Blackburn North, Victoria

North Blackburn is a predominantly residential suburb, with wide green and leafy streets and houses on quarter acre blocks. The suburb had its start in the early 1960's, much of it being built on land formerly used as an apple orchard. North Blackburn Shopping Centre was originally known as Old Orchard Shopping Centre for this reason, as is Old Orchard Primary School today.

Property prices have risen markedly in the last 10 years, especially since the Eastern Freeway was extended to run past the suburb.

Prior to the formation of the City of Whitehorse in 1994, North Blackburn was a part of the now defunct City of Nunawading.

1 Industry
2 Shopping
3 Transport
4 Schools
5 Ronnie Biggs
6 External links

[edit] Industry

A small light industrial area is sited in the North East corner of the suburb, along Joseph Street. A former clay pipe factory on Springfield Road has been closed and replaced by housing.

[edit] Shopping

No major shopping centre exists in North Blackburn, while it is well served by North Blackburn Shopping Centre on Springfield Road, it is in fact located in Blackburn. A very large shopping centre, Westfield Doncaster is in nearby Doncaster.

Centro Box Hill, formerly Box Hill Central, can also be found in Box Hill.

Small strip shopping areas exist in Raymond Street and Katrina Street.

[edit] Transport

No railway station serves North Blackburn. A bus runs through the suburb to the nearby public transport hub at Box Hill, where a bus terminus and Box Hill Railway Station can be found.

Other nearby train stations are Laburnum and Blackburn. Blackburn Station can be reached by bus from North Blackburn..

On its Northern Boundary is the Eastern Freeway, along which also runs a bicycle track, the Koonung Trail. The northern boundary is also marked by Koonung Creek, which flows into the Yarra River further downstream. Exit the Freeway at Middleborough Road or Blackburn Road, to best reach North Blackburn.

[edit] Schools

There are two public primary schools in North Blackburn, Old Orchard Primary School and Springview Primary School. A primary school is also run at St. Phillips (Catholic) on Junction Road.

Middlefield Primary School, formerly located on Verbena street, has now been torn down and replaced with housing. Its soccer pitch survives as a public reserve. It amalgamated with Blackburn North Primary School in 1992 to form Old Orchard Primary School. Once located on Springfield Road, it has now also been replaced by housing on the new street of Kurrajong Way.

There are no secondary schools in North Blackburn. Blackburn High School can be found in nearby Blackburn. The former Blackburn Technical School has closed down, and since 1995, Old Orchard Primary School has used a portion of that site.

[edit] Ronnie Biggs

In 1970, the English fugitive Ronnie Biggs arrived in Australia whilst on the run from the UK authorities for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963.

Under the assumed name of Cook, he settled in Hibiscus Road, North Blackburn; he briefly lived a normal life with his wife Charmaine and children, before fleeing alone to Brazil the day before police raided his house. His now ex-wife and children still reside in Melbourne, albeit not in Blackburn North.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -37.81° 145.154°

Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
Australian Places - Blackburn North

Suburbs of the City of Whitehorse
Blackburn \| Blackburn North \| Blackburn South \| Box Hill \| Box Hill North \| Box Hill South \| Burwood \| Burwood East \| Forest Hill \| Mitcham \| Mont Albert \| Mont Albert North \| Nunawading \| Surrey Hills \| Vermont \| Vermont South