The Patch, Victoria

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


caption =
lga = Shire of Yarra Ranges
postcode = 3792
pop = 796 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC21671 | name = The Patch (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
est =
elevation= 301
stategov = Monbulk
fedgov = Casey
dist1 = 45
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 7
location2= Belgrave
near-nw = Olinda
near-n = Monbulk
near-ne = Monbulk
near-w = Kallista
near-e = Monbulk
near-sw = Selby
near-s = Menzies Creek
near-se = Emerald

The Patch is a mainly rural locality, 45 km east-south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, adjacent to the eastern Sherbrooke Forest. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges.

History

In the 1860s a timber-cutter felled a stand of black-butts for palings, and the cleared area ten years later was found to be a grassed patch of land. It was named The Patch. A part of Monbulk has come under the locality now considered to be The Patch.

Farming selections became available in the 1890s, many coming under berry production. The Post Office opened on 1 September 1908. A Post Office also opened at Fairy Dell on 1 July 1916 and closed in 1971.Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

Berry growing supplied the Monbulk jam factory as well as metropolitan markets. The Anglican church was built in 1934, the community hall in the 1950s and the primary school in 1983-4. The hall is near the post office (which is also the general store) and the school. The Patch contains area previously known as Coonan and Fairy Dell. Its census population in 1933 was 88 and in 1947 it was 195. It remains a small township and scenic area. The current population of The Patch is approximately 1,000.

Don Chipp retired to The Patch and his children from his second marriage attended The Patch Primary School.

The Town today

The Patch is a very small suburb and consists only of houses, a Town Hall, a school, several commercial nurseries and a general store. Most of the suburb is classified "Rural Residential".

References

External links