Werribee, Victoria
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Template:Wikify Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Wyndham.
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Location
Werribee is about 27 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.
History
Early leasing of pastures was led by members of John Batman's Port Phillip Association. A rural township began in the early 1850's.
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.
The river was already called the Werribee River although, 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, replaced by a public school in 1861, a Catholic church was also opened in this year.
On 10th of October 1862, the first council - the Wyndham Road District - was started, although 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.
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 Melton Shire Council.
Going back in time again, between 1860 and 1890, Werribee had two epicentres, the township and Werribee Park, 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).
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 1900's 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 1900's. Italian market gardeners, orchardists and poulterers started to move into Werribee soon after. In 1912, the Animal Research Institute was built.
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. A picture theatre and an elementary school were built in Werribee around this time.
After the second world war, Werribee had four hotels & churches, two savings banks (four if you include the branches of others), 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 1960's, the population doubling in a decade. In 1971 Werribee housed 12,000 residents.
More amentities were built, including recreational facilities, churches, schools and a hospital.
A new suburb began growing in the Wyndham area called Hoppers Crossing, growing at a rapid pace with Werribee.
In 1973 Werribee Park was sold to the state government, it now includes an Open Range Zoo and a rose garden among other things. A religious school, the McKillop Secondary College was opened in the 70's.
Population data
Werribee township and its growing population
Today approximately 50 families are moving to Werribee every week. A traditional Labour party stronghold taken for granted, will now become a middle-class suburb with lots of young families.
1871: 366 people
1901: 603
1911: 2,301
1947: 3,348
1966: 8,228
1971: 12,872
Wyndham council and its growing population
1871: 1,476
1933: 7,853
1954: 16,114
(Altona developed its own council in 1957)
1961: 13,689
1976: 30,246
1991: 72,230