Kinglake West 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 ...

, north-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

City of Whittlesea The City of Whittlesea is a local government area located in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covers an area of , and in June 2018, it had a population of 223,322. History What became ...

and the Shires of Murrindindi and Nillumbik

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 ...

s. Kinglake West recorded a population of 1,305 at the 2021 census. The town was substantially damaged in the 2009

Black Saturday bushfires The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were among Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. T ...

, including 10 fatalities.

History

Kinglake West is situated north-east of Whittlesea in the Kinglake Ranges, part of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

. Only Kinglake West is in the City of Whittlesea. The area was named after the surveyor

Alexander Kinglake Alexander William Kinglake (5 August 1809 – 2 January 1891) was an English travel writer and historian. He was born near Taunton, Somerset, and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar in 1837, an ...

, who marked out a track over the ranges in 1878. Gold was first discovered in the area in 1861. The area was later cleared for timber and farming. Timber milling had a relatively long life. There were tramways for transporting timber from the Kinglake area to the

Whittlesea railway station Whittlesea railway station is on the Ely–Peterborough line in the East of England and serves the town of Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. ''Whittlesea'' is an older and alternative spelling of the town's name. It is located in between and sta ...

(1911–26). Some mill workers also took up farming as the mills closed. The deep soil yielded good crops of stone fruit, some fruit and berries. Due to competition from

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, there was a decline in berry farming. By the 1940s, the predominant crop in the area was potatoes. Kinglake West Post Office opened around 1902 and was destroyed by fire on 7 February 2009.

Kinglake West 'Prisoner of War' Camp

Soon after the outbreak of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

in February 1940, 14,000 Victorians were registered as 'aliens'. With the escalation of the war, 343 of these were interned.

Population

In the 2016 census, there were 1,166 people in Kinglake West. 79.9% of people were born in Australia and 85.3% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 39.2% and Catholic 23.2%.

Transport

Bus

One

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 ...

service Kinglake West: * : Kinglake – Whittlesea via Humevale. Operated by

Dysons Dysons is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. History Dysons was founded in June 1952 when Laurie Dyson purchased the business of Ned Gastin with route 46A Regent station to Janefield Hospital. Over the years a number of route ...

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Shire of Murrindindi Shire of Nillumbik City of Whittlesea