Mornington, Victoria
| Mornington Melbourne, Victoria | |||||||||||||
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  Mornington | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°13′41″S 145°03′43″E / 38.228°S 145.062°ECoordinates: 38°13′41″S 145°03′43″E / 38.228°S 145.062°E | ||||||||||||
| Population | 22,421 (2011)[1] | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 1,661/km2 (4,301/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Established | 1850 | ||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 3931 | ||||||||||||
| Area | 13.5 km2 (5.2 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Shire of Mornington Peninsula | ||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Mornington | ||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Dunkley | ||||||||||||
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Mornington is a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, located 57 km (35 mi) south of Melbourne's central business district. It is in the local government area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula.
Mornington is known for its "village" atmosphere and its beautiful beaches. Mornington is a popular tourist destination with Melburnians who often make day trips to visit the area's bay beaches and wineries. The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach.
History
The Post Office opened on 21 May 1856 as Schnapper Point and was renamed Mornington in 1864.[2][3]
An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter magnitude scale struck the town on 2 September 1932 associated with the nearby Selwyn fault. No injuries or major damage was reported.
Parks
The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach, which features a yacht club, restaurant and park with playground facilities.
Culture
Mornington is an attractive destination for shopping and features some excellent restaurants and cafes. The north of Mornington is also home to several horse breeders and stables. It has a modern library, cinema and numerous parks, gardens and historical buildings, many of which are open to the public. It holds several annual festivals, and holds a market day in the main street every Wednesday, which attracts hundreds of people.
Education
Mornington and its surrounding suburbs have many schools on offer including Mt Eliza Secondary College, Mornington Secondary College, Padua College, Toorak College and The Peninsula School. The local schools are quite successful in state sporting competitions, especially Mt Eliza Secondary College who are back to back state hockey champions.
Transport
Mornington is served by three major roadways, Peninsula Link (Mornington Peninsula Freeway), Nepean Highway and Moorooduc Highway. All three are dual-carriageway arterial roads with varying speed limits of 80 km/h-100 km/h. The Melbourne bus routes 781, 784, 785, and 788 services the area. The Mornington railway line closed in 1981 and reopened in 1991 as the heritage Mornington Railway with the aims of restoring the line in future.
Sport
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League. Mornington has a horse racing club, the Mornington Racing Club, which schedules around twenty race meetings a year including the Mornington Cup meeting in February.[4]
Mornington also has an active Yacht club, Mornington Yacht Club, located at Schnapper Point, catering for sailors of all levels abilities, from beginners "Tackers", through to those competing at ocean racing level. The club hosts many state, National, & International regattas, as it provides a good location in sheltered, pristine waters. 2014 saw the successful running of the largest single class Yachting regatta ever held in the Southern Hmisphere - the Optimist National Championships. The Optimist is a youth class and drew over 2000 people to the Club and Mornington shire.
Golfers play at the course of the Mornington Country Golf Club on Tallis Drive.[5]
Mornington has a strong Field Hockey club competing in the Hockey Victoria Association known as the Mornington Peninsula Falcons.[6]
Terri Sawyer, the 18-year-old female driver who won the first ever AUSCAR race at the Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne in February 1988, is a resident of Mornington.
Notable people
- Finola Moorhead (born 1947), writer
References
- ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Mornington (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ↑ Premier Postal History, Post Office List, retrieved 2008-04-11
- ↑ For a personal account of Mornington in the period 1940-1960, see Fergus Macdonald, Growing Up in Paradise, 2008. ISBN 978-0-646-49737-2
- ↑ Country Racing Victoria, Mornington Racing Club, archived from the original on 19 July 2008, retrieved 2009-05-07
- ↑ Golf Select, Mornington, retrieved 2009-05-11
- ↑ Mornington Peninsula Falcons. Mornington Peninsula Hockey Club. Retrieved 20 January 2014.