Warrandyte is a suburb of
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 ...
, 24 km 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 Manningham
The City of Manningham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and is divided into 12 suburbs, with the largest being Doncaster and Doncaster East. It comprises an area of 113 square kilometres ...
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 ...
. Warrandyte recorded a population of 5,541 at the .
Warrandyte is bounded in the west by the
Mullum Mullum Creek
Mullum Mullum Creek is a creek in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the main watercourse of the Mullum Mullum Valley, a tributary of the Yarra River and Yarra Valley. For tens of thousands of years it was used as ...
and Target Road, in the north by the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower stre ...
, in the east by Jumping Creek and Anzac Road, and in the south by an irregular line from Reynolds Road, north of
Donvale,
Park Orchards
Park Orchards is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Manningham and Maroondah local government areas. Park Orchards recorded a population of 3 ...
and
Warrandyte South.
![Warrandyte Panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Warrandyte_Panorama.jpg)
Warrandyte was founded as a Victorian town, located in the once
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
-rich rolling hills east of Melbourne, and is now on the north-eastern boundary of suburban Melbourne. Gold was first discovered in the town in 1851 and together, with towns like
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
and
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
, led the way in gold discoveries during the
Victorian gold rush. Today Warrandyte retains much of its past in its surviving buildings of the Colonial period and remains a twin community with
North Warrandyte, which borders the Yarra River to its north.
Etymology
In
Australian Aboriginal mythology (see
dreamtime), a
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm (Melbourne ...
dreamtime story tells of a great eagle; "the all powerful, ever watchful creator of the world", named ''
Bunjil
Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria.
Creation stories
In the Kulin nation ...
'', who "once gazed down upon his people from the star Altair and saw their wrong doing. Awaiting their return, with a mighty crash of thunder, he hurled down a star to destroy them". Where the star struck created a gorge in which much of the town today is located. Bunjil's people remembered the spot, and referred to it as ''Warrandyte'', speculated to mean "that which is thrown".
[''Warrandyte Diary, Number 389, August 2006."]
History
In 1851, gold was first discovered in Victoria, in Warrandyte, at Anderson's Creek, by
Louis Michel
Louis Michel (born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From 20 ...
, the approximate location of the site is marked by a cairn on Fourth Hill, in the
Warrandyte State Park. While some mining did occur in the area throughout the peak of the gold rush, it was not until the late 19th century, after gold discoveries reduced in the more popular regions, that the area around Warrandyte was intensively mined, particularly around Fourth Hill and Whipstick Gully. Some areas continued to be mined up until the 1960s. Warrandyte Post Office opened on 1 August 1857.
![Clara Southern - The Road to Warrandyte, 1905-1910](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Clara_Southern_-_The_Road_to_Warrandyte%2C_1905-1910.jpg)
In the early 20th century, Warrandyte became a popular destination for artists of the
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism.
Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...
, who sought subject matter further into the bush. This led to the development of an artists camp and small colony. Though not as substantial as the older colonies at Heidelberg and
Box Hill, several artists, such as
Clara Southern
Clara Southern (3 October 1860 – 15 December 1940) was an Australian artist associated with the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. She was active between the years 1883 and her death in 1940. Physically, Southern was t ...
and
Walter Withers
Walter Herbert Withers (22 October 1854 – 13 October 1914) was an English-born Australian landscape artist and a member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists.
Biography
Withers was born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, the so ...
, who were associated with the Heidelberg School, took up residence in Warrandyte. Others followed, including
Penleigh Boyd
Theodore Penleigh Boyd (15 August 1890 – 27 November 1923) was a British born Australian artist.
Penleigh Boyd was a member of the Boyd artistic dynasty: his parents Arthur Merric Boyd (1862–1940) and Emma Minnie Boyd (née à Beckett) ...
, Harold Herbert, Jo Sweatman and
Gus McLaren.
Bushfires
Major bushfires have swept through Warrandyte throughout history, and the town was at the centre of the
Black Friday bushfires in 1939, in which 71 people lost their lives. The 1962 fires also devastated North Warrandyte. Many houses were destroyed and many lives lost. In 2009 the
Black Saturday fires
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of Bushfires in Australia, bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were among Au ...
in
Kinglake were 15 minutes away from North Warrandyte. On 9 February 2014, a bushfire broke out in Warrandyte burning approximately 10 hectares and destroying 3 houses.
Major bushfires to have swept through Warrandyte include:
*1851 - 6 February "Black Thursday"
*1939 - 13 January "
Black Friday"
*1962 - 14–16 January
*2014 - 9 February
Geography
![Pound Bend tunnel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Pound_Bend_tunnel.JPG)
Warrandyte is situated on the southern banks of the Yarra River. The river and hills surrounding the town were once rich in gold and the ruins of mineshafts and tunnels can be found throughout the Warrandyte State Park, amongst other locations. While the central town itself is nestled into a gorge on the river, the suburb covers a reasonably large area of land and can be divided up into the following sections:
Central Warrandyte comprises the main street of Ringwood-Warrandyte Road and Heidelberg-Warrandyte Road (Yarra Street), Pound Bend and the southern banks of the Yarra River.
Andersons Creek flows from neighbouring South Warrandyte and
Warranwood into the Yarra just before the beginning of Pound Bend. This area is where several
gullies converge and create a geographical hole, with Fourth Hill to the east and the hills on the eastern banks of the Mullum Mullum Creek to the west. This becomes evident when driving through Warrandyte on Heidelberg-Warrandyte Road, as the hills guide the road down towards Andersons Creek.
The Eastern banks of the Mullum Mullum Creek were home to vast orchards overflowing from neighbouring
East Doncaster and as a result, much of the vegetation has been cleared. Today the area is covered in large residential properties due to local council regulations allowing land to be subdivided into larger sites.
Transportation
![Autumn trees in Warrandyte](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Autumn_trees_in_Warrandyte.jpg)
Warrandyte is serviced primarily by the private car, however a bus service actively operates along the main roads of Ringwood-Warrandyte Road and Heidelberg-Warrandyte Road (Yarra Street).
Community
The Warrandyte Festival, one of the last remaining volunteer-run festivals in Victoria, is held every year in mid March. Typically, the festival features a variety of attractions. Many stalls sell local produce or crafts and there are numerous historical exhibits, as well as safety demonstrations by the
CFA.
Warrandyte is serviced by the community newspaper Warrandyte Diary.
established in 1970 by local screenwriter Cliff Green and Journalist Lee Tindale and Cartoonist Jock Macneish. The Diary has provided news, information and entertainment to Warrandyte and its surrounding communities for more than 50 years.
Facilities
Warrandyte contains a general post office, tennis courts, a community centre, an RSL, several
bed and breakfasts, restaurants, a police station, a
Country Fire Authority
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state Victoria, Australia. CFA comprises over 1,200 brigades organised in 21 ...
fire station, two kindergartens, two recreational ovals (AFL Football and Cricket), Warrandyte Community Church, Uniting and Anglican places of worship, Andersons Creek Cemetery and a
Scout hall, canoe launching ramps, a skatepark, nurseries and tearooms and the Crystal Brook Holiday Centre. It also has a thriving arts community including theatre, pottery and painting centred at the Mechanics Institute Hall.
Warrandyte has two completely community owned and run micro-retirement villages operated as a co-operative - unique in Victoria.
Educational Facilities in Warrandyte:
*
Warrandyte High School
Warrandyte High School (WHS) is a high school in Warrandyte, Victoria, Australia. Established as only a few portable classrooms in 1978, it now comprises two main buildings and many semi-permanent portables set on a hillside on the southern sl ...
* Andersons Creek Primary School
* Warrandyte Primary School
Places of Worship:
St Stephen's Anglican Church, Stiggants Road
Shopping Strips & Centres:
* Goldfields Plaza
* Street Shops either side of the Main Roads, around the main bridge.
Parklands and recreation
![Warrandyte Shop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Warrandyte_Shop.JPG)
Activities include walking, bike riding, mountain biking, tennis, basketball, football (AFL), cricket, swimming in the Yarra River, canoeing, kayaking, skateboarding and bushwalking, among many others.
Parks, Gardens and Reserves in Warrandyte:
*
Warrandyte State Park (including Pound Bend, Fourth Hill, Black Flat, Mount Lofty and other areas)
*
Pound Bend Reserve
* Stiggants Reserve
* Warrandyte Reserve/Taroona Reserve (Home to the
Warrandyte Cricket Club
Established in 1855, the Warrandyte Cricket Club is located in the eastern suburbs of Victoria, Australia, and is the 3rd oldest active cricket club in the state. Social games were played at the Recreation Reserve in Andersons Creek (now Warrand ...
, which was formed in 1855, Warrandyte "The Bloods"
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
Club, competing in the
Eastern Football League and Junior Football Clubs and Warrandyte Netball Club)
* Longridge Farm
* Alexander Reserve
*
Currawong Bush Park
Currawong Bush Park is a riparian bushland park located in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne on the borders of Doncaster East, Warrandyte and Donvale and on the eastern bank of the Mullum Creek. It covers 59 hectares of remnant bushland ...
(Environment Centre and Wildlife Enclosure)
* Wildflower Reserve
* Andersons Creek Streamside Reserve
See also
*
City of Doncaster and Templestowe
The City of Doncaster & Templestowe was a local government area about east-northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1915 until 1994. At its peak in the early 1990s, it had ...
– Warrandyte was previously within this former local government area.
*
Electoral district of Warrandyte
*
List of Melbourne suburbs
This is a list of Municipalities and their suburbs (neighbourhoods), townships, and rural localities in the greater metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Suburbs are defined here as localities within the legislated Urban Growth Boun ...
*
Victorian gold rush
* Manningham Municipal Council Offices (see
City of Manningham
The City of Manningham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and is divided into 12 suburbs, with the largest being Doncaster and Doncaster East. It comprises an area of 113 square kilometres ...
)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warrandyte, Victoria
Suburbs of Melbourne
Suburbs of the City of Manningham
Mining towns in Victoria (Australia)