Beaumaris, Victoria

Beaumaris
Melbourne, Victoria

Watkins Bay viewed from Ricketts Point
Beaumaris
Coordinates 37°58′59″S 145°02′36″E / 37.983°S 145.0434°ECoordinates: 37°58′59″S 145°02′36″E / 37.983°S 145.0434°E
Population 12,829 (2011)[1]
 • Density 2,467/km2 (6,390/sq mi)
Postcode(s) 3193
Area 5.2 km2 (2.0 sq mi)
Location 20 km (12 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s) City of Bayside
State electorate(s) Sandringham
Federal Division(s) Goldstein
Suburbs around Beaumaris:
Black Rock Cheltenham Cheltenham
Port Phillip Beaumaris Mentone

Beaumaris is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 19 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district.[2] Its local government area is the City of Bayside. At the 2011 Census, Beaumaris had a population of 12,829.

The suburb is located on Port Phillip.

History

Beaumaris includes two early estates in the parish of Moorabbin developed by Josiah Holloway from 1852. Named Beaumaris Town and Beaumaris Estate (after the pastoral run in the area and ultimately after Beaumaris in Wales), the lots comprising them were marketed by Mr Holloway's suggesting that the railway was imminent and a canal would be built.[3] The township developed slowly, a Post Office opened on 1 March 1868, but was replaced next month by Gipsy Village office (now Sandringham). Beaumaris Post Office did not reopen until 1925. In 1957 this was renamed Beaumaris South when a new Beaumaris office opened in the current location. In 1954 Cromer Post Office opened to the north of the suburb.[4]

Beaumaris Tram Company

From 1889 to 1914 the Beaumaris Tram Company conducted a horse-drawn tram service from Sandringham to Cheltenham through Beaumaris. It closed due to high costs and low patronage. There are no remains to be found of the line, but it is remembered by the name of the suburban street that it once used - Tramway Parade, Beaumaris.

Education

Beaumaris High School, which opened in 1958, is now the Beaumaris Campus of Sandringham College, catering to years 7-10 (the senior campus for years 11-12 is situated in the neighbouring suburb of Sandringham). There are three primary schools, Beaumaris Primary School, which was first opened in 1915 on the site of the Beaumaris Tennis Club on Bodley Street, and later moved to its current site in Dalgetty Road as the population of the school grew; Beaumaris North Primary School, which first opened in 1959; and Stella Maris Primary School (Roman Catholic).

Beaumaris Campus burned down in 1958.

Beaumaris Primary School Administration and some of the classrooms were burnt down in 1994.

Transport

Major thoroughfares in Beaumaris include Balcombe Road, Reserve Road, Weatherall Road, Beach Road, Haydens Road and Charman Road.

Beaumaris is serviced regularly by the following bus routes:

These routes connect with the Cheltenham, Mentone, and Sandringham railway stations.

Bayside's bike path runs through Beaumaris, alongside Beach Road.

Ricketts Point

The most prominent landmarks of this suburb are on its coastline, and include the Beaumaris Cliff, from Charman Road to Table Rock, which is of international importance as a site for marine and terrestrial fossils, and Ricketts Point, which is next to a 115 hectare Marine Sanctuary and popular beach area. The coastal waters from Table Rock Point in Beaumaris to Quiet Corner in Black Rock and approximately 500 metres to seaward formally became the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary under state legislation passed in June 2002.

Marine Care Ricketts Point Inc., a volunteer organisation concerned with the preservation of the marine sanctuary, is active at Ricketts Point.

Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc. was founded in 1953 as the Beaumaris Tree Preservation Society and has been active since then in championing the conservation of the substantial amount of remaining indigenous vegetation in Beaumaris and its other significant environmental qualities. It is campaigning against a proposal for a large private marina proposed for the Beaumaris Bay Fossil Site.

Ricketts Point is also home to the Beaumaris Life Saving Club, which holds yearly Life Saving Carnivals in the summer.

Heidelberg school artists

Commemorative plaque near the foreshore.

Near Ricketts Point, there is a monument commemorating the first encounter of Arthur Streeton and Heidelberg school artists Tom Roberts and Fred McCubbin. Their paintings of Beaumaris are also part of the City of Bayside Coastal Art Trail.

Clarice Beckett lived in Beaumaris and painted many landscapes of the area.

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Beaumaris (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.postcodes-australia.com/areas/vic/dandenong/beaumaris
  3. ↑ Kingston Local History, Josiah Holloway, archived from the original on 21 November 2008, retrieved 22 October 2008
  4. ↑ Premier Postal History, Post Office List, retrieved 11 April 2008

External links

Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc.