Mornington, Victoria
Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place
Mornington is a seaside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located on the Mornington Peninsula Template:Convert south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. It is the most populous locality in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mornington had a population of 25,759 at the 2021 census.<ref name=abs21/>
Mornington is a tourist destination renowned for its bay beaches and wineries, with a town centre that runs into the foreshore area and local beach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
Originally home to the Indigenous Boonwurrung people, the first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1840s for fishing, logging and agriculture.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
A 46-metre long pier was opened in 1858 and became the social and economic gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, connecting the surrounding areas with Melbourne.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Originally known as Schnapper (or Snapper) Point, the town was renamed Mornington in 1864 after the second Earl of Mornington.<ref name=":1" /><ref>For a personal account of Mornington in the period 1940-1960, see Fergus Macdonald, Growing Up in Paradise, 2008. Template:ISBN</ref> The Courthouse was built in 1861 and the Post Office in 1863.<ref name=":0" /> The Grand Hotel was originally opened in 1892 at 126 Main Street as an alcohol-free Grand Coffee Palace designed by notable Melbourne architect William Pitt.<ref name=":1" /> Mornington became a popular tourist destination, with day trippers travelling from Melbourne on steamers from the 1860's.<ref name=":0" />
The Mornington Railway line opened in 1889, connecting the township directly to Melbourne until it was closed in 1981.<ref name=":1" />
Population
In the 2021 Census, there were 25,759 people in Mornington.<ref name=abs21/> 77% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 9.3%, New Zealand 1.4%, Scotland 1.3%, Ireland 0.8% and Italy 0.7%. 94% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 0.7%, Greek 0.6% and Spanish 0.4%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 45%, Christian 45%, Hinduism 0.3% and Islam 0.2%. 41% of dwellings were owned outright, 32% were owned with a mortgage, and 21% were rented. Unemployment in 2021 was 3.8%. The top three industries of employment were Health Care and Social Assistance (16%), Construction (14%) and Retail Trade (10%).<ref name=abs21/>
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 library 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.
The Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, opened in 1971, is the major art gallery for the region and hosts a number of major exhibitions, including the Archibald Prize in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Surrounding the gallery are several parks and the Mornington Botanical Rose Gardens.
Education
Within Mornington are several schools including Mornington Primary School, Mornington Secondary College, Mornington Park Primary School, St. Macartan's Parish Primary School, Padua College and Benton Junior College.
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 80–100 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
Mornington has an Australian Rules football team, the Mornington Bulldogs, 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 March.<ref name="RaceClub">Template:Citation</ref> The Mornington Racecourse also hosts the Peninsula Cup in November and monthly markets.
Mornington also has an active Yacht club, the Mornington Yacht Club, located at Schnapper Point.
Golfers play at the course of the Mornington Country Golf Club on Tallis Drive.<ref name="golf">Template:Citation</ref>
Mornington has a Field Hockey club competing in the Hockey Victoria Association known as the Mornington Peninsula Falcons.<ref>Mornington Peninsula Falcons. Mornington Peninsula Hockey Club. Retrieved 20 January 2014.</ref>
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.
Climate
Mornington has an oceanic climate (Cfb) with warm and occasionally hot summers and mild winters where temperatures below freezing are very rare occasions.
Notable residents
Gallery
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Mornington Mechanics Institute
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Mornington Grand Hotel
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Historic aerial photo of Mornington 1940 looking west
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Catholic Church at Mornington
See also
- Shire of Mornington – Mornington was previously within this former local government area.
References
Template:Shire of Mornington Peninsula suburbs Template:Authority control