Mt. Waverley

Mount Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Mount Waverley recorded a population of 35,340 at the 2021 census.

It is 16 km from Melbourne at its closest point. Mount Waverley railway station, located in the main shopping precinct, is located 17.8 km from Flinders Street railway station.

Geography

Mount Waverley is a large suburb, rectangular in shape, bounded by Highbury Road in the north, Ferntree Gully Road in the south, Huntingdale Road in the west, and Blackburn Road in the east. At the centre of the suburb is Mount Waverley Village Shopping Centre, and in the south-east is Pinewood Shopping Centre.

History

The Mount Waverley area, then part of the Parish of Mulgrave, was divided by straight roads running north–south and east–west, each exactly one mile apart, by Assistant Surveyor Eugene Bellairs, in 1853. Mount Waverley Post Office opened on 9 October 1905.

Mount Waverley is famous for its heritage streets which date from the 1930s. Due to the onset of the Great Depression, the building of houses on the suburb's earliest estates did not commence in earnest until the early 1950s. According to Lachlan Bath, president of the Ashburton Historical Society, the suburb's streets had been laid down, but no houses were built; merely a row of "cardboard boxes" housed the first few residents who had migrated east from the "slums of Ashburton to enjoy a better standard of living", only to be bitterly disappointed with the estate agents who promised milk and honey but instead delivered a mosquito infested swamp. However, the Ashburton immigrants, while disappointed, all agreed that the "swamp" was a major step up from their former homes. City of Monash: Detailed history: Planning the New Suburb. Retrieved 27 October 2008 Post Offices at Mount Waverley North (opened 1959 closed 1983), Mount Waverley South (opened 1968 closed 1973), and Mount Waverley West (opened 1964 closed 1977) chart the wider residential development of the suburb.

Glen Alvie Estate

Close to Mt Waverley Village are the suburb's first streets, once designed to become the very epitome of prestigious country estate living and an extravagant idea decades ahead of its time. Sherwood Park was part of the prestigious Glen Alvie estate that sought to form country club type living to Waverley. Top quality land was acquired – 25 acres were bought from Mr Jack Lechte in 1928, and some from Mr Cornell, as well as a large parcel of land from Mr F. Closter – in all about 50 acres. This fertile land had been dairy farm – Ayrshire-Jersey cross cows, with some pigs, a plum and apple orchard, and stock feed crops – canola, maize and lucerne (alfalfa). ''Glen Alvie Estates Limited'' allocated five of the fifty acres for recreation facilities. There was to be a club house, six tennis courts, a bowling green, a croquet lawn, a mashee lawn, and a large swimming pool. These were to be laid out adjacent to Sherwood Park, a huge central area, lined with date palms that are still seen today. Large houses around the periphery were to be built, and one-way roads would be constructed to prevent traffic problems; and also elsewhere in the estate – tucked between the large unfenced building sites and gardens to give a sense of living on a country estate. A golf course had been established nearby by 1930; St John's Wood Golf Links, (now Riversdale Golf Club), the gardens of which were designed by Edna Walling, and a school was also nearby; Mount Waverley Primary School. This was to be garden suburb living.

The suburb's original streets, including Park Lane, Virginia Street and Sherwood Road, were built of concrete, not the less expensive asphalt. Council intended to charge an extra rate to residents of the estate to cover the huge loan of building these concrete streets. The surface is still the same as it was in the 1930s, with only minor maintenance over the decades. Residential development did not resurge until the 1950s. In early 2008, a new smoother asphalt surface was finally laid along the strip of Stephensons Road between Waverley Road and Mount Waverley Village shopping centre.

Stephensons Road (which is the sixth name change of a long continuous road beginning at the intersection of Palm Beach Drive & Old Wells Road, Patterson Lakes and beginning as state route 23 in Chelsea Heights) is the main road of Mount Waverley that runs straight through the middle of the suburb. The name Stephensons Road is solely in the suburb of Mount Waverley, which is between its southern boundary Ferntree Gully Road (continuing as Clayton Road) to its northern boundary Highbury Road (continuing as Middleborough Road).

Today

One of the highest points in Mount Waverley is the reservoir on High Street Road. The natural land surrounding this landmark is over 138–150 metres above sea level. Construction of the reservoir began in 1927.

The waterways in the suburb are Damper Creek in the north, and Scotchmans Creek, in the south. Significant parks within Mount Waverley include Valley Reserve, Damper Creek Reserve, and Federal Reserve. All reserves contain significant areas of remnant native bushland. Significant wetland areas in Mount Waverley are found within Valley Reserve and in the Scotchmans Creek valley.

The popular Melbourne Street Directory Melway

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