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Healesville is a town in Victoria, Australia, 64 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Healesville recorded a population of 7,589 in the 2021 census.[1]
| Healesville Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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 The Grand Hotel at Healesville | |||||||||||||||
  Healesville Location in metropolitan Melbourne | |||||||||||||||
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| Coordinates | 37°39′22″S 145°30′50″E / 37.65611°S 145.51389°E | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 7,589 (2021 census)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| • Density | 53.406/km2 (138.32/sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Established | 1864 | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 3777 | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation | 97 m (318 ft) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 142.1 km2 (54.9 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Location |
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| LGA(s) | Shire of Yarra Ranges | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Eildon | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Casey | ||||||||||||||
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Healesville is situated on the Watts River, a tributary of the Yarra River.
The outskirts of Healesville is home to a wildlife sanctuary, called Healesville Sanctuary.[citation needed]
History
editTraffic to the more distant Gippsland and Yarra Valley goldfields in the 1860s resulted in a settlement forming on the Watts River[2] and its survey as a town in 1864. It was named after Richard Heales, the Premier of Victoria from 1860–1861.[3] The post office opened on 1 May 1865.[4] The town became a setting off point for the Woods Point Goldfield with the construction of the Yarra Track in the 1870s.[citation needed]
Climate
edit| Climate data for Healesville (1927–1990) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.0 (78.8) |
26.4 (79.5) |
23.9 (75.0) |
19.0 (66.2) |
15.9 (60.6) |
12.3 (54.1) |
12.2 (54.0) |
13.4 (56.1) |
16.0 (60.8) |
18.9 (66.0) |
22.1 (71.8) |
24.0 (75.2) |
19.2 (66.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.2 (52.2) |
11.7 (53.1) |
10.6 (51.1) |
8.5 (47.3) |
6.4 (43.5) |
4.4 (39.9) |
4.2 (39.6) |
5.2 (41.4) |
6.2 (43.2) |
7.8 (46.0) |
9.4 (48.9) |
10.6 (51.1) |
8.0 (46.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 56.9 (2.24) |
67.7 (2.67) |
64.1 (2.52) |
90.5 (3.56) |
96.0 (3.78) |
81.6 (3.21) |
86.5 (3.41) |
99.1 (3.90) |
93.0 (3.66) |
106.3 (4.19) |
90.2 (3.55) |
85.5 (3.37) |
1,006.5 (39.63) |
| Average rainy days | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5.5 | 7.8 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 11.2 | 12.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 8.1 | 7.4 | 102.1 |
| Source: Monthly climate statistics[5] | |||||||||||||
Present
edit
Healesville is 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.[citation needed]
The Yarra Valley Railway operates from Healesville Station on every Sunday, most public holidays and Wednesday to Sunday during school holidays.[6]
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 Australian Rules Footballer David Wirrpanda.[citation needed]
Much of what is now Healesville lies on the ancestral land of the Wurundjeri people. An Aboriginal reserve known as Coranderrk, set up in 1863, was located just south of the main township.[7]
Industries in and around Healesville include sawmilling, horticulture, tourism and viticulture.
Healesville has an active CFA (Country Fire Authority) volunteer fire brigade established in 1894. The Healesville Rural Fire Brigade was formed in 1941, then 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[8] now operates a main and a satellite station with members from both the Healesville and Chum Creek areas.
Healesville is the southern terminus of the Bicentennial Heritage Trail, which, at 5,330 km (3,310 mi), is the longest trail of its type in the world. [citation needed] The northern end of the trail is at Cooktown, Queensland, a town 328 kilometres (204 mi) north of Cairns.
Population
editAt the time of the 2021 census, there were 7,589 people in Healesville.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.2% of the population.
- 79.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 5.4% and New Zealand 1.7%.
- 90% of people spoke only English at home.
- The most common responses for religion were No Religion 55.8%, Catholic 13.7% and Anglican 8.9%.[9]
Sport
editThe town has an Australian rules football team, the Healesville Football Club, competing in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.[10]
Healesville has a cricket club, the Healesville Cricket Club, which competes in the Ringwood and District Cricket Association junior and senior competitions.[11]
Healesville 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.[12]
The Healesville Greyhound Racing Club also holds regular greyhound racing meetings at the Healesville Showgrounds and Sporting Complex on Don Road.[13]
Golfers play at the course of the RACV Country Club on Yarra Glen Road.[14]
Healesville has a soccer team known as Healesville Soccer Club that plays in the Victorian State League 4 East.
Notable people
edit- William Barak – an Aboriginal artist and Wurundjeri elder who spent much of his life at Coranderrk Station, near Healesville
- Edith Coleman – a naturalist and nature writer who completed her studies of pseudocopulation on native orchids from her house 'Goongarrie' in Healesville
- Gordon Collis – an Australian rules football player for Carlton Football Club; Brownlow Medalist in 1964
- Lex Lasry – a Supreme Court Judge
- Kelvin Moore – an Australian rules football player for the Richmond Football Club
- James Wandin (1933–2006) – a Wurundjeri ngurungaeta and Australian Rules footballer with St Kilda
- Joy Murphy Wandin – a Wurundjeri elder[15]
- Jessie McHardy White (1870–1957), army matron
- David Wirrpanda – a former Australian rules footballer
- Patrick Wolfe (1946-2016) – an Australian historian and social anthropologist
Tourism
editHealesville has been a tourist destination since the 1880s, with the Grand Hotel built in 1888, and the 60-room Gracedale House in 1889.[16]
A Tourist and Progress Association was created in the 1920s.[17] The association published "Healesville, The World-famed Tourist Resort",[18] listing over 40 beauty spots and 20 hotels and guest houses.
The construction of the Maroondah Dam in the 1920s 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 and reliable 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.[citation needed] 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".[16]
In modern times Healesville has become a centre for tourism based around the wine and food industries of the Yarra Valley, with attractions including Healesville Sanctuary, Badger Weir Picnic Area, Yarra Valley Railway, Healesville Organic Market, numerous cafes and restaurants, and volunteer-run events such as the Healesville Music Festival, Open Studios, and the Yarra Valley Rodeo.[19][20][21][22]
The Memo, a centre for community arts and cultural activities, was built in 1924 as a soldier's memorial hall.[23]
Film and television
editThe 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). [citation needed]
Gallery
edit-
Healesville Visitor Centre -
Healesville Railway Station -
Healesville Hotel -
Grand Hotel -
RACV Club -
Mount Riddell -
Mount Saint Leonard -
Healesville by night, taken from Mount Saint Leonard -
Healesville Main Street at night -
Mechanics Institute -
Grand Hotel -
Healesville Hotel -
Maroondah Dam 2011 -
Maroondah Reservoir in September 2023. -
Healesville from above. Shot on 230422
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b "2021 Census QuickStats Healesville". Australian Bureau if Statistics. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
- ^ "The Best Track to the River Jordan . Gold-fields". The Age. No. 3, 199. Victoria, Australia. 28 January 1865. p. 6. Retrieved 21 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia., ...No works have been at present executed upon this permanent line until the track reaches the township of Healesville, near the Watts river...
- ^ "Heales, Richard (1821–1864)". Richard Heales. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
- ^ Phoenix Auctions History, Post Office List, retrieved 19 February 2021
- ^ "Bureau of Meteorology". Climate statistics for Australia. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
- ^ "Yarra Valley Railway Fares and Timetables", Yarra Valley Railway, archived from the original on 24 October 2009, retrieved 7 May 2009
- ^ "Healesville and Healesville Shire | Victorian Places". www.victorianplaces.com.au. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "Healesville Fire Brigade".
- ^ "2021 Census QuickStats Healesville". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Full Points Footy, Healesville, archived from the original on 5 April 2008, retrieved 25 July 2008
- ^ "Play Cricket". play.cricket.com.au. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ Country Racing Victoria, Healesville Amateur Racing, archived from the original on 28 July 2008, retrieved 7 May 2009
- ^ Greyhound Racing Victoria, Healesville, archived from the original on 31 March 2009, retrieved 15 April 2009
- ^ Golf Select, RACV Country Club, retrieved 11 May 2009
- ^ Flanagan, Martin (25 January 2003). "Tireless ambassador bids you welcome". The Age. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ DLAdmin. "Home". Tourism Network Yarra Valley. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ Healesville Tourist & Progress Association. "Healesville the world-famed tourist resort". State Library Victoria. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "Badger Weir Picnic Area". Visit Melbourne's Yarra Valley - Official Site. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "Healesville Organic Market". Visit Melbourne's Yarra Valley - Official Site. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "Festival | Healesville Music Festival". HMF2020. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "HOME PAGE". www.yarravalleyrodeo.com.au. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
- ^ "The Memo, Healesville". www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
