The Patch is a suburb in
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,
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 ...
, 39 km east from 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 Yarra Ranges 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 ...
. The Patch recorded a population of 1,046 at the .
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History
In the 1860s, a patch of Mountain Ash Mountain ash may refer to:
* ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia
* Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus''
See also
* Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Mountai ...
trees were prevalent in just one area and so that area was named The Patch—as recounted in Helen Coulson's book ''Story of the Dandenongs''. A part of Monbulk
Monbulk is a town in Victoria, Australia, 42 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Monbulk recorded a population of 3,651 at the 2021 census.
The town is the hom ...
not far from Kallista has come under the locality now considered to be The Patch.
There was a brief gold-rush in the area in 1858. During the depression of the 1890s, under the Settlement on Lands Act (1893) in response to poverty, inspired by the idealism of the Rev. Horace Finn Tucker, land around The Patch was divided into 10-acre farming selections and for unemployed city people, most of whom lived in earth-floored paling shacks with of calico instead of glass for windows and who cooked with stream water over camp fires. Many of the people sent had little knowledge of farming or the bush and were doomed to failure. However berry growing was established successfully in the area by the late 1890s, though it was made difficult by poor transport through the hills to metropolitan markets. A successful grower David Camm established Monbulk Jams, with sales worldwide.['The Patch has three offerings,' in ''The Age'', Saturday, 3 June 1978, p. 39]
The Post Office opened on 1 September 1908. A Post Office also opened at Fairy Dell on 1 July 1916 and closed in 1971.
The Town today
The Patch is a very small suburb and consists only of houses, a community hall, a general store, a primary school, several commercial nurseries and a tennis court. Most of the suburb is classified "Rural Residential".
Further reading
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patch
Suburbs of Melbourne
Yarra Ranges