
Red Hill is a town on the
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), 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 ...
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,
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 ...
, approximately 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
Shire of Mornington Peninsula 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 ...
. Red Hill recorded a population of 1,009 at the
2021 census.
[
Red Hill is located in the hinterland of the Mornington Peninsula, about an hour's drive south of Melbourne.
]
History
Red Hill was so named due to the rich, red soil colour found in this locality. The area now known as Red Hill contains land in three parishes: Kangerong, Wannaeue (only 626 acres) and Balnarring. Kangerong is north of Arthurs Seat Road and west of Red Hill Road, Wannaeue is west of Mornington-Flinders Road. The rest of Red Hill and Red Hill South are in Balnarring parish.
Many Red Hill roads are named after early pioneering families: Sheehan, McIlroy, Stanley, Bayne, Herriott, Oscar, Oscar, Lolat, Nash, Prossor, Perry (sic) and Callanan.
Red Hill Post Office opened on 1 August 1871.
A railway also operated here between 1921 and 1953, and was known as the Red Hill railway line.
Today
The town has 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, called the Hillmen, competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League. They won their first Division Two premiership back in 1990. Their most recent Division Two premiership was 2019, which saw them move into Division One in 2020.
A monthl
community market
is held from September through May. Patrons can still watch old-time games like Pétanque
Pétanque (, ; ; ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports (along with Raffa (boules), raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, Bowls, lawn bowls, and Crown green bowls, crown green bowling). In these sports, players or teams play thei ...
being played and smell the roasting of chestnuts. Other traditional Australian foods such as meat pies and jam donuts are also sold.
Since the 1970s, wineries have been established around Red Hill to take advantage of the microclimates that suits cool-climate grapes, and especially pinot noir
Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...
. Strawberries, cherries and apples are also grown and available seasonally at the farm door.
Notable residents
* Herbert Robinson (1876–1919) – later mayor of Albany, Western Australia
Albany ( ; ) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King G ...
,
See also
* Shire of Flinders – Red Hill was previously within this former local government area.
References
External links
Red Hill and Main Ridge
– Government tourism site
Shire of Mornington Peninsula
Western Port
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