Heathmont is a suburb of

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 ...

, 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

City of Maroondah A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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 ...

. Heathmont recorded a population of 9,933 at the 2021 census.

History

Heathmont was originally covered by hedge-to-hedge apple orchards. The name appears to have come from the rising land in the area having heath or low, shrub-like vegetation on it. The first shop opened in 1923 in front of a house. The population has grown from 600 people in 1953 to 8,787 people in 2001. Heathmont Post Office opened on 15 February 1929, sometime after the railway station opened in 1926. Heathmont was originally within the municipality of the City of Ringwood, but it became part of Maroondah City Council in December 1994.

Public transport

Heathmont railway station is located just off Canterbury Road (which runs through the heart of the suburb) and is on the Belgrave railway line. It is within ticketing Zone 2. Ventura bus route 679, which runs from Chirnside Park to Ringwood Station via Lilydale, Mount Evelyn and along Canterbury Road, Great Ryrie St and Bedford Road, serves much of Heathmont.

Shopping

The Heathmont Shopping Centre provides services to the suburb. It includes a handful of cafes, an IGA Supermarket, butcher shop, two bakeries, a newsagent, takeaway shops, multiple hairdressers, several massage parlours, a funeral parlour, a

car wash A car wash, or auto wash, is a facility used to clean the exterior, and in some cases the interior, of motor vehicle, cars. Car washes can be #Self-serve car wash, self-service, full-service (with attendants who wash the vehicle), or #Autom ...

and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. There is plenty of parking, and the main shopping precinct is opposite the Heathmont railway station. The distant Mount Dandenong and

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...

are visible from much of this shopping strip.

Demographics

Birth country

At the 2021 Census, the top four countries of birth were: *

(74.8%) *

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

(3.4%) *

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(2.8%) *

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(2.5%)

Language used at home

The top four languages used at home include: * English (80%) *

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

(3.9%) *

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

(1.7%) *

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

(0.7%)

Religious affiliation

The top four religious affiliations include: *No religion (46.9%) *

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(17.7%) *

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(7.3%) *

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

(4.1%)

Income and work

The median weekly income of Heathmont residents was $908, and for families was $2566. The four largest occupational groupings were: *Professionals (31.9%) *Managers (14.7%) *Clerical and administrative workers (12.7%) *Technicians and trades workers (11.8%) The unemployment rate was at 3.5%, below the national average of 5.1%.

Politics and representation

Heathmont contained four voting booths at the 2010 federal election, all lying within the federal electorate of Deakin. Three of those booths saw the Liberal candidate win the most primary votes, yet only two saw the Liberals win a majority of two-party preferred votes after preferences. The combined booth results across the suburb saw the primary vote split 40.1% to

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, 41.4% to the Liberals and 12.7% to the Greens. After preferences, the split was 52.5% to Labor and 47.5% to the Liberals. The suburb tends to be highly competitive electorally and is generally a reliable barometer for the overall voting population. Heathmont and surrounding areas were visited by federal politicians

Joe Hockey Joseph Benedict Hockey (born 2 August 1965) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was the Member of Parliament for Division of North Sydney, North Sydney from 1996 Australian federal election, 1996 until 2015. He was the Treasurer ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and was the member of parli ...

and

Wayne Swan Wayne Maxwell Swan (born 30 June 1954) is an Australian politician serving as the 25th and current Australian Labor Party National Executive#National Presidents, National President of the Labor Party since 2018, previously serving as the 14th de ...

throughout 2010. In 2007, Heathmont was identified as one of the 'wealthier pockets' of Deakin (along with

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

) in an analysis of marginal 'leafy' suburbs in Melbourne's east, that were, by swinging to Labor, proving wrong the notion of a 'rich Lib, poor Labor' myth.

Schools

Primary schools

* Heathmont East Primary School * Great Ryrie Primary School * Marlborough Primary School

Secondary schools

* Heathmont College

Sport and recreation

There are many parks, such as H.E. Parker Reserve and a mini

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course. Dandenong Creek supports much wildlife, including birds and frogs, although swimming is not recommended. There is also a bike track, Dandenong Creek Trail, which runs along Dandenong Creek. The suburb has an

Australian Rules 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 ...

football team, the Heathmont Jets, competing in the Eastern Football League, and a lawn bowls club, Heathmont Bowls Club, that plays in the Eastern Ranges Bowls Region. Heathmont has two tennis clubs: Heathmont Tennis Club an
H.E. Parker Reserve
Other sporting facilities include a baseball club and a cricket club. Golfers play at the Heathmont Par 3 Golf Course on Canterbury Road. There are two Scout Groups: Heathmont and 3rd Heathmont. Both are located in reserves along the Dandenong Creek: 3rd Heathmont in H.E. Parker, and Heathmont in Kathleen Barrow.

Churches

There are also many churches situated in Heathmont: * Heathmont Baptist Church * Heathmont Uniting Church Community Living Centre * Heathmont Presbyterian Church * Heathmont Christadelphians * Maroondah Presbyterian Reformed Church

References

External links

Maroondah City Council
{{City of Maroondah suburbs Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Maroondah