Hughesdale, Victoria

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Hughesdale
Melbourne, Victoria

Euston Rd, Hughesdale.
Population: 6503 (2006)[1]
Postcode: 3166
Area: 2 km² (0.8 sq mi)
Property Value: AUD $500,000 [2]
Location: 16 km (10 mi) from Melbourne
LGA: City of Monash
State District: Oakleigh
Federal Division: Higgins, Hotham
Suburbs around Hughesdale:
Malvern East Malvern East Chadstone
Murrumbeena Hughesdale Oakleigh
Bentleigh East Bentleigh East Oakleigh South

Hughesdale is an inner southeast suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Just 2sq km in size, it is the smallest suburb in the City of Monash, its Local Government Area[3]. With more than one in three residents born outside Australia, the suburb has a strong Greek presence. Fourteen per cent of those living in the suburb speak only Greek at home.[1]

Contents

[edit] Features

Hughesdale has a small strip shopping centre on Poath Road, and a railway station which is the closest rail access point to nearby Chadstone Shopping Centre. The shopping strip has undergone a revival since the mid-2000s with several new shops opening and the construction of a new retail/residential block, as well as the formation of a local traders' association.

Census figures show that the suburb is ranked 12th out of Melbourne's 328 suburbs in the proportion of employed workers who travel to work by train: one in six use the train to get to work, double the Melbourne average.[4]

[edit] Schools

Hughesdale has three schools – Hughesdale Primary School, Sacred Heart Girls' College and St Anargiri Greek Orthodox College.

Hughesdsale Primary School, No. 4176, opened in 1924 as Oakleigh South State School and was renamed Hughesdale Primary School in 1938. It had a peak enrolment of 1296 in 1953, at which point some classes held 65 students.[5]. The school was threatened with closure by the Kennett government in the 1990s as student numbers fell because of demographic changes, but was saved after a vote at an extraordinary School Council meeting in October 1996. Enrolments have risen steadily since then; in 2005 there were 322 students enrolled.[6]

St Anargiri Greek Orthodox College opened in 1983, primarily to satisfy the educational needs of the Greek community of Melbourne's southeastern suburbs. It was initially a Primary to Year 8 school, with 91 students; today it is registered for Primary to Year 12, with enrolments exceeding 740.[7]

Sacred Heart Girls' College was opened in 1957 by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, who came from the convent in Highgate, Perth, Western Australia. Enrolments for Year 7 are taken from surrounding Catholic Primary Schools. Subject to availability, places are then offered to other students, with preference given to Catholics.[8]

The suburb was also the home of Oakleigh Technical School, at the corner of Poath Rd and North Rd, from 1946 to 1991.[9] The school was demolished in 1993, with the site now occupied by a service station, McDonald's restaurant and a sports ground.

[edit] Origin of suburb and street names

The suburb was named as a tribute to James Vincent Hughes, mayor of Oakleigh from 1924 to 1925 who, with the Poath Road Railway Station League, lobbied heavily for a new station for the area. In 1924 the League suggested the station be called "Hugheston", but in February 1925, shortly before the station opened, Victorian Railways decided its name would be "Hughesdale". A decade later there was a move to rename Poath Rd "Hughesdale Rd", but this was rejected by the then Caulfield City Council.[10][11]

Many street names in the suburb are named after notable British train stations. These include Rugby Rd, Euston Rd, Crewe Rd, Swindon Rd, Paddington Rd, Clapham Rd, Bletchley Rd, Willesden Rd, Carlisle Cr, Preston Rd, Skipton Rd, Dalston Rd, Camden Rd, Earlstown Rd.[12].

Among other street names are[13]:

  • Corr St: Named after E.J. Corr, Oakleigh mayor, 1907-8 and 1916-17;
  • Darling St: Named after Sir Charles Henry Darling, Governor of Victoria, 1863-1866;
  • Hotham St: Named after Sir Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria, 1854-1855;
  • Paget St: Name after local resident and hotelier Charles Edwin Paget (d. 1936)

[edit] See Also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Hughesdale (State Suburb). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  2. ^ Hughesdale, accessed 9 August 2007
  3. ^ Monash community atlas. Source: ABS, 2001
  4. ^ Department of Infrastructure information sheet
  5. ^ Hughesdale Primary School history
  6. ^ Hughesdale Primary School annual report, 2005
  7. ^ Oakleigh Greek Orthodox College website
  8. ^ Sacred Heart Girls College website
  9. ^ Oakleigh Technical School history website
  10. ^ Peter R. Murray and John C. Wells (1980). From Sand, Swamp and Heath: A History of Caulfield. City of Caulfield. ISBN 0-9598392-6-7. 
  11. ^ Monash Public Library data on street name origins
  12. ^ Monash Public Library Service Local History
  13. ^ Monash City Council street names database

[edit] External links

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Suburbs of the City of Monash | Melbourne | Victoria