Glen Iris is a suburb in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria,

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, south-east of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center 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 wit ...

, located within the Cities of Boroondara and Stonnington

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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

s. Glen Iris recorded a population of 26,131 at the 2021 census. Glen Iris had been Melbourne's geographical centre of population from the 1990s to the 2020s, with urban sprawl seeing Melbourne's centre of population shifting to

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

in the 2020s.

History

Captain Thomas Henderson, of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, arrived in Melbourne on a ship called ''Iris'' in 1850. He acquired a property bounded by

Gardiners Creek Gardiners Creek, originally known as Kooyongkoot Creek, is an urban stream in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and part of the Yarra River catchment. Apart from a few sparse surviving remnant riparian bushlands, the majority of the creek's leng ...

, High Street and a line extending Summerhill Road to Gardiners Creek. The property was advertised for sale as ''Glen Iris'', in 1852. Robert Kent, a subsequent owner of the ''Glen Iris'' homestead, suggested a Mechanics' Institute be established, but it was never completed. A

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

church was established in 1865 and in 1871 land was granted for an adjacent school (now Glen Iris Primary School). By the 1880s reference was made to the Township of Glen Iris. Glen Iris Post Office opened on 28 August 1890. A Glen Iris Upper Post Office was open from 1947 until 1994.

Places of interest

A number of government and independent schools are located in Glen Iris, including Camberwell South Primary School, Glen Iris Primary School, St Cecilia's Primary School, St Roch's Catholic Primary School,

Sacré Cœur School Sacré Cœur is a Roman Catholic, Independent school, independent, day school for girls, located in Glen Iris, Victoria, Glen Iris, a south eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia. Establishe ...

, Korowa Anglican Girls' School and

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is a private, co-educational, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as a boys' school, Caulfield Grammar began admitting girls exactly ...

Malvern campus (the latter three are all situated within a few blocks of one another, south of High Street and east of

Burke Road Burke Road is a major north–south thoroughfare in Melbourne, Australia. It runs from Ivanhoe East to Caulfield East and through the major shopping district at Camberwell. It is aligned with the western boundary of Elgar's Special Survey, ...

). Recreational and sporting facilities include the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre, a

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

track at Hill'n'Dale Park, Burwood District

Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

Club and a number of reserves and ovals, including Hartwell Sports Ground, Ferndale Park and T.H. King Oval. The Glen Iris wetlands were established by the former City of Malvern in 1989. The Harold Holt Swim Centre was built in memory of former Prime Minister

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until Disappearance of Harold Holt, his disappearance and presumed death in 1967. He held o ...

, whose electoral seat of Higgins included Glen Iris. This pool has led to the amusement of many locals and visitors as they realise a pool was built to commemorate a man who was presumed drowned after going missing, at Cheviot Beach, Portsea in 1967. Glen Iris Road Uniting Church incorporates part of the original 1865 Wesleyan Church building. The division between the Boroondara and Stonnington municipalities follows the course of Gardiners Creek, which is a tributary of the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

. A tributary of Gardiners Creek, running north through the suburb, Back Creek, has largely been turned into a drain. Also roughly following the course of Gardiners Creek is the

Monash Freeway The Monash Freeway is a major urban freeway in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, linking Melbourne's CBD to its south-eastern suburbs and beyond to the Gippsland region. It carries up to 180,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australi ...

, and the Glen Waverley train line.

Transport

Two train stations on the Glen Waverley railway line,

Gardiner Gardiner may refer to: Places Settlements ;Canada * Gardiner, Ontario ;United States * Gardiner, Maine * Gardiner, Montana * Gardiner (town), New York ** Gardiner (CDP), New York * Gardiner, Oregon * Gardiner, Washington * West Gardiner, ...

and Glen Iris, are within the suburb. Passing through the eastern part of Glen Iris is the Alamein line, with Burwood Station also within the boundaries of the suburb (Glen Iris did not originally cover this far east, and this station and its surrounds were originally in the suburb of Burwood). Residents are also served by the numbers 5, 6, 72 and 75 tram routes. Melbourne bus routes also service the area.

Notable residents

* Eva Duldig (born 1938) - Austrian-born Australian and Dutch tennis player, author * Herbert Feith – academic and world leading scholar of Indonesian politics. * John Goss (born 1943) - racing driver * Mack Horton - swimmer * George Johnston – author of the

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

winning novel

My Brother Jack ''My Brother Jack'' is a classic 1964 Australian novel by writer George Johnston. It is part of a trilogy centering on the character of David Meredith. The other books in the trilogy are '' Clean Straw for Nothing'' and '' A Cartload of Clay''. ...

. Johnston and his first wife rented in Britten Street, Glen Iris, for a brief period in 1938–39. * Mathematician Sir Thomas MacFarland Cherry. * Colin McDonald – born 1928 in Glen Iris, is an Australian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, who played in 47

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

from 1952 to 1961. * Ross Ryan – singer-songwriter and producer. * Private Greg Sher – killed in action in Afghanistan on 4 January 2009 and subject of honorary garden and plaque at Ferndale Park. * Glen Iris was also the home of Australian comedian and satirist

Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) was an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He was best known for writing and playing his stage and television characters Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He appeare ...

' fictional character Sandy Stone. * Matthew Wales – resident of Glen Iris, who was convicted of the murders of Margaret Wales-King and Paul King in 2003, in what became known as the Society Murders. * Gerard Whateley - sports broadcaster * Jo Weston- Netballer

Sister cities

* Glendale, United States

References