| Wendouree Ballarat, Victoria |
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Looking north from Howitt Street toward the former St Mary's Redemptorist Monastery. Harvey Norman is on the left. |
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Wendouree
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| Population: | 10,752[1] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode: | 3355 | ||||||||||||
| Location: | 5 km (3 mi) NW of Ballarat Central | ||||||||||||
| LGA: | City of Ballarat | ||||||||||||
| State District: | Ballarat West | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division: | Ballarat | ||||||||||||
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Wendouree is a large suburb on the north western rural-urban fringe of the City of Ballarat, in Victoria, Australia. It is the most populated suburb in urban Ballarat with a total of 10,752 inhabitants counted at the 2006 Census.[1]
Wendouree is Ballarat's second most important commercial area outside of the CBD, including Stockland Wendouree, the largest indoor shopping mall in urban Ballarat and a mix of residential offices, home centres and light industry.
The suburb includes the locality of Wendouree Village (Wendouree West) which was formerly a suburb in its own right.
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Extending north of Howitt Street Wendouree has a large commercial area along Howitt and Gilles Street which includes Stockland indoor shopping mall with large showrooms and stores including Harvey Norman, Freedom Furniture, Spotlight and Rebel Sport.
Learmonth Street is a major industrial and office park area with the headquarters of Berklee Limited[2] and Gekko Systems[3], PETstock[4] as well as regional offices for VicRoads and Telstra.
A smaller convenience shopping village exists in the centre of Wendouree at Harold Street.
Wendouree Post Office opened on 17 February 1871.[5]
The former St Mary's Redemptorist Monastery was converted into apartments around 2001.
Wendouree is home to Ballarat Grammar School, and the Wendouree campus of Ballarat Secondary College. Wendouree also has a primary school Wendouree Primary School.
Stockland Wendouree is a regional indoor shopping mall with department stores and supermarkets including K-Mart, a 15 aisle Coles, and a 17 aisle Woolworths and about 100 specialty stores. The shopping centre was built in 1978 as 'Wendouree Village'.
The suburb is serviced by bus service.
Wendouree railway station, opened in 2009, is located in the south western edge of the suburb. Trains traveling between Ballarat and Ararat stop here. The single platform station is not manned.
Wendouree West Primary School is an eight classroom primary school (Numbered '4071' on the Victorian State Schools Register) was opened in 1957. The school was later expanded with the addition of four classrooms during the early 1960s. In 1972 the Primary School was awarded for having the best maintained school ground in the State of Victoria with extensive plantings of flower beds and native trees. In 1975 a library, art room and multi-function hall complex was built at the expense of the removal of many of the best native flower and rose beds. In 1977 the primary school population peaked at 437 children (aged five to twelve). This number decreased significantly with the establishment of the temporary Yuille Park Primary school to the north in 1981.
Wendouree has a large number of sporting facilities including Wendouree Oval, the Sports & Events Centre and also home to Eureka Stadium, home of the North Ballarat Football Club.
Wendouree Village (also known as Wendouree West) was established in the early 1950s as a Housing Commission of Victoria estate, although up to 64% of homes and land have been sold into private ownership since 1952. The suburb was originally planned in 1949 to relieve an acute post war housing shortage resulting from Ballarat's post war baby boom and rapid intake of post war immigrants. The estate originally consisted of 750 prefabricated timber and concrete single story cottages that were primarily built between 1952 and 1962.
Wendouree West Post Office opened on 3 February 1955 as the suburb developed and was renamed Wendouree Village in 1992. [6]
Early plans envisaged an estate that was to be an urban planning model, however development and infrastructure was considerably slower with many homes not being serviced with sewerage and sealed roads until the late 1950s. During the 1950s an aggressive and active community development committee was established, and elements of this committee still remain today promoting the ongoing development of the community and the estate. During the 1970s a further 500 more substantial brick veneer houses were built and sold privately to many of the early residents and settlers. In the mid 1950s a small shopping centre, public play grounds, a kindergarten and other amenities were established. By the late 1970s the population of the suburb peaked at approximately 5,000.
The area is presently undergoing a significant redevelopment program with the removal of many of the early prefabricated cottages and the construction of retirement units and modern private and government sector housing. Some 300 of the original houses are to be retained and many have already undergone extensive renovation and modernisation in order to keep the social and historical character of the area intact. The Primary school was demolished in early 2007 and construction has commenced on a new civic hub that will consist of a new primary school (Amalgamating both the original primary school and Yuille Park Primary School), public meeting centre and adult training facilities as well as an upgrade of the original shopping centre.
Stockland Wendouree is a sub-reigonal shopping centre, and is the largest in Ballarat, There are 84 Specialty stores and 4 Anchor Tennants, Coles - 15 Aisles, Woolworths - 17 Aisles, Kmart and Chickenfeed.
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