Cockatoo is a town in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 48 km south-east of Melbourne's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, located within the

Shire of Cardinia The Shire of Cardinia is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the south-east of Melbourne between Western Port and the Yarra Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne. It has an area of 1,283 square kilometres, and had a population of ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

. Cockatoo recorded a population of 4,408 at the 2021 census. Cockatoo is named after Cockatoo Creek, which runs through the town, and which the town was previously named.

History

Cockatoo was named after Cockatoo Creek. It was first settled in the 1870s but progress was tardy as the land was difficult to clear. A Post Office was not opened until 1 November 1901 when the railway arrived and was known as Cockatoo Creek until 1917. Shortly after the end of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, a large number of immigrants went to live in Cockatoo while working in Melbourne. The most significant wave was made by Italians. Timbergetting was the major source of employment and this industry received a considerable boost when the

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook was completed in 1900. Moreover, the railway brought leisure-seeking Melburnians into the area and a market for subdivision arose. The

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

is operated today as the

Puffing Billy Railway The Puffing Billy Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway in the southern foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne, Australia. The railway was one of the five narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways which opened around the beg ...

. Cockatoo was one of the worst-hit townships during the disastrous 1983

Ash Wednesday Bushfires The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983, which was Ash Wednesday. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot ...

, where over 300 buildings were destroyed and 6 lives lost.

Present day

Cockatoo has a community shopping centre which includes supermarket, hairdressing salon, smokehouse, pharmacy, yoga studio, opportunity shop, cafés and various takeaway stores. Cockatoo has recently built a town centre garden square with the assistance of local government.

Services

The Cardinia Shire Council provides a mobile library service at the McBride Street carpark on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. The town has a community garden site on the Pakenham Road reserve growing various fruit and vegetables. Cockatoo Primary School, near the town centre, recently celebrated its centenary. Other services in the town include: * Kindergartens * Youth & Health Centres * Bendigo Bank Branch * Licensed Post Office * Church * Charity Store * Country Fire Authority (CFA) Station * RSL Club * Child Care Centre * Veterinary clinic

Community organisations

* Cockatoo Neighbourhood House * Hills Community Gardens *

Men's shed Men's sheds or community sheds are non-profit local organisations that provide a space for craftwork and social interaction. The movement originated in Australia around the 1980s as a way to improve the health and wellbeing of older men. Howev ...

Sporting

Cockatoo has two main sporting areas: Mountain Road reserve, which has a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

oval, netball courts, indoor YMCA Stadium and Little Athletics Course; and Bailey Road tennis courts. The Josie Bysouth reserve is a smaller ground mainly used for equestrian events and pony club. The main sport of the town is

Australian Rules Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

with the Gembrook-Cockatoo Football Club or "Brookers" representing the town in both the local senior and junior leagues in the

Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League The AFL Yarra Ranges was an Australian rules football and netball organisation based in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges within Victoria. The organisation operated the Yarra Ranges Senior Football league and the Yarra Ranges Junior Footba ...

. The town's other sporting teams include netball, cricket, tennis, equestrian, basketball, athletics and soccer. A BMX track was constructed along Alma Treloar Reserve where it was opened to the public in 2020.

Township Committee

Cockatoo has a committee that lobbies local and state governments for funding and local recognition of the town; the committee meets monthly and discusses local issues and projects.

Transport

The area is served by

bus route A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ...

695 operated from

Belgrave Belgrave may refer to: Places *Belgrave, Cheshire, an English village *Belgrave, Leicester an English district *Belgrave, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia ** Belgrave railway line **Belgrave railway station, Melbourne **Belgrave (Puffing ...

Ventura Bus Lines Ventura Bus Lines is a large bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, operating a fleet of 893 buses on 141 bus routes, including 2 SmartBus routes and 2 V/Line services. It commenced operations in December 1924. History Ea ...

. This service is extended to

Westfield Fountain Gate Westfield Fountain Gate is a super-regional shopping centre located in Narre Warren in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It is the second largest shopping centre in Australia by floor area. However, it is the largest shopping ...

shopping centre on Friday/Saturday (695F) and to Dandenong Market on Tuesdays. This route is about to undergo an extensive overhaul including operating to a 40-minute frequency on weekdays until 10 pm. Other improvements include a new Sunday timetable and a Saturday timetable operating from 6 am to 10 pm. Cockatoo is indirectly served by route 838 (

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

to Fountain Gate Shopping Centre via Berwick) provided b
Cardinia Transit
which connects with route 695 at Emerald. Cockatoo has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the

. The Puffing Billy service generally runs once or twice daily and continues from Cockatoo to Gembrook. Cockatoo station consists only of a platform with a small (non-original) station building which is usually unstaffed.

Wright Forest

Wright Forest, often referred to locally as Wright's Forest, a 161-

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

reserve to the northwest of the town, is managed by

Parks Victoria Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia. Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The ''Parks Victoria Ac ...

and is a fauna sanctuary. The forest has scars of the Ash Wednesday fires that swept through the area in 1983 with some trees still showing charred bark. The forest is home to many animal species such as the brushtail possums,

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

s and many bird species. The forest has many tracks for

bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

walkers, the main one being the

Gembrook Gembrook is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Cardinia local government area. Gembrook recorded a population of 2,559 at the 2021 census. Gembrook is a popular ...

trail. This recently came under fire for its title as a beginners' walking trail; lack of signage left some walkers lost and its steep gradients resembled an experienced walking track. Other trails wind through the forest and are colour-coded.

References

External links

Eastern Dandenong Ranges

Wright Forest
(Parks Victoria)

Cockatoo Primary School
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Shire of Cardinia