Albert Park Lagoon. There was also a linear lagoon on the other side of the railway, occupying about a quarter of the area of Middle Park. Most of Middle Park is not more than four metres above sea level.
In 1876 Canterbury Road, beside the railway line, was made and in 1879 the foreshore road was made and named Beaconsfield Parade. Low-lying areas were filled in. During the 1880s land was released for housing and the Middle Park railway station opened. Incomplete drainage systems caused subdividers to favour larger blocks than those in South Melbourne, foreshadowing the next century's preference for quarter-acre sites. By 1885 there were nearly 1,400 pupils at the neighbouring Albert Park primary school, and two years later a primary school was opened in Middle Park. By 1891 it had 600 pupils. In 1916 it became Melbourne's first central school, continuing to year 8 until 1968. Notable pupils have included the Mott family (champion diver and champion swimmer), Justice Rae Else-Mitchell, Sue Calwell and Simon Crean. Middle Park is a conservation area under the register of the National Estate, described as having mainly Edwardian dwellings, wide streets with mature trees and bluestone kerbs, and double storey shops in the area around the station. There are two fixed rail routes through Middle Park, along Danks Street near the foreshore (1925) and along the railway line, converted to light-rail tram in 1987.

MILL PARK
Mill Park is a residential suburb 18 km. north-east of Melbourne, immediately north of the Janefield Training Centre, Bundoora. The area is named after the Mill Park property owned by Henry "Money" Miller (1809-1888). He bred racehorses and conducted a range of dairy and grazing activities, sufficient to occupy 65 persons housed in a village on the property. The Findon Hounds and the Findon Harriers Hunt Club - a name connected with Miller's residence - Findon in Kew, were at Mill Park. The Mill Park property specialised in horse breeding into the next century and the Findon Harriers continued there until 1930. Mill Park's rural landscape was largely unaltered until the 1960s, apart from the opening of a quarry in 1964. Following on from residential development in Bundoora, subdivisions occurred in the 1970s and a kindergarten, pre-school centre and shopping complex were built by the end of the decade.

MILLGROVE
Millgrove is 63 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2006 Census, Millgrove had a population of 1576. The Post Office opened on 7 November 1906, four years after the opening of the town's railway station on 13 November 1901 on the Warburton line. Millgrove remained a timber-milling and agricultural town, with occasional tourism and fishing, until the 1960s and 1970s. Despite the closure of the railway in 1965, cars placed Millgrove within acceptable commuting distances of larger towns. It takes its name from the fact that it had its origins as a timber milling town.

MITCHAM
Mitcham is a residential suburb 20 km east of Melbourne between Nunawading and Ringwood, bisected east-west by the Maroondah highway and the railway line from Box Hill to Ringwood. It was named after Mitcham Grove, a farm property owned by William Slater who grew roses and herbs for perfumes and remedies. An alternative account is that it was named after a property called Mitcham Heights, itself named after Mitcham, Surrey. Previous names were Air Hill and Emery's Hill. All the names acknowledged Mitcham's elevation in relation to adjoining areas.

In 1861 Johann Schwerkolt bought land bordering the Mullum Mullum Creek, beginning with grape growing but changing to orcharding after the Phylloxena infestation. The property was later acquired by the Antonio family, who donated part of their land for a bush reserve and the Antonio Park primary school (1960). Schwerkolt's cottage had been continuously occupied, and shortly afterwards was acquired by Nunawading council and restored.Mitcham was occupied by orchardists and the clay (like neighbouring Tunstall), was good for bricks and pottery. In 1882 the railway line was extended form Camberwell to Lilydale, and a station opened at Mitcham in 1886. Subdivisional activity was flattened by the 1890s depression, but the Austral Park estate south of the railway station was marketed in 1906.

MONBULK
Monbulk is township and farming area 40 km. east of Melbourne and eight km. south-east of Mount Dandenong. Its name derives from the Parish of Monbulk which in turn derived from the Monbulk pastoral run on the Lysterfield area, some ten km. south-west of the present Monbulk. The pastoral run was named Monbulk by one of its lessees, who heard Aborigines, in the area near another of his properties near Gardiner, now a Melbourne suburb, repeat the word "Mun Bulk". There is also a Monbulk Creek which runs through Lysterfield. In 1893 a Village Settlement of 76 ten-acre farms was created by the excision of a large amount of land from the Monbulk Forest, of which that remaining is now the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The area was in the Parish of Monbulk, and the settlement's area adopted that name. Today Monbulk is reduced in area, the original district having been encroached on by Kallista and The Patch. By the late 1890s the rich soil had made berry growing a major industry. A fruit grower's co-operative was formed in 1897, leading to the Monbulk Jam Factory. A school was built in 1897, a store in 1900 and three churches by 1906.


Mont Albert

MONT ALBERT
Mont Albert is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Whitehorse and Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Mont Albert had a population of 4419. Mont Albert Railway Station opened on August 11, 1890. Mont Albert Post Office opened on 1 August 1914. The principal development of the Mont Albert area generally dates from the early part of the 20th Century and the interwar era. It is believed Mont Albert, on the Gasp? Peninsula, Quebec, Canada was the inspiration for the suburb's name.

MONTMORENCY
Montmorency is a residential locality 18 km north-east of Melbourne between Greensborough and Eltham. It was named after a farm, the Montmorency estate, which was named after the French town where J.J. Rousseau lived. The first evidence of a township was the building of a Presbyterian church in 1917 in the midst of small rural landholdings. A primary school was opened in 1922, the year before the station was opened on the railway line to Hurstbridge. Electricity was connected to the area in 1926. Whilst there was a residential nucleus from the 1920s, most of Montmorency consisted of orchards, dairying and poultry farms until after the second world war. The estimated population in 1922 was 200, including weekenders.

MONTROSE
Montrose is a suburb on the north-western foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, 32 km. east of Melbourne. Settlement of surveyed allotments occurred in the 1870s and the area was known as Mooroolbark South and Double Pitts. A primary school was built in 1880 and a Methodist church in 1888. A general store built in 1891 was named Rose Mont, which has been suggested as inspiring the name of the locality. In any event Montrose was the name generally used from the turn of the century. In the immediate post war years Montrose was a rural community with locals running roadside stalls to tap the passing tourist traffic to the Dandenong Ranges. However, an increasing birth rate required a baby health centre in 1949 and enlargement of the school. Reticulated water was installed in 1958, by when new housing was being built and Montrose was acquiring the role of dormitory suburb. In 1962 the voluntary fire brigade was unable to save 22 houses from a severe bush fire, but by 1970 Montrose's population had doubled in four years. The rural and forest back-drop were a strong attraction.

MOONEE PONDS
Moonee Ponds is 7 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moonee Valley. Moonee Ponds Post Office opened on 15 January 1861. Though there are no written records it is probable that the Moonee Ponds Creek takes its name from an indigenous inhabitant named Moonee Moonee, who, along with Tullamareena, burnt down and escaped from the first Melbourne gaol in 1838. The Port Phillip area was first settled by Europeans in 1835. The first land sales in the area of Strathmore on Moonee Ponds Creek were made in 1843 and 1845. MOONEE VALLEY Moonee Valley city is a municipality north-west of Melbourne. Its point closest to Melbourne is 3 km. from Melbourne's centre, where it adjoins North Melbourne. The furthest point is 13 km. from the centre, at Keilor East. Moonee Valley city was formed on 15 December, 1994, by the union of Essendon city and the parts of Keilor city which comprised Avondale Heights, Airport West and Niddrie. Moonee Valley city has a northerly train line in its eastern sector together with a tramline in roughly the same direction. The tramline ends at the Essendon airport and the Westfield Shopping Town at the municipality's north-western extremity. The railway line on the western boundary is the standard - gauge route.

MOORABBIN
Moorabbin is a residential and industrial suburb 16 km. south-east of Melbourne on the Nepean Highway about 3 km. from the coast of Port Phillip Bay. It was also a municipality between 1871 and 1994. The name is thought to have been derived from an Aboriginal word meaning mother's milk, as Moorabbin was reputedly a place where mothers and children stayed while male tribesmen went further afield. Certainly there was a series of springs or soaks through the area, notably at Cheltenham. The first white settlers in the Moorabbin area were the brothers John and Richard King (1846). (It is thought that the came from the Westernport area, but they were not of the better-known King family which occupied Bunguyan near Hastings.) In the 1850s the pastoral runs in Moorabbin, were subdivided for increased settlement, but the district relied on the Brighton township and smaller villages at Sandringham and at Cheltenham. Moorabbin grew as a farming and market garden area. In 1854 the Wesleyan church opened a primary school which continued until 1872, when it was replaced by a State primary school. In 1862 Moorabbin, which included Sandringham, Mentone and Mordialloc, was made a Road Board District and on 27 January, 1871, it was made a shire.


Moorooduc Quarry

MOOROODUC
Moorooduc is in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula. The Moorooduc Highway runs through the locality, being the main route between Melbourne and the Peninsula. Moorooduc Primary School (No. 2327) opened on 1st November 1880, on the current site located on Mornington-Tyabb Road. Moorooduc was named after the Aboriginal word, murraduk, which means flat and swampy  or dark . MOOROOLBARK Mooroolbark is 31 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2006 Census, Mooroolbark had a population of 19,335. Mooroolbeek  is thought to be the name given by the local Wurundjeri Aboriginal people ("moorool" meaning red and "beek" the earth). The name "Mooroolbark" was to be popularised with eventual European settlement in the late 1800s. A rural hub developed around the train station that offered rail access to Melbourne, which opened in 1887. The Post Office opened shortly after on 15 March 1888.

MORDIALLOC
Mordialloc, a bayside residential suburb, is 25 km. south-east of Melbourne. The name's antecedents are a squatting run "Moodi Yallo" (1837), a census taken in 1841 at "Moode Yallock" and Georgiana McCrae's visit to "Mordy Yallock" in 1844. The name is thought to be derived from Aboriginal words meaning (1) creek named Moodi or Marida or (2) meaning "near little sea" or "small tidal stream". The Mordialloc creek is both tidal and of more than usual width where it enters the bay. In the nineteenth century a sandbar often made the creek mouth a shallow inlet. In the 1860s the land along the coast backing on to the Carrum Swamp, southwards from Mordialloc, was divided into large allotments and sold. The owner of the allotment adjoining the Mordialloc Creek built the Bridge Hotel there in 1868, positioned on the coastal track to Frankston. For some years before, Mordialloc had been a point of supply of fish for Melbourne, including fish caught at Hastings and carried on the old fish track across the Mornington Peninsula. A primary school was opened in 1868.
During the late 1870s plans for the defence of Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay included the building of railways around the coast. Extension of the railway from Caulfield to Mordialloc followed in 1881. Mordialloc became the site of horse-riding activities - the Melbourne Hunt Club, the Findon Harriers (from Mill Park) and the Epsom Racecourse (1880s). The creek was a popular boating venue, and the foreshore a regular destination for picnics. A Mordialloc Carnival Committee later managed the foreshore attractions.

MORELAND
Moreland, 7 km. north of Melbourne, is a residential area which is located either side of the boundary between the former municipalities of Brunswick and Coburg. It is also the name of a new city formed on 22 June, 1994, by the amalgamation of Brunswick city and most of Coburg city. Moreland was named after the land purchased in 1839, from Robert Hoddle's survey, by Farquhar MrCrae, magistrate and speculator. McCrae (the brother-in-law of Georgiana McCrae), named his property Moreland after the place of birth of his father in Jamaica. McCrae built his La Rose home on the elevated area west of Moreland (Coonans Hill), in 1842, at 22 Le Cateau Street. It is on the Victorian and National Estate Registers. After the railway line to Coburg was opened in 1884, residential subdivisions were released in the vicinity of the Moreland railway station. Prior to then the area had been farms, with some notable houses such as Glencairn (1861, 6 Craigrossie Avenue, also on both Registers). A prestigious subdivision, Moreland Park, was released in 1882, resulting in some notable homes in The Grove and nearby streets. In the 1920s the electrification of the tram along Sydney Road and the extension of another northwards line between there and Coonans Hill provided additional incentive for residential growth. The Moreland Knitting Mill opened in 1920.

MORNINGTON
Mornington is a sea side town located 57 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula. Mornington is known for its "village" atmosphere and its beautiful beaches. Matthew Flinders landed near Mount Martha in April 1802 and walked to Schnapper Point to make the first survey of Port King as he named it (later known as Port Phillip). However, it was not until the early 1840s that settlers such as Alexander Balcombe settled on the land. Balcombe is credited with naming the township after the harvest from the sea. The layout of the township of Schnapper Point was mapped in 1854. The building of the pier in 1857 led to much of the subsequent development of the town. The pier became the lifeline and connection to the rapidly expanding Melbourne which boomed with the gold rushes. The town was renamed Mornington in 1864, it is believed in honour of the Earl of Mornington.

MORRADOO
Morradoo is a railway station located in the suburb of Crib Point, on the Stony Point railway line. Morradoo station opened on November 7, 1960 as Rail Motor Stopping Place Number 15 and was renamed Morradoo in 1996 by Bree Saunders of Crib Point Primary School, who won a local competition to rename the station. Her suggestion, Morradoo was accepted and the new name was installed in January 1997. The name 'Morradoo' comes from an Aboriginal name meaning 'powder and shot'. It was also the original name for Crib Point.

MOUNTAIN GATE
Mountain Gate is a residential locality immediately west of Ferntree Gully, where Ferntree Gully Road joins Burwood Highway, 28 km. east-south-east of Melbourne. Originally known as Ferntree Gully West, the locality had the Club Hotel as a stopping-off point for tourists and excursionists to the Ferntree Gully State Park. With the spread of outer-eastern residential settlement during the 1960s, the place was renamed literally to describe it as the gate to the nearby hills. The name "Mountain Gate" was formally gazetted in 1971. Mountain Gate adjoins the Ferny Creek, which provides a linear park.


Mount Dandenong

MOUNT DANDENONG
Mount Dandenong is a tourist and residential area in the Dandenong Ranges, 35 km. east of Melbourne. On its western side is Mount Dandenong (633 m.), the highest peak in the ranges, offering a clear view to Melbourne and the Macedon Ranges north-west of Melbourne. The name Dandenong is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning high or lofty. The city of Dandenong, 12 km. south-west of Mount Dandenong is connected to the ranges by the tributaries of the Dandenong Creek. In 1837 the creek was recorded as "Dangynon", which by 1840 was given its present spelling. The Surveyor-General's office applied the name to the ranges in 1857, in place of he more difficult Corhanwarrabul, Aboriginal for the peak adjacent tvince of timber-getters and a few larger selections. In common with neighbouring Olinda, Mount Dandenong underwent residential settlement for weekenders and more elaborate buildings after the first world war. It gained a reputation for fine gardens.o Mount Dandenong on which Burke's Lookout is now placed. The settlement of Mount Dandenong occurred along with Olinda in 1893 when a village settlement comprising ten-acre farms was established for selection. Prior to then the area was the province of timber-getters and a few larger selections. In common with neighbouring Olinda, Mount Dandenong underwent residential settlement for weekenders and more elaborate buildings after the first world war. It gained a reputation for fine gardens.

MOUNT EVELYN
Mount Evelyn is a residential and rural suburb east of Lilydale, 37 km. east of Melbourne. The area was originally named Evelyn, after Evelyn Heales, the daughter of the Victorian Premier, Richard Heales (1860-1). (Healesville was named after Richard Heales.) In 1901 a railway line was opened between Lilydale and Warburton, and the highest point on the line was at Evelyn. In 1909 land was set aside opposite the railway station for a primary school, which opened the following year. An Evelyn Progress Association was formed, leading to a mechanics' institute and hall and the prefixing of Evelyn with "Mount" in 1913, to convey the "beauties and natural advantages of Evelyn as a tourist resort." The change of the railway station's name to Mount Evelyn happened in 1919.
During the 1920s Mount Evelyn was inhabited by small-farming families and people who had weekender dwellings. A Union Church (open to several denominations), opened in 1920. In a community dependent on buoyant prices for fruit and farm produce, the price falls during the depression years caused hardship, particularly after work ended on the Silvan Dam in 1932. The war years caused a temporary population increase as some families were evacuated from metropolitan Melbourne, and the postwar years saw an influx of Dutch and Italian migrants. During the early postwar years the area was still noted as a tourist resort, having two attractive picnic reserves on the Olinda Creek. The train excursions to Mount Evelyn ended in 1965 when the railway line was closed.

MOUNT ELIZA
Captain Hobson named Mount Eliza after the wife of John Batman in 1836. He arrived on the ship the Rattlesnake. Permein surveyed the area and the first auction of land took place in September 1854. Early settlers of note were William Davey and John Thomas Smith. Another well-known resident was Thomas Ritchie, who established the original Ritchies Store in Frankston. Until the 1950s, Mount Eliza was mainly a holiday home area. The sub-division of old estates saw Mount Eliza develop rapidly from the late 1960s. The Ranelagh Estate, designed by Walter Burley Griffin of Canberra fame, saw blocks of land with sea views developed in sympathy with the contours of the land.

MOUNT MARTHA
Mount Martha is believed to have received its name from the wife of Captain (later Lieutenant-Governor) Lonsdale. Captain Hobson named Mount Martha in 1836. The establishment of the Balcombe Army Camp in 1940 influenced Mount Martha s development. Mount Martha was a small seaside resort until the 1960s. It was always small and reliant upon Mornington for transport and commercial facilities.

MOUNT WAVERLEY
Mount Waverley is a residential area 15 km. south-east of Melbourne. In 1853 a privately surveyed township was laid out at the south-east corner of High Street Road and Stephensons Road, named by its owner after Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels. The site rises from a deep valley to the south, the rise being sufficient for the appellation of Mount. A school was opened in 1905, and post and telegraph facilities were provided at about the same time. The farms were increasingly given over to fruit growing, and a cool store was built in 1920 in High Street Road. Vegetables and poultry farms increased in response to Melbourne's growing metropolitan population, particularly after the first world war. In 1930 a railway line was opened from metropolitan Melbourne. By 1950 the Housing Commission had acquired land for two thousand houses. The Jordanville technical school was opened in 1954 and a high school (named successively Holmsglen, Jordanville and Waverley), was opened in 1956. Jordanville is now the western part of Mount Waverley. The eastwards residential expansion was not long coming to Mount Waverley. By the end of the 1950s the railway line was duplicated and train frequency improved.

MULGRAVE
Mulgrave is 22 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Monash. At the 2006 Census, Mulgrave had a population of 16,280. Mulgrave Parish, as it was then known, was first settled in 1839 by Thomas Napier, a Scottish Builder who first reached the Colony of Victoria in the mid-1830s. Napier settled on the banks of the Dandenong Creek and built his homestead in Bushy Park Wetlands, and what is now Jells Park. Mulgrave remained a Parish until 19 January 1857 when it, and the neighbouring Parish of Oakleigh were gazetted as the Road District of Mulgrave and Oakleigh respectively. A Mulgrave Post Office opened on 1 January 1869 but was renamed Wheelers Hill in 1888. Mulgrave is one of the few Victorian suburbs split into two distinct areas, with each sharing the common name but not prefixing it with East' or West . Mulgrave was named in honour of Constantine Henry, Earl of Mulgrave, Viscount Normanby. He notably served as the British Home Secretary from 1839 to 1841 in the last years of Lord Melbourne's ministry.

MURRUMBEENA
Murrumbeena is 13 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira. At the 2006 Census, Murrumbeena had a population of 8232. Murrumbeena is quite small, and is generally known for its parklands. It is close to the larger suburbs Caulfield and Bentleigh. Murrumbeena railway station, on the Pakenham and Cranbourne railway lines, was opened on May 14, 1879. The name is of Aboriginal origin.