Malvern 3144 Malvern 3144

Malvern, a residential suburb8 km. south-east of Melbourne, lies between Gardiners Creek on its northand Dandenong Road on its south. It extends eastwards from Kooyong Road,Toorak, to Warrigal Road. It was also a municipality until1994.

The first settler in the district was JohnGardiner, pastoral overlander from Yass, New South Wales,in 1835. His homestead was probably in the vicinity of the Kooyongrailway station, near the Kooyong Koot or Gardiners Creek. One authorityplaces the homestead at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Toorak Road (Malvern)whilst there is a memorial outside Scotch College, Glenferrie Road (Hawthorn)north of the creek. Gardiner's name was given to Gardiners Creek Road (nowToorak Road), the creek, to a locality and railway station to the east,and to the original shire which was renamed Malvern in 1878.

The first Government land sales were held in 1854, within the triangulararea bounded by Kooyong Road, Gardiners Creek and Wattletree Road. A hamletformed in the vicinity of Malvern and Glenferrie Roads, where a hotel wasopened. Another hotel opened in 1855 in Wattletree Road to catch trafficbetween Melbourne and Gippsland. It is now a residence, and is on the VictorianHeritage Register. In 1856 the Gardiners Road District was formed, extendingsouthwards to Dandenong Road.

In 1854 the Anglican Church began services and opened a primary school.The bluestone St. Georges Church of England (near the future town hall)was opened in 1869, and the school continued until replaced in 1875 by theState school in Spring Road (east of the town hall) in 1875.

The name Malvern arose from the Malvern Hill Estate, a number of privatelots sold by Charles Skinner, barrister, in 1856. Skinner's forebears livedat Ledbury, near Malvern Hill, Herefordshire. His sale included a villagenamed Ledbury at the north-west corner of Malvern and Glenferrie Road, wherehe built the Malvern Hill Hotel. The hotel name overtook the village nameas the title for the area.

On 26 May, 1871, the Shire of Gardiner was proclaimed. It became theShire of Malvern in 1878. By then the district had become a site for fineresidences on generous allotments, agricultural and pastoral holdings, brickand tile works, slaughter houses and night soil disposal problems. The shirehall and court house were built at the corner of High Street and GlenferrieRoad in 1886, six years after the railway station was opened at the southernend of Glenferrie Road. In 1890 the northern side of the shire gained arailway from Burnley , to Darling, following the southernside of Gardiners Creek.

Malvern gained some notable residences. Foremost was Stonnington, GlenferrieRoad (1890). It was the State Government House, 1901-32, and has becomea campus of Deakin University. Not far behind was Valentines, built in 1891-2for John Davies, unsuccessful speculator. It became Malvern Grammar School(1923) and later Caulfield Grammar's junior campus. It is near Sacre Coeurgirls' school (1888) accommodated in Brynmawr (1859), and Korowa Anglicangirls' secondary school (1890). These three schools are in the part of theformer Malvern municipality known as Glen Iris.

Malvern underwent rapid urbanisation from the turn of the century, becominga borough in 1901, a town a few months later and a city on 30 May, 1911.The district lacked trams, however, until the Prahran and Malvern TramwaysTrust was formed in 1908 and opened tramlines along High Street (1910-14),Malvern Road (1915), Glenferrie Road (1910-13) and Wattletree Road (1910-12).All lines were run on electricity.

The suburb of Malvern, as district from the municipality, runs north-southbetween Glenferrie Road and Tooronga Roads. It has the strong GlenferrieRoad shopping strip and a smaller one in Malvern Road. In addition to thecivic buildings there are the Spring Road primary school (1875) and anotherat the southern end in Tooronga Road (1884) next to the girls' high school(1946-93). De La Salle boys' college (1912) and St. Josephs Catholic primaryschool are near the town hall. The present town hall buildings were builtin 1927. They are a frequent venue for art auctions and antique fairs.

Malvern has a public gardens and oval near the town hall. Other publicreserves are further afield, mostly along the Gardiners Creek valley. Thearea's most elaborate reserve is Central Park, Malvern East,with a glass house and carefully tended garden beds.

In 1994 the Malvern municipality's median house sale price of $290,000was 123% higher than the metropolitan median. In 1996 the Malvern suburb'smedian house sale of $256,250 was 108% higher than the metropolitan median.

The Malvern municipality contained the eastern part of Toorak,Kooyong, Tooronga, Darling, Gardiner,Glen Iris, Malvern East and part of Chadstone.On 22 June, 1994, Malvern city and most of Prahran city wereunited to form Stonnington city.

Malvern township had census populations of 449(1871) and 5,085 (1891). The municipality had census populations of 10,619(1901), 32,306 (1921), 43,244 (1933), 50,051 (1966) and 41,340 (1991).

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