Cairnlea is a suburb in

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, north-west 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

City of Brimbank The City of Brimbank is a Local government in Australia, local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It comprises the western suburbs between 10 and 20 km west and nor ...

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 ...

. Cairnlea recorded a population of 10,038 at the 2021 census.

History

20th century

The former

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

site became open grassland after European settlement but later, from 1939, it was a

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explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...

s manufacturing site. The site closed in the 1990s.

21st century

The suburb is a new estate, and has only been developed since 1999, with development of the new suburb finished in mid-2005. The suburb features several man-made lakes and has implemented a suburb-wide stormwater recycling system that feeds all the lakes. By 2011 Cairnlea is projected to have 3,000 residential blocks and to have a population of more than 10,000. It covers bounded by Station Road, the Western Highway and the

Western Ring Road The M80 Ring Road (also known simply as the Ring Road or by the names of its constituent parts; the Western Ring Road and the Metropolitan Ring Road) is a partially complete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article wi ...

Geography

Kororoit Creek is located on the southern border of the suburb and Jones Creek on the Northern Border. The creeks have been home to healthy populations of native reptiles for thousands of years, including

Tiger snake The tiger snake (''Notechis scutatus'') is a large and highly venomous snake of southern Australia, including its coastal islands and Tasmania. These snakes are often observed and locally well known by their banding, black and yellow like a ti ...

, Eastern blue-tongued lizard and

Eastern brown snake The eastern brown snake (''Pseudonaja textilis''), often referred to as the common brown snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea. It w ...

. Unfortunately, due to development over the past 20 years, these species are now rarely seen in the area. Due to development of lakes and wetlands, species of frogs have reclaimed the area. The

Eastern Banjo Frog ''Limnodynastes dumerilii'' is a frog species from the family Limnodynastidae. The informal names for the species and its subspecies include eastern or southern banjo frog, and bull frog.Waite, Edgar R. (1929): ''The reptiles and amphibians of ...

, common eastern froglet and even the now endangered

growling grass frog The growling grass frog (''Ranoidea raniformis''), also commonly known as the southern bell frog, warty swamp frog and erroneously as the green frog, is a species of ground-dwelling tree frog native to southeastern Australia, ranging from sout ...

have been seen and heard in the new wetlands and in Kororoit Creek. Some species of birds are also returning to the creeks and lakes, such as pelicans and cormorants. *

Brimbank Park Brimbank Park is a metropolitan regional park managed by Parks Victoria situated in the north-western Melbourne suburb of Keilor East, Victoria, Australia. History About 40,000 years ago: first signs of possible human habitation along the Mari ...

* Kororoit Creek Trail Due to the former industrial use as an explosives factory, the land was highly contaminated. Much of the area was remediated for office and then residential development although many toxic chemicals remain in the area.

Localities

* Iramoo

Landmarks

* The Black Powder Mill * Cairnlea Community Hub * Cairnlea Town Centre * The Victorian Croquet Club * Cairnlea FC

Economy

The Cairnlea Shopping Centre provides a number of small shops, a super-clinic, a Coles supermarket and a number of food and dining outlets. It is located at the intersection of Cairnlea Drive and Furlong Road.

Education

Cairnlea Park Primary School

Parks and gardens

Some have been set aside for public open space. Part of that process has seen two endangered species (the Plains Rice-flower and the Striped Legless Lizard) having reserves and management plans set up for their preservation.

References

{{City of Brimbank suburbs Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Brimbank