Upwey, Victoria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Upwey
Melbourne, Victoria

Population:

6760 (2006)^[1]

Postcode:

3158

Area:

7 km² (2.7 sq mi)

Property Value:

AUD $291,000^[2]

Location:

34 km (21 mi) from Melbourne
2 km (1 mi) from Belgrave

LGA:

Shire of Yarra Ranges

State District:

Monbulk

Federal Division:

La Trobe

Suburbs around Upwey:
Tremont	Ferny Creek	Dandenong Ranges
Upper Ferntree Gully	Upwey	Tecoma
Lysterfield	Lysterfield	Belgrave Heights

Upwey, Victoria is a residential suburb in hilly surrounds 34 km east of General Post Office, Melbourne and 2 km west of Belgrave, Victoria. In 1996 Upwey's population was 7,149.

1 History
2 Business & Community
3 Government
4 Transport
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

The area of Upwey was originally known as "Mast Gully" as several masts for ships were cut down in the 1850s. To this day Mast Gully Creek and Mast Gully Road still remain. The Tullidge sisters bought a homestead in 1897 and named it after an English village on the River Wey—Upwey. On the 18 December 1900 the 2'6" narrow gauge railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook was opened and they requested the Victorian Railways build a stopping place nearby, which was agreed to and on Monday, 3 June 1901, a station named Upwey was opened. The name was adopted locally, with the Upwey Church of England opening in 1904 and a post office opening in 1911. In 1918, the Upwey Convention started holding annual gatherings over the Christmas – New Year period—initially held at the Upwey Union (now Baptist) Church and later moving to their own property next to the High School. It finally moved in 1950 to Belgrave Heights.

By the 1920s both a Progress Association and a fire brigade had been established and by the end of the 1920s and early 1930s many weekenders had been built in the area. When the Great Depression occurred the Victorian Government opened up Dandenong Ranges to housing and the population of Upwey and the surrounding foothills grew steadily. Upwey Primary School opened in 1934 and still exists today. Upwey Higher Elementary School opened in 1937 and became Upwey High School in 1945. Today it serves as the main secondary education provider in the Dandenong Ranges, taking students from around the foothills and Mount Dandenong.

In 1954 the railway was closed due to a landslide the previous year further along the line past Selby only to see it reopened as far as Belgrave in 1955 for three years as the first effort to run it as a preserved tourist railway, again closing in 1958. In 1962 the railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave was reopened as part of the 5'3" broad gauge suburban electric network, giving Upwey a direct link to Melbourne. With the reopening of the railway, the main road (Monbulk Road) no longer crossed the railway next to the station, but continue further on going under a railway bridge. Some years later, Upwey was by-passed with Collier Avenue on the north of the railway being upgraded and renamed Monbulk Road—later to be renamed Burwood Highway. The main street on the south side of the railway became a quiet local shopping strip.

In 1997 the Dandenong Ranges suffered devastating bushfires that threatened Upwey and its neighbouring towns, however Upwey was spared from the onslaught. After the last branch of the Commonwealth Bank closed Upwey's local banking services were reduced to an ATM in the old bank building. In 1998 the abandoned bank building became the first metropolitan and third ever Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank, a model that returns branch profits into the community.

[edit] Business & Community

Today Upwey is a thriving community. Main Street boasts a wide variety of shops and services, instilling a traditional community village nature into an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne.