Healesville, Victoria

Healesville
Victoria

The Grand Hotel at Healesville
Healesville
Coordinates 37°39′22″S 145°30′50″E / 37.65611°S 145.51389°E / -37.65611; 145.51389Coordinates: 37°39′22″S 145°30′50″E / 37.65611°S 145.51389°E / -37.65611; 145.51389
Population 6,839 (2011 census)[1]
Established 1864
Postcode(s) 3777
Elevation 199 m (653 ft)
Location
LGA(s) Shire of Yarra Ranges
State electorate(s) Eildon
Federal Division(s) Casey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
19.2 °C
67 °F		 8 °C
46 °F		 1,020.1 mm
40.2 in
Localities around Healesville:
Chum Creek Toolangi Narbethong
Dixons Creek Tarrawarra Healesville McMahons Creek
Coldstream Gruyere Badger Creek Woori Yallock Don Valley

Healesville is a town in Victoria, Australia, 52 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2011 Census, Healesville had a population of 6,839.[1]

Healesville is situated on the Watts River, a tributary of the Yarra River.

History

The creation of a railway to the more distant Gippsland and Yarra Valley goldfields in the 1860s resulted in a settlement forming on the Watts River and its survey as a town in 1864. It was named after Richard Heales, the Premier of Victoria from 1860–1861. The post office opened on 1 May 1865.[2] The town became a setting off point for the Woods Point Goldfield with the construction of the Yarra Track in the 1870s.

Present

Healesville is well known for the Healesville Sanctuary, a nature park with hundreds of native Australian animals displayed in a semi-open natural setting and an active platypus breeding program.

The Yarra Valley Railway operates from Healesville Station on every Sunday, most public holidays and Wednesday to Sunday during school holidays.[3]

Schools in Healesville include the Healesville Primary School, St Brigid's Catholic primary school, the rural Chum Creek Primary School, Badger Creek Primary School, Healesville High School and Worawa Aboriginal College, an Aboriginal school whose former students include noted Australian Rules Footballer David Wirrpanda. Much of what is now Healesville lies on the ancestral land of the Wurundjeri people. The Coranderrk mission station, set up in 1863, is located just south of the main township.

Industries in and around Healesville include sawmilling, horticulture, tourism and, more recently, viticulture.

The Salvation Army has been part of the community since the late 19th century, with a continued and renewed presence in town.[4]

Healesville has an active CFA (Country Fire Authority) volunteer fire brigade established in 1894 which has been active in the community and still is to this day. The Healesville Rural Fire Brigade was formed in 1941 and disbanded and membership amalgamated with the Healesville Urban Fire Brigade in 1985. The amalgamation of the Chum Creek Rural Fire Brigade with the Healesville brigade occurred in 1996. The Healesville Fire Brigade[5] now operates a main and a satellite station with members from both the Healesville and Chum Creek areas.

Sport

The town has an Australian Rules football team, The Bloods, competing in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.[6]

Healesville also has a tennis club, the Healesville Tennis Club, which competes in the Eastern Region Tennis junior and senior competitions.

Healesville has a picnic horse racing club, Healesville Amateur Racing, which holds around seven race meetings a year with the Healesville Cup meeting in January.[7]

The Healesville Greyhound Racing Club also holds regular meetings.[8]

Golfers play at the course of the RACV Country Club on Yarra Glen Road.[9]

Healesville also has an association football team known as Healesville Soccer Club that plays in the Football Federation Victoria league.

Notable people

Tourism

From the late 1890s elaborate country retreat residences were built alongside hotels and guest houses.

A Tourist and Progress Association was created before 1914.

In the 1920s the association published "Healesville, The World-famed Tourist Resort", listing over 40 beauty spots and 20 hotels and guest houses. The construction of the Maroondah Dam in 1927, replacing the weir, brought several hundred workmen to Healesville. Their departure and the onset of the 1930s depression exposed Healesville's restricted range of industries. Timber and tourism were not stable enough for sustained growth. Notwithstanding the depression, the 1930s saw increased motor tourism (partly bypassing Healesville) and decreased railway patronage. Only 10% came by rail at Easter 1934. Tourism was still active but a local newspaper commented that Healesville would be "heaps better off calling itself the good-time town instead of the world-famed-tourist-resort—that's got whiskers on it".

Film and television

The Internet Movie Database has Healesville and its environs as the filming locations for a number of films and TV programs: the Australian TV series Young Ramsay (1977), Felicity (1979), the natural history TV series Life on Earth (1979), Frog Dreaming (1986), the Australian TV short film Harry's War (1999) and Killer Elite (2011).

References

  1. 1 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Healesville (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
  2. ↑ Premier Postal History, Post Office List, retrieved 2008-04-11
  3. ↑ "Yarra Valley Railway Fares and Timetables", Yarra Valley Railway, http://www.yarravalleyrailway.org.au/, retrieved 2009-05-07 External link in |publisher= (help)
  4. ↑ The Salvation Army, The Salvation Army Healesville, retrieved 2008-09-16
  5. ↑ "Healesville Fire Brigade".
  6. ↑ Full Points Footy, Healesville, archived from the original on 5 April 2008, retrieved 2008-07-25
  7. ↑ Country Racing Victoria, Healesville Amateur Racing, archived from the original on 28 July 2008, retrieved 2009-05-07
  8. ↑ Greyhound Racing Victoria, Healesville, archived from the original on 31 March 2009, retrieved 2009-04-15
  9. ↑ Golf Select, RACV Country Club, retrieved 2009-05-11
  10. ↑ Flanagan, Martin (25 January 2003). "Tireless ambassador bids you welcome". The Age. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
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