Cairnlea, Victoria

Cairnlea
Melbourne, Victoria

Kororoit Creek at Cairnlea
Cairnlea
Population: 6070 (2006)[1]
Established: 1999
Postcode: 3023
Location: 17 km (11 mi) from Melbourne
LGA: City of Brimbank
State District: Kororoit
Federal Division: Gorton
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
19.6 °C
67 °F		 9.2 °C
49 °F		 539.9 mm
21.3 in
Suburbs around Cairnlea:
St Albans
Deer Park Cairnlea St Albans
Ardeer

Cairnlea is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 17 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Brimbank. At the 2006 Census, Cairnlea had a population of 6,070.

The former Albion site became open grassland after European settlement but later, from 1939 to the mid 1980s, it was a defence manufacturing site.

The suburb is a new estate, and has only been developed since 1999, with development of the new suburb to finish in mid-2005. The suburb features several manmade lakes and has implemented a suburb-wide stormwater recycling system that feeds all the lakes. Formerly there was a large government explosives factory on the site of the estate, however this factory closed in the 1990s.

By 2011 Cairnlea is projected to have 3000 residential blocks and to have a population of more than 10000. It covers 460 hectares (2 km by 2.5 km) bounded by Station St, the Western Highway and the Western Ring Road.

Some 130ha have been set aside for public open space. Part of that process has seen two endangered species (the Plains Rice-flower and the Striped Legless Lizard) having reserves and management plans set up for their preservation.

Contents

Attractions

Flora and fauna

Kororoit Creek is located on the Southern border of the suburb and Jones Creek on the Northern Border. The creeks have been home to healthy populations of native reptiles for thousands of years, including Tiger snake, Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard and Eastern brown snake. Unfortunately due to development over the past 20 years, these species are now rarely seen in the area.

Due to development of lakes and wetlands, species of frogs have reclaimed the area. The Eastern Banjo Frog, Common Eastern Froglet and even the now endangered Growling Grass Frog have been seen and heard in the new wetlands and in Kororoit Creek. Some species of birds are also returning to the creeks and lakes.

See also

References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Cairnlea (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=SSC21133&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 2007-09-26. 

External links

Cairnlea Residents Association Inc. website: http://www.cairnlea.net