Montmorency ( ) is a suburb of

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,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, north-east from 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 City of Banyule

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 ...

. Montmorency recorded a population of 9,250 at the 2021 census. Montmorency was named after a local farm, Montmorency Estate, which in turn was named for the town of

Montmorency, Val-d'Oise Montmorency () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Montmorency was the fief of the Montmorency family, one of the oldest ...

, where the French Enlightenment philosopher

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

lived briefly. Locals of Montmorency often refer to the suburb as 'Monty', and the nickname is incorporated into some local business names.

History

The first people on the land now known as Montmorency were the Wurundjeri-willam people. Merchant Stuart Alexander Donaldson (1812–1867), the first

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

, owned the farming property known as 'The Montmorency Estate' until the 1840s. The first evidence of a township was the building of a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

church in 1917 in the midst of small rural landholdings. Montmorency Primary School was opened in 1922, the year before Montmorency station was opened on the

Hurstbridge railway line The Hurstbridge line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's seventh longest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders ...

. Electricity was connected to the area in 1926. Montmorency Post Office opened around September 1923. Whilst there was a residential nucleus from the 1920s, most of Montmorency consisted of orchards, dairying, and poultry farms until after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The estimated population in 1922 was 200, including weekenders. In 1950 the estimated population was 600, and facilities extended to two churches, a public hall, a sports ground and a tennis court. By the end of the decade the population had increased fivefold, although still with unoccupied building sites which had fine views. A modern shopping centre and factories had been built.

Schools

* Montmorency Primary School * Montmorency Secondary College – Opened in 1969 * Montmorency South Primary School * St. Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School – Opened in 1932

Facilities

The main commercial street is Were Street. A three-storey high ornamental aeration

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

stands at the corner of Were Street and Rattray Road. The footpaths of Were Street are inlaid with mosaic pictures representing scenes from oral histories of the suburb. This shopping strip is notable for the relatively low proportion of national chain stores and franchises among its businesses. There is a second business precinct located 1.1 km to the south east of Were Street, on Grand Boulevard, mainly catering to small offices. In Mountain View Road there is an RSL which serves counter meals, a

lawn 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 th
Montmorency Scout Hall
with access to the Petrie Park Oval opposite all of these services. Montmorency Football Club, an

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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

team, competes in the

Northern Football League The Northern League is a British men's association football, football league in North East England, north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Footb ...

. Its playing field and clubhouse are located at Montmorency Park in the green belt between Para Road and the Plenty River. Lower Plenty Football Club are also in the same league and are also based at Montmorency Park. Montmorency has hilly parklands adjoining the Plenty River on its western side and several neighbourhood parks, particularly in its south-east sector. Public library services are provided by Yarra Plenty Regional Library. The nearest libraries are Diamond Valley Library in Greensborough, Watsonia Library and Eltham library.

Transport

Montmorency is close to outlying towns and suburbs such as

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

, Greensborough,

Templestowe Templestowe is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Templestowe recorded a population of 16,966 at the . The ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, for it lies within the main feeder roads to these suburbs. The Box Hill 293, Frankston/Melbourne Airport 901 and Glenroy/Eltham 513/514 bus routes also service the area. It lies on the Hurstbridge Line, and it takes around 48 minutes to reach Montmorency Station from the CBD of Melbourne.

Notable people

* Sharin Anderson - musician, grew up in Montmorency * Mark Fraser - footballer, born 1971 *

Gotye Wouter André De Backer (; born 21 May 1980), known professionally as Gotye ( , , ), is a Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" (featuring Kimbr ...

- musician, born 1980 *

Peter Helliar Pete Jason Matthew Helliar (born 16 June 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of '' The Project'' on Network ...

- comedian and broadcaster * Dayyan Eng - film director, lived in Montmorency as a teenager * Brett Wood - musician

References