Werribee, Victoria

Werribee is about 30 km south-west of Melbourne, located halfway to Geelong on the Princes Highway. It is also positioned on the Werribee River, which starts to the north of the town of Ballan.

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings

Early leasing of pastures was led by members of John Batman's Port Phillip Association. A rural township began in the early 1850s. This village was named Wyndham (the name of the local municipality today). The name derived from a suggestion by the owner of a local village inn, Elliott Armstrong, who sought to honour Scottish solider Sir Henry Wyndham.

However, its adjacent river was called the Werribee River, and the town's name was later changed to Werribee in 1884, and the shire council at that time was also renamed Werribee in 1909. The name Werribee is said to come from an Aboriginal word which meant spine or backbone, which described the curve of the Werribee River.

Werribee at this time was very popular for development. Thomas Chirnside, a person famous in this area even today, was attracted to the open plain's suitability for agricultural uses. By 1863 he controlled more than 280 square kilometres around Werribee. Chirnside bought other smaller holdings of land at this time.

The town grew steadily, helped by a railway line from Melbourne to Geelong, with a station at Werribee in 1857.

A religious school was opened in 1855 but was replaced by a public school in 1861. A Catholic church was also opened in the same year.

On October 10, 1862, the first council - the Wyndham Road District - was started, but was replaced by a shire council in 1864. The shire was huge, extending from the inner suburbs of Melbourne to Little River near to Geelong to the northward town of Melton which covering 715 square kilometres.

[edit] The council empire

It included the places now known as Balliang, Exford, Hoppers Crossing, Laverton, Little River, Manor, Mambourin, Mount Cottrell, Tarneit and Truganina (although these two are recent suburbs). Also Werribee and Werribee South, Point Cook and Wyndham Vale. This empire also included Altona until 1957, as it formed its own separate shire. The name was changed to Werribee Shire in 1909, and became a city council in 1987. On 15 December 1994 when Victorian Council Boundaries underwent a major change, the name of the council changed back to Wyndham, a small part in the north being transferred to the Shire of Melton.

Going back in time again, between 1860 and 1890, Werribee had two epicentres, the township and Werribee Park Mansion, owned by Chirnside. In 1878 a mansion was built and completed in Werribee Park, a major landmark today.

Chirnside's brother Andrew also started to acquire land around Werribee, enlarging the area to nearly 400 square kilometres.

Thomas Chirnside committed suicide in 1887, his brother dying three years later. The property was now divided between Andrew's two sons. A new mansion was built, called "The Manor" (Manor is the name of a suburb currently existing in Werribee, although not in the same place as the mansion.)

In 1881 a quarter of the shire's population lived in the Werribee Township. There were hotels there, as well as recreational venues such as the Werribee Racecourse (built in 1879) as well as the Mechanics' Institute (built in 1883).

[edit] Werribee's tenants

Soon after the Werribee property was passed on to the sons, the taxes meant that farmers would have to be used as tenants. In the early 1900s those 130 or so tenant farmers became freeholders of the land. The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works borrowed over 30 square kilometres for the Metroplitan Sewage Farm, the name later being shortened to Metropolitan Farm.

Irrigation was improved in Werribee in the early 1900s. Italian market gardeners, orchardists and poulterers started to move into Werribee soon after. In 1912, the Animal Research Institute was built.

[edit] A new suburb

Soldiers settling in Werribee after the first world war made their own farms, creating a new suburb called Werribee South in 1925. The Chirnside sons eventually left Werribee in 1928. About 3,000 people lived in the area at the time. A picture theatre and a primary school were also built.

During the First and Second World Wars, considerable military infrastructure was established in, or near, Werribee: permanent RAAF bases at Point Cook, Laverton and Avalon; temporary airfields; and munitions stores. During the second half of the 20th century the RAAF personal contributed greatly to the cultural and economic development of the community.

After the second world war, Werribee had four hotels and churches, two savings banks (four including branch banks), market gardens and agricutural zones. Growth in this area was mostly limited to the east end (Altona) of the district, spreading to the rest of the shire in the 1960s, the population doubling in a decade. By 1971 Werribee housed 12,000 residents.

During this period, there were a number of scientific research facilites in the region: The Board of Works Farm (researching sewerage treatment); the CSIRO facility in Railway Avenue; the State Research Farm (renamed the Animal Research Institute); and the Melbourne University Veterinary Science School. Many teachers and scientists and engineers working in the petrochemical industry lived in Werribee, which at one stage was reputed to have more degrees per head of population than any other area in the state.

Farmland around Werribee was sub-divided to form new suburbs. First was Werribee North, then Hoppers Crossing, Wyndhamvale, Westleigh Gardens and Tarneit. Werribee South and Laverton also began to grow rapidly. Public transport was atrocious and infrastructure could not keep pace with demand. This kept housing prices low. The completion of the West Gate bridge over the Yarra River reduced the time required to reach Melbourne's central business district to a mere 20 minutes by car, which, in an era of low petrol prices, ensured low transport costs for breadwinners and boosted the popularity of the area.

In 1970 a Catholic Secondary College (MacKillop College) was built on what had been part of the grounds of the Corpus Christi Catholic Seminary. In 1973 Corpus Christi was sold to the state government, and renamed Werribee Park. After 30 years of restoration and development, the propery now includes the Open Range Zoo, the State Rose Garden, an Equestrian Centre, the restored Werribee Park Mansion and a luxury hotel.

In 1978 the Williamstown Grammar School established what is it now main campus, Westbourne Grammar.

By the mid-seventies the area's facilities included numerous sports grounds, pubs (hotels serving alcohol and meals), churches, primary and secondary schools and a hospital. Many students left school after Form IV (now called Year 10). Some continued their studies at local secondary schools, some attended boarding school and many travelled to schools in Geelong or Melbourne. Those who went on to university and wished to continue living at home in Werribee had few choices: the University of Melbourne, Footscray Institute of Technology or Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Travel time could be as much as 5 hours per day. This prompted the formation of the first planning committee for a University in the area. However, it took almost 20 years before a campus of the Victoria University was established in Hoppers Crossing.

In the 1990s, many of the research facilities were relocated to other regions and the bulk of the RAAF facilities were moved to Northern Australia: this impacted Werribee in several ways. Hundreds of RAAF-owned homes were dumped on the market, which depressed housing prices for several years. There was less pressure on local schools for a high-quality academic education, and schools changed their curricula to accommodate what were seen as the differing aspirations of the changed population. Local charitable, sporting and cultural organisations sorely missed the skills, contacts and enthusiastic participation of those supporters now lost to the community.

[edit] Population data

[edit] Werribee township area

Werribee is growing by approximately fifty families per week. In 1994 the Werribee Mercy Hospital opened to provide hospital services to the growing population. It has always been a farming district.

1871: 366 people
1901: 603
1911: 2,301
1947: 3,348
1966: 8,228
1971: 12,872

[edit] Wyndham council area

1871: 1,476
1933: 7,853
1954: 16,114
1961: 13,689 (Altona developed its own council in 1957)
1976: 30,246
1991: 72,230

[edit] See also

2006 Melbourne teenage DVD controversy - involved several incidents which occurred in Werribee.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -37.900° 144.664°

Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
Werribee photos
Open Learning Australian Places Werribee page

Suburbs of the City of Wyndham
Cocoroc \| Hoppers Crossing \| Laverton \| Laverton North \| Little River \| Mambourin \| Mount Cottrell \| Point Cook \| Tarneit \| Truganina \| Werribee \| Werribee South \| Wyndham Vale