Kew, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Kew
city = Melbourne
state = vic

---

caption = Alexandra Gardens, Kew
lga = City of Boroondara
postcode = 3101
pop = 22,516 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC21381 | name = Kew (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-09-26 | quick = on]
area = 10.5
est =
propval = $1,125,000 [ [http://www.domain.com.au/public/suburbprofile.aspx?suburb=Kew&postcode=3101 Kew] , accessed 25 September 2008]
stategov = Kew
fedgov = Kooyong
dist1 = 7
location1= Melbourne
near-nw = Alphington
near-n = Kew East
near-ne = Balwyn North
near-w = Fairfield
near-e = Balwyn
near-sw = Abbotsford
near-s = Hawthorn
near-se = Hawthorn East

Kew is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria. Formerly a city in its own right, Kew City Council, Hawthorn City Council and Camberwell City Council were amalgamated in 1994 to form the Local Government Area of the City of Boroondara. The suburb borders the Yarra River to the west and north, with Hawthorn to its south and Balwyn to its east.

Kew is one of Melbourne’s most affluent suburbs with a plethora of Victorian and Art Deco mansions graced by stunning gardens set back from tree-lined streets, such as Raheen. This is also reflected in house prices where the price of a home is more than twice the metropolitan Melbourne average. There is abundant parkland in the suburb including Yarra Bend and Studley parks. City of Boroondara achieves the highest score of all Melbourne municipal areas on the SEIFA index of disadvantage compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (the lower the score, the more disadvantage).

History

Before white settlement, the area now known as Kew was part of that used by Wurundjeri Aborigines, who were part of the Woiworung tribe. In the early years European Settlers named this area the Parish of Boroondara—an Aboriginal word meaning ‘a place of shade’. [ [http://www.stpaulseastkew.com/about/kewhistory.html St. Paul's Anglican Church Online History] ]

John Hodgson established a squatters run at Studley Park on the eastern bank of the Yarra River in 1840. "Studley House", also known as "Burke Hall", built in 1857, was named after Hodgson's birthplace of Studley, Yorkshire, and the house is now on the Register of the National Estate. The house was built in the Victorian Period Italianate Revival style. Modifications were made to the house in 1875 and 1919. The house was also owned by former bookmaker, ALP lobbyist, influential Irish-Catholic and millionaire, John Wren, and was donated to Xavier College by the land developer T. M. Burke. It illustrates the importance of a residence in indicating success and status in nineteenth and early twentieth century Melbourne society.

St. Paul's Anglican church, in its section on the history of Kew states:

In 1838 the Melbourne Advertiser reported bush-rangers in this area..and they probably outnumbered women. In 1838 Dight traveled down the Yarra from Heidelberg and decided to locate his water-powered mill on a site adjacent to the falls. The impressive 3 story Mill opened in 1840. [2]

In 1851, Crown land sales occurred in the area. One of the purchasers, Nicholas Fenwick, subdivided his land and named streets after English statesmen, with the subdivision being called Kew. The area quickly became a sought-after suburb for the well-to-do in the colony of Melbourne. Access to Kew was originally via Bridge Road in Richmond, crossing the Hawthorn Bridge to Burwood Road, until the Johnston Street bridge was built in 1858.

In 1856 a site was reserved for a mental asylum next to the river. By 1871 the Willsmere Hospital, also known as the Kew Lunatic Asylum, now known as the Willsmere apartments was completed. The Kew Cottages for children were added in 1887. The hospital was built despite objections by residents and the borough council [ cite web
title = And your petitioners humbly pray - Lunatic Asylum 1858
publisher = Public Records Office of Victoria
url = http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/petitions/LunaticAsylum1858.asp
accessdate = 2008-09-07] and provides an historical example of NIMBYism. [http://www.kew.org.au Kew Cottages] and Willsmere Hospital are listed on the [http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/page_239.asp?ID=239&KW1=willsmere Victorian Heritage Register] .

Various churches opened in the 1850s, with the first school opened by the Anglican Church in 1856. The first private schools were opened in 1878, being Ruyton Girls' School (non-denominational) and Xavier College (Catholic in Jesuit order), with other private schools soon following, including Methodist Ladies' College (Methodist) in 1882, Genazzano FCJ College in 1891, Trinity Grammar School (Anglican) in 1903, and Carey Baptist Grammar School (Baptist) in 1923. Preshil, The Margaret Lyttle Memorial School was opened in the early 1930s. By 1990, Kew had six government campuses and twenty-eight non-government campuses, the highest concentration of education institutions in the Western world Fact|date=March 2007.

A railway branch line to Kew from Hawthorn station opened on December 19, 1887 and was officially closed on May 13, 1957.cite book
last = S.E. Doorman and R.G. Henderson
first =
title = Electric Railways of Victoria
publisher = Australian Electric Traction Society
isbn = 0 909459 06 1 ] Kew was proclaimed a town on 8 December 1910, and a city on 10 March 1921. The population of the area tripled between 1910 and the World War II.

Today

Kew has grown steadily since the early the Bridge Road crossing development and is now one of the most prestigious suburbs in Melbourne. Town Planners were not constrained by the smaller lot allocations found just to the west over the Yarra and allotments in Kew were developed usually with much greater size and fronted wide, leafy boulevards.

As a consequence, many of these residences now attract some of the highest residential resale values in Melbourne. In many cases, the large allotments have been subsequently redeveloped into townhouses or duplexes and have thus appealed to a newer demographic (primarily dual-income parents with one or more children), keen to be close not only to the Melbourne CBD but also the excellent schooling facilities available nearby.

Streets within the Sackville Ward (bounded by Barkers, Burke, Cotham and Glenferrie Roads) such as Alfred, Rowland, Wellington, Grange and Sackville have some exceptional examples of Edwardian, Victorian and contemporary architecture. There has also been a recent trend towards the development of larger retirement-living complexes aimed principally at downsizing couples wishing to remain in the area. However one negative aspect of this increased living density is that the infrastructure within Kew is becoming taxed and will need continuous government and private-sector investment to operate efficiently.Fact|date=August 2007

Nonetheless, Kew has convenient access to public facilities and transport. The 109, 16 and 72 tram routes pass through on three of the above mentioned thoroughfares and the City/Lilydale/Belgrave train line is easily accessed at Hawthorn and Glenferrie stations. Kew station and the associated railway branch was last served by passenger trains in 1952,cite book
last = S.E. Doorman and R.G. Henderson
first =
title = Electric Railways of Victoria
publisher = Australian Electric Traction Society
isbn = 0 909459 06 1 ] and the station site now the headquarters of VicRoads.

Transport

Tram
* 16 Kew - St Kilda Beach - Melbourne University (via City & St Kilda)
* 24 North Balwyn - City (via La Trobe Street)
* 27 City - Kew Tram Depot (via La Trobe Street)
* 42 Box Hill - City (Collins Street West)
* 47 Port Melbourne - Kew Tram Depot (Barkers Road)
* 48 North Balwyn (Doncaster Road / Balwyn Road) - City (Docklands)
* 72 Camberwell (Burke Road / Cotham Road) - Melbourne University
* 108 Box Hill - Southbank Tram Depot (Normanby Road)
* 109 Box Hill - Port Melbourne (via Collins Street)

Bus
* 200 City - Bulleen - Doncaster Shoppingtown
* 201 City - Warrandyte (via Doncaster Shoppingtown & Templestowe Village Shops)
* 202 East Kew - Box Hill Central Shopping Centre (via Belmore Road)
* 203 City - Doncaster Shoppingtown (via Kilby, Thompsons Road & Manningham Road)
* 205 Melbourne University - Doncaster Shoppingtown (via Kew Junction & Bulleen)
* 207 Donvale - Doncaster Shoppingtown - City (via Doncaster Road)
* 302 Box Hill - Kew East - City (via Belmore Road & Eastern Freeway)
* 313 Templestowe Shops - City (via High Street & Kilby Road)
* 315 Box Hill - City (via Eastern Freeway, Union Road & Greythorn Road)
* 548 Kew (Cotham Road) - La Trobe University Bundoora (including extension to Grange Boulevard)
* 609 Kew - Fairfield (via Royal Talbot Hospital)
* 624 Kew - Chadstone Shopping Centre - Holmesglen T.A.F.E. - Oakleigh
* 684 Melbourne - Marysville - Alexandra - Eildon
* Nightrider Service: City - Croydon (including Lilydale loop extension)

See also

* City of Kew - the former local government area of the same name.

References

* cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060824202409/www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/kew.html
title=Kew, Victoria
publisher=web.archive.org
accessdate=2008-05-19 (via Internet Archive)

External links

* http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/resources/mresources/yarrabend_history.pdf