Aspendale, Victoria

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Aspendale
Melbourne, Victoria
Population: 6404 (2006) [1]
Postcode: 3195
Area: 2.9 km² (1.1 sq mi)
Property Value: AUD $505,000 [2]
Location: 28 km (17 mi) from Melbourne
LGA: City of Kingston
State District: Carrum
Federal Division: Isaacs
Suburbs around Aspendale:
Mordialloc Aspendale Gardens
Port Phillip
Bay		 Aspendale
Edithvale Chelsea
Heights

Aspendale is a beachside suburb in the south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the Local Government Area of the City of Kingston.

Contents

[edit] Description

Aspendale is located 30 kilometres from the central business district of Melbourne. The suburb is bordered by Port Phillip Bay to the west, Mordialloc and Braeside to the north, Edithvale to the south, and Aspendale Gardens to the East.

Aspendale is bisected by the Nepean Highway and the Frankston line. These provide the main connections to inner Melbourne.

On the beach side of the highway, there is more medium density development, and land prices are much higher. Some larger blocks with older houses remain in this area, although many of these larger blocks have been subdivided into flats and units in the past two decades. On the other side of the Nepean Highway, housing is typically low-density, and land values are lower.

The Eastern boundary of Aspendale is the Mordialloc main drain. This area is more picturesque than it sounds, with eucalypts and a gravel running/cycling track. Locals refer to it as 'the backtrack.'

Notable features of Aspendale include the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research facility, Rossdale Golf Course and Aspendale Life Saving Club.

Aspendale is home to two primary schools - St Louis de Montfort Catholic Primary School, and Aspendale Primary School, two kindergartens - Aspendale North Kindergarten and Nola Barber Kindergarten, and one secondary school - Mordialloc Secondary College. There was previously also Aspendale Technical School, but this was closed in the 1990s and the land sold by the State Government to be subdivided as housing.

Aspendale has two churches - St Louis de Montfort Catholic Church and Aspendale Presbyterian Church.

Other sports clubs in Aspendale include the Edithvale-Aspendale Football Club (original team of Gerard Healy), Aspendale Cricket Club and St Brigid-St Louis Cricket Club.

Aspendale has its own train station, which forms part of the Frankston line.

There are two small commercial areas in Aspendale located in Station Street, and Laura Street. The commercial areas take the form of single-sided strip shopping centres.

Aspendale now forms part of the City of Kingston. It was previously part of the City of Chelsea, and before that, the Shire of Carrum.

[edit] History

Aspendale was occupied by the Australian Aboriginals for many thousands of years before European settlement.[citation needed] Europeans began farming the area in the 19th century and displaced local inhabitants. When European appropriation began, the land was occupied by the Bunurong people. The geography of the area at the start of European settlement consisted of large sand dune complexes on the coast, and wetland areas inland. The area is flat and low-lying, reaching above sea level by only a few metres.

The geography and ecology of the area has undergone radical changes as a result of European settlement. Much of the wetlands have been drained, and only modest remnants of the sand dunes exist today near the beach. The beach is a depositary, sandy beach, and the waters remain shallow a long way out. Although no wetland areas remain in Aspendale itself, significant wetland areas have been preserved in the adjacent suburbs of Edithvale and Aspendale Gardens and these areas provide a good indication of what Aspendale once would have looked like. Migratory bird species from all over the world visit these areas.

Following European settlement, Aspendale was home to Aspendale Park racecourse, a horse racing and motor racing track. The suburb's name comes from Aspen, a successful racehorse. Aspendale train station was built primarily to cater towards the racing crowd in the early part of the 20th century. The racecourse closed in the 1920s, and nothing remains of it.

Although there are a few older houses nearer the beach, it was in the 1960s and 1970s that Aspendale was extensively subdivided for residential purposes. Today, it is almost entirely residential in character. Houses are typically detached and made of brick. Blocks of land from this era are usually a quarter of an acre in size. Many of the street names are Aboriginal words, eg 'Yallambee,' 'Iluka,' 'Tarlee,' 'Nirringa' and 'Cooinda.' Other streets are names after racehorses, eg 'Marabou,' 'Lincoln' and 'Gothic.'

[edit] References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Aspendale (State Suburb). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
  2. ^ Aspendale, accessed 8 March 2008

[edit] External links

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Suburbs of the City of Kingston | Melbourne | Victoria