Thomastown, Victoria

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


caption =
lga = City of Whittlesea
postcode = 3074
pop = 20,603 (2006) Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC21673 | name = Thomastown (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-09-25 | quick = on]
area = 14.7
est =
propval = $257,000 [ [http://www.domain.com.au/public/suburbprofile.aspx?suburb=Thomastown&postcode=3074 Thomastown] , accessed 27 November 2006]
stategov = Thomastown, Mill Park
fedgov = Scullin
dist1 = 17
location1= Melbourne
dist2 =
location2=
near-nw = Campbellfield
near-n = Lalor
near-ne = Mill Park
near-w = Campbellfield
near-e = Bundoora
near-sw = Fawkner
near-s = Reservoir
near-se = Bundoora

Thomastown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is well known for sharing its area with Westgarthtown, a historical settlement. Its Local Government Area is the City of Whittlesea.

History and Development

Thomastown came into existence in 1848 when the Thomas family bought the land north of Melbourne for market gardening. Two years later, William Westgarth bought land north of Thomas' holding, which he made way for German settlers. Thomastown Post Office opened on 9 June 1862. 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 ] The Thomastown area attracted lots of farmers and horse-racing until the World War II. In 1889, the Epping Railway Line opened and milk production and distribution grew during the 1930s when a German dairying family formed the Pura Dairy, ultimately to expand into Preston and became Metropolitan Dairies Pty. Ltd. In 1947, a housing co-operative was formed 2 km. north in the suburb of Lalor. It wasn't long before residential development began at Thomastown. While German settlers already call this area home, more settlers moved in, mostly Italians, and Macedonians. In 1961, a primary school opened, followed by a secondary college and another primary school, Thomastown West Primary School.

Thomastown Today

There is a strip shopping centre in High Street parallel to the railway station but little other shopping east of west of there. Thomastown Secondary College is situated on Main Street, adjacent to Thomastown West Primary School, Thomastown Recreational and Aquatic Centre and Thomastown Library. Edgars Creek and the Edgars Creek Trail runs along a linear park which is next to a reserve with ovals. Thomastown East has a grid street configuration, predating the later configuration in Thomastown West which protects residential streets from through traffic. On the south of Thomastown there are numerous factories and an electricity terminal station, near the Metropolitan Ring Road. There is also the Hume Freeway near Thomastown West. One of the more prominent features of Thomastown is the Bostik factory, located close to the edge of the suburb on the Keon Park end.

ee also

Thomastown railway station

References

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050719044700/http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/thomastown.html Australiank Places - Thomastown]
* [http://www.westgarthtown.org.au Westgarthtown - Historical site situated in Thomastown]