Mordialloc 3195 Mordialloc 3195

Mordialloc, a bayside residential suburb, is 25 km. south-east of Melbourne. The name's antecedents are a squatting run "Moodi Yallo"(1837), a census taken in 1841 at "Moode Yallock"and Georgiana McCrae's visit to "Mordy Yallock"in 1844.

The name is thought to be derived from Aboriginal words meaning (1) creek named Moodi or Marida or (2) meaning "near little sea"or "small tidal stream". The Mordialloc creek is both tidal and of more than usual width where it enters the bay. In the nineteenth century a sandbar often made the creek mouth a shallow inlet.

In the 1860s the land along the coast backing on to the Carrum Swamp, southwards from Mordialloc, was divided into large allotments and sold. The owner of the allotment adjoining the Mordialloc Creek built the Bridge Hotel there in 1868, positioned on the coastal track to Frankston. For some years before, Mordialloc had been a point of supply of fish for Melbourne, including fish caught at Hastings and carried on the old fish track across the Mornington Peninsula. A primary school was opened in 1868.

During the late 1870s plans for the defence of Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay included the building of railways around the coast. Extension of the railway from Caulfield to Mordialloc followed in 1881. Mordialloc became the site of horse-riding activities - the Melbourne Hunt Club, the Findon Harriers (from Mill Park) and the Epsom Racecourse (1880s). The creek was a popular boating venue, and the foreshore a regular destination for picnics. A Mordialloc Carnival Committee later managed the foreshore attractions.

The builder of the Epsom Racecourse also owned the adjoining Mayfield estate on which the Mordialloc (later Woodlands) golfcourse was formed in 1913.

On 26 May, 1920, the Mentone and Mordialloc borough was created by severance from the Moorabbin s hire, the borough having a population of about 5,700 persons. It became Mordialloc town on 24 April, 1923 and a city on 5 May, 1926.

In 1929 the Mordialloc-Carrum (later Mordialloc-Chelsea) high school was opened. During the 1930s and 1940s Mordialloc municipality underwent expansion, and by the early postwar years Mentone and Parkdale were rapidly growing areas.

Mordialloc's township at the southern end of the municipality, on the Mordialloc Creek, has foreshore and watercourse reserves, along with others adjoining the Epsom Training Track. The shopping centre is between the foreshore and the railway station. It comprises the Main Street shopping strip and a drive-in plaza of eleven shops including a supermarket (1985). The beach remains a popular one with lifesaving and picnic facilities. The pier and the Mordialloc Sailing Club are near the mouth of the Mordialloc Creek.

Mordialloc's housing is mainly modest brick veneer, with bigger houses along Beach Road overlooking the beach and the bay. The median house price in Mordialloc in 1987 was 98% of the median for metropolitan Melbourne. In 1995 it was 95% of the metropolitan median and in 1996 it was 24% above the median.

On 15 December, 1994, all of Mordialloc city except a part in the west which is in Beaumaris was united with Chelsea city and parts of Moorabbin, Oakleigh and Springvale cities to form Kingston city. The former Mordialloc municipality's census populations were 9,216 (1933), 21,025 (1954), 29,753 (1971) and 26,325 (1991).

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