Forest Hill, Victoria

Forest Hill is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District,<ref>Postcode for Forest Hill, Victoria (near Melbourne) – Postcodes Australia</ref> located within the City of Whitehorse local government area. Forest Hill recorded a population of 10,780 at the 2021 census.<ref name="ABS2021">Template:Cite web</ref>

Forest Hill was recently ranked 93rd on Melbourne's most liveable suburb list, which was higher than other nearby popular suburbs such as Bentleigh, Mount Waverley and Glen Waverley.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Today, the suburb is predominantly residential, featuring low to medium-density housing.

History

The area was originally covered by dense forest before being gradually cleared and cultivated by European settlers beginning in the late 1850s. Substantial residential development commenced in the early 1950s, spurred by a post-war population increase.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> The Forest Hill Post Office opened on 1 March 1874 in the then rural area.<ref name = "a">Template:Citation</ref>

Until 1994, Forest Hill was a part of the City of Nunawading local government area, but in December 1994 became part of the City of Whitehorse following the amalgamation of the former cities of Box Hill, Victoria and Nunawading.<ref name=":0" />

Mount Pleasant Estate

The first modern, medium-density subdivision in the area now designated as Forest Hill was the Mount Pleasant Estate. This created 380 lots in and around Betula Avenue and Eugenia Street, which were all sold by 1960.

Parkmore Estate

The largest residential subdivision in Forest Hill was the Parkmore Estate. Land sales began in 1957, and by 1960 over 500 homes had been built in the area between Jolimont and Canterbury Roads. The project, which was touted as Australia's most advanced, was a joint venture between a private subdivider and the Southern Construction Company, which worked with several local realestate agencies.<ref>[Brochure] "Scope for Living: An introduction to the magnificent Parkmore Estate, Nunawading" Southern Construction Company. 1957.</ref>

Parkmore was the first housing estate to have made roads and drainage in Forest Hill, and buyers could chose from five initial brick home designs priced upwards from £4,000. Also on the estate was the Parkmore Shopping Centre (now Brentford Square), which began trading c. 1959–60 as the first modern American-style shopping centre in Nunawading. A smaller strip of shops at Springvale Road.<ref>[Plan of subdivision] "Parkmore Estate Nunawading". W. White & Sons. c. 1960</ref>

Forest Hill Shopping Centre (Forest Hill Chase)

Initially announced in 1957 but delayed until 1964, the Forest Hills Drive-In Shopping Centre (Forest Hill Chase) at Canterbury Road is a landmark development for the area, with around 200 shops and three levels of retail space.

It includes a number of major retailers, such as Coles, Target, Harris Scarfe, Rebel Sport, TK Maxx, Aldi, Woolworths, Hoyts Cinemas and a number of restaurants. There is also a Zone Bowling centre (formerly AMF) and Timezone arcade.

Demographics

In the 2016 census, the population of Forest Hill was 10,626, approximately 52.5% female and 47.5% male.

56.6% of people living in the suburb of Forest Hill were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 9.8%, India 3.4%, Malaysia 2.8%, Vietnam 2.4% and England 2.2%.

In Forest Hill 57.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 11.0%, Cantonese 6.8%, Greek 2.9%, Vietnamese 1.7% and Italian 1.7%. 47.6% of Forest Hill households spoke a language other than English.

The religious makeup of Forest Hill is No Religion, so described 33.1%, Catholic 20.2%, Not stated 7.6%, Anglican 7.5% and Buddhism 6.2%. Christianity was the largest religious group reported overall (50.8%) (this figure excludes not stated responses).

Industry

Fremantle Media's Melbourne production facilities are located on Hawthorn Road in Forest Hill, where the soap opera Neighbours is produced.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>History of ATV10 Melbourne</ref>

Education

Forest Hill has one school located within the suburb, Parkmore Primary School. Other public and private schools are located nearby in adjoining suburbs and within short walking distance: Burwood Heights Primary School, Forest Hill Secondary College, Emmaus Catholic College and St. Timothy's Catholic Primary School.

Sport

Local sport includes many regular events and team sports. Nunawading Aqualink is located within the suburb, (Husband Road) containing an indoor, olympic-size swimming pool and children's pool. It also has a football Club The Forest Hill Zebras (Australian Rules Div. 4 Eastern Football League) at the Forest Hill Reserve (Husband Road), and a cricket club the Forest Hill Zebras (various divisions) at Mahoneys Reserve (Mahoneys Road) which also includes various soccer clubs, a clinic, a table tennis club, multiple badminton clubs and the 2nd Tally Ho scouts.

See also

• City of Nunawading – Forest Hill was previously within this former local government area.