Mornington yacht club from Mills closeup

Mornington is a suburb on the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

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 ...

, 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 Mornington Peninsula The Shire of Mornington Peninsula is a local government area in southeastern Metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located to the south of the Melbourne City Centre. It has an area of 724 square kilometres and in June 2018 it had a ...

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 ...

. Mornington recorded a population of 25,759 at the 2021 census. Mornington is known for its "village" atmosphere and its beaches. Mornington is a

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

destination with Melburnians who make day trips to visit the area's bay beaches and wineries. The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach.

History

Originally home to the Indigenous

Boonwurrung The Boonwurrung people are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory includes part of what is now the c ...

people, the first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1840s for fishing, logging and agriculture. A 46-meter long pier was opened in 1858 and became the social and economic gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, connecting the surrounding areas with

. Originally known as Schnapper (or Snapper) Point, the town was renamed Mornington in 1864 after the second

Earl of Mornington Earl of Mornington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1760 for the Anglo-Irish politician and composer Garret Wellesley, 2nd Baron Mornington. On the death of the fifth earl in 1863, it passed to the Duke of Wellington; si ...

. The Courthouse was built in 1861 and the Post Office in 1863. The Grand Hotel was originally opened in 1892 at 126 Main Street as an alcohol-free Grand Coffee Palace designed by notable Melbourne architect William Pitt. Mornington became a popular tourist destination, with day trippers travelling from Melbourne on steamers from the 1860s. The

Mornington Railway line The Mornington railway line, in Melbourne, Australia, was a rural railway branching off from the Stony Point railway line at Baxter. The line had a life of 92 years, opening in 1889, and closing in 1981. History Opening A branch was opened o ...

opened in 1889, connecting the township directly to Melbourne until it was closed in 1981. Mornington yacht club from Mills

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 23,989 people in Mornington. 72.0% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 9.8%, New Zealand 1.7%, Scotland 1.4%, Ireland 0.7% and Netherlands 0.7%. 89.3% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.8%, Greek 0.6% and German 0.4%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 36.5%, Catholic 23.0% and Anglican 16.6%.

Parks

The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach, which features a

yacht club A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mari ...

, restaurant and park with playground facilities.

Culture

Mornington is an attractive destination for shopping and features some excellent restaurants and cafes. The north of Mornington is also home to several horse breeders and

stables A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

. It has a library and numerous parks, gardens and historical buildings, many of which are open to the public. It holds several annual festivals, and holds a market day in the main street every Wednesday, which attracts hundreds of people. The

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery is a public art gallery on the Mornington Peninsula, south-east of Melbourne, Australia. The gallery opened in 1971, and holds both traditional and contemporary Australian art. The gallery is host to the Nat ...

, opened in 1971, is the major art gallery for the region and hosts a number of major exhibitions, including the Archibald Prize in 2013. Surrounding the gallery are several parks and the Mornington Botanical Rose Gardens.

Education

Within Mornington are several schools including Mornington Primary School,

Mornington Secondary College Mornington Secondary College is a secondary school in Mornington, Victoria, Australia serving the communities of Somerville, Tyabb, Moorooduc, Mount Martha, and Mornington on the Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a pen ...

, Mornington Park Primary School, St. Macartan's Parish Primary School and Benton Junior College.

Transport

Mornington is served by three major roadways, Peninsula Link (Mornington Peninsula Freeway),

Nepean Highway Nepean Highway runs south from St Kilda Junction in Victoria, Australia to Portsea, close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip. It is the primary road route to central Melbourne from Melbourne's southern suburbs. History Originally known as A ...

and

Moorooduc Highway Moorooduc Highway is a 16 km highway which runs from Frankston to Tuerong and, together with the Mornington Peninsula Freeway, was part of the main route from Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula until the completion of Peninsula Link ...

. All three are dual-carriageway arterial roads with varying speed limits of 80 km/h-100 km/h. The Melbourne bus routes 781, 784, 785, and 788 services the area. The

Mornington railway line The Mornington railway line, in Melbourne, Australia, was a rural railway branching off from the Stony Point railway line at Baxter. The line had a life of 92 years, opening in 1889, and closing in 1981. History Opening A branch was opened o ...

closed in 1981 and reopened in 1991 as the heritage

Mornington Railway The Mornington Railway is a heritage railway near Mornington, a town on the Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne, Victoria. The line is managed by the Mornington Railway Preservation Society and operates on part of the former Victorian Railwa ...

with the aims of restoring the line in future.

Sport

Mornington has an

Australian Rules 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 ...

football team, the Mornington Bulldogs, competing in the

Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League The Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League (abbreviated "MPNFL") is an Australian rules football competition, governed by the AFL South East. The MPNFL contains teams near the south eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. At the ...

. Mornington has a horse racing club, the Mornington Racing Club, which schedules around twenty race meetings a year including the Mornington Cup meeting in March. The Mornington Racecourse also hosts the Peninsula Cup in November and monthly markets. Mornington also has an active Yacht club, the Mornington Yacht Club, located at Schnapper Point. Golfers play at the course of the Mornington Country Golf Club on Tallis Drive. Mornington has a

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

club competing in the

Hockey Victoria Hockey Victoria (HV) is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Victoria, Australia. It is responsible for the administration of intrastate competitions, state representative teams, officials and the financial position of the sport. It ...

Association known as the Mornington Peninsula Falcons.Mornington Peninsula Falcons
Mornington Peninsula Hockey Club. Retrieved 20 January 2014. Terri Sawyer, the 18-year-old female driver who won the first ever AUSCAR race at the

Calder Park Thunderdome Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clo ...

in Melbourne in February 1988, is a resident of Mornington.

Climate

Mornington has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

( Cfb) with warm and occasionally hot summers and mild winters where temperatures below freezing are very rare occasions.

Notable residents

* Finola Moorhead * Brodie Harper *

Terry Denton Terry Denton (born 26 July 1950) is an Australian illustrator and author. He is married and has three children. He is the second youngest of five boys and was born and grew up in Melbourne, Victoria. Denton now lives in Mornington, Victoria. Den ...

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...

References

{{Authority control Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula Populated places established in 1850 1850 establishments in Australia