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Elsternwick, Victoria

Elsternwick is a residential suburb 9 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria.

In terms of its cadastral division, Elsternwick is in the parish of Prahran within the County of Bourke.

Name

In the same way that Ripponlea took its name from the "Rippon Lea Estate" of Sir Frederick Sargood, Elsternwick took its name from the largest property in the district: Charles Hotson Ebden's house Elster (Elster is German for "magpie"). The area was known as Red Bluff before this.

The creek nearby became known as the Elster Creek; and, when a village grew up on the creek, the Anglo-Saxon suffix ‘wick’, meaning village, was added.

History

Elsternwick village was surveyed in 1856.

In 1861 a railway line, operated by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company, was built from Melbourne to Brighton, via Elsternwick.

In the 1880s, the Elsternwick railway station was also the Melbourne end of the railway line to the large scale sugar beet processing mill at Rosstown (see Rosstown Railway) — now known as Carnegie — and beyond. This railway was seldom used and it ceased to function in 1916.

The first site of Caulfield Grammar School, founded in 1881, was adjacent to the Elsternwick railway station.

A tramline was opened along Glenhuntly Road in 1889. Today, Melbourne Tram Route No. 67 links from Glenhuntly Road in Elsternwick to Melbourne CBD through Brighton and St Kilda Roads.

A tramline between Elsternwick and Point Ormond opened in 1915; it closed on 22 October 1960.

Elsternwick was originally situated across three municipalities - Caulfield, Brighton and St Kilda. At the end of the 1880s unsuccessful attempts were made for Elsternwick to become administratively independent. Today it is in the Local Government Area of the City of Glen Eira. The postcode is 3185.

Elsternwick is the home of perhaps the best-known brothel in Australia, and certainly Melbourne, the Daily Planet, which was the first in the world to be listed on a stock exchange (the Australian Securities Exchange).

Geography

Its boundaries are Nepean Highway, Elster Avenue, Kooyong Road, Glen Eira Road and Hotham Street (the continuation of Williams Road). Elsternwick Park nearby and Elsternwick Park Golf Club bordered by Nepean Highway and Glenhuntly Road have always been connected with the suburb name of Elsternwick.