Macleod is a suburb in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, north-east of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, located within the Cities of Banyule and

Darebin The City of Darebin () is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston. ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

s. Macleod recorded a population of 9,892 at the 2021 census. Macleod West refers to the predominantly residential locality to the west of the

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

and

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

Melway Melway, colloquially referred to as Melways or The Melways, is a street directory for Melbourne, Aerial panorama of Macleod facing east towards the Dandenong Ranges

Aerial panorama of Macleod facing east towards the Dandenong Ranges

Modern-day Macleod traces its origins to the colonial land sales in the

Colony of Victoria The Colony of Victoria was a historical administrative division in Australia that existed from 1851 until 1901, when it federated with other colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the southeastern corner of the Australian ...

. Crown Portions 9 and 10 in the Parish of Keelbundoora, County of Burke were sold to Neil McLean on 5 February 1840 for £816. After purchase, Neil McLean named his property "Strathallan". McLean’s brother, Malcolm, took over the land in 1842, but then returned to Scotland with his wife and children in the late 1850’s, leaving an agent in control. Much of the flatter land was cleared of vegetation for farming aside from some of the large River Red Gums (''

Eucalyptus camaldulensis ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as river red gum, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is Endemism, endemic to Australia. It is a tree with smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flow ...

''). The agent leased portions of the land to several tenant farmers for grazing, dairying, and other activities.

Charles Henry James Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

MLC purchased the Strathallan estate from the McLean family in December 1888 for £234,000 but his purchase was subject to protracted legal battles and disputes that continued until 1891, by which time Mr. James was bankrupt. Ownership of a large portion of the property (covering all of Crown Portion 9 and a little of Crown Portion 10) then transferred to the

Commercial Bank of Australia The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited (CBA) was an Australian and New Zealand retail bank which operated from 1866 until it merged with the Bank of New South Wales, which was established in 1817, to form the Westpac Banking Corporation in ...

in 1902. On 18 December 1908, Edith Jessie Macleod paid £6000 for 400 acres from the Commercial Bank, or approximately £15 per acre. The press of the time credited Edith Macleod's husband, Malcolm Anderson Macleod, with owning the land but this was not the case. On 19 December 1908, a portion of this land measuring 31.51 hectares was sold to the State Government of Victoria for £2375, or £30 per acre to enable the construction of a branch railway line from the Hurstrbridge railway to the neighbouring

Mont Park asylum Mont Park Asylum was a psychiatric hospital located in Macleod, an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The hospital opened in 1912 and closed in the 1990s. Some of the former hospital buildings have since been used by the La T ...

. The timing and methods by which the strip of land was acquired for the railway line was likely corrupt. The land transfer was examined as part of the 1909 ''Royal Commission on the Acquisition of Certain Estates by Sir Thomas Bent''. The enquiry found that the purchase price was excessive. One of the first residential subdivisions in Macleod occurred on 12 November 1910 when Edith Macleod auctioned 133 allotments from an area marketed as the Strathallan Estate, fronting Greensborough Road, Strathallan Road, Edward Street and Railway Place (Somers Avenue). At the time the area comprising Macleod and Rosanna was called North Heidelberg. The suburb of Macleod was later named after Malcolm Anderson Macleod, who was a prominent local resident.

Macleod railway station Macleod railway station is a commuter railway station on the Hurstbridge line, which is part of the Melbourne railway network. It serves the north-eastern suburb of Macleod, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Macleod station is a ground level ...

opened in 1911, 9 years after the

passed through. Macleod Post Office opened on 11 December 1923, located in the general store on the south-west corner of Greensborough and Strathallan Roads. It was replaced by the Simpson Barracks office in 1987. Macleod West Post Office opened in 1954 on McNamara Street, between Dunstan and Ruthven Streets. The first Aberdeen Road shops were built in the early to mid-1950s, between Erskine Road and Leith Road. Macleod Primary School was built in 1926 on 4.5 acres of land on Greensborough Road, between Coolie Avenue and Fairlie Avenue. Macleod High School opened on 31 May 1954 after a one-week delay caused by the condition of unmade roads, which prevented furniture deliveries. The headmaster was Mr. F. J. Meyer. The initial enrolment consisted of 70 boys and 160 girls. Multiple subsequent housing estates were established in the twentieth century, including the Macleod (Victoria Cross) Estate, Golf Links Estate and the Dunvegan Estate. The Springthorpe Estate was built in the 2000s when the Mont Park Hospital was closed.

Demographics

In Macleod, 68.5% of people were born in Australia. Excluding Australia, the most common countries of birth were China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 3.4%, England 2.8%, India 1.8%, Italy 1.6%, and Malaysia 1.1%. 71.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included, Mandarin 3.9%, Italian 2.9%, Cantonese 1.3%, Greek 1.2% and Macedonian 1.2%.

Education

Macleod has three high Schools, Macleod College, Charles La Trobe College, and Ivanhoe Grammar (University Campus).

Facilities

Public library services are provided by

Yarra Plenty Regional Library Yarra Plenty Regional Library (YPRL) provides a public library service to the local government municipalities of the City of Banyule, Shire of Nillumbik and City of Whittlesea in the northeast of Melbourne, Melbourne Australia and located on the ...

. The nearest library is Watsonia Library.

Sport

Macleod's local

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

team is the Macleod Kangaroos, who play in Division 1 of the

Northern Football League The Northern League is a British men's association football, football league in North East England, north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Footb ...

(NFL), and are based at De Winton Park in Rosanna. They are affiliated with the Macleod Junior Football Club (known as the ''Eagles''), who play in the

Yarra Junior Football League The Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) is the largest junior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The league has a total of 30 clubs, who are based around northern, eastern and north-eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne. There is ...

(YJFL). The junior football club is based at Macleod Park. Macleod's

cricket team Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

is the Macleod Eagles. They play in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association (DVCA) and are based at Macleod Park, known as "The Nest". The Banyule & Districts Netball Association, located in Somers Avenue, is an affiliated member of

Netball Victoria Netball Victoria is the governing body for netball in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated to Netball Australia. It is responsible for organising and managing the elite level team, Melbourne Vixens, who compete in the Suncorp Super Netball. It i ...

. They run NetSetGo, junior and senior netball competitions. They have a four court indoor stadium and two additional outdoor courts (if required). There is also a local basketball team called the Banyule Hawks, whose home ground is the Macleod Recreation Centre.

Transport

Bus

Three

bus routes A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in ...

service Macleod: * : Eltham station –

Glenroy station Glenroy Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is situated approximately north of Fitzroy Crossing and east of Derby in the Kimberley region. History The property was established in the ear ...

via Greensborough. Operated by

Dysons Dyson Group of Companies, operating as Dysons, is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. The oldest of its subsidiary companies is L.C. Dysons Bus Services, which was founded in June 1952 and is based in Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora ...

.514 Eltham - Glenroy via Greensborough
Public Transport Victoria * :

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

(Cotham Road) –

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

. Operated by

Ventura Bus Lines Ventura Bus Lines is a large bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, operating a fleet of more than 950 buses on 141 bus routes. History Early history Ventura was founded in December 1924 by Henry Cornwall. The name and co ...

. * : Macleod – Pascoe Vale station via La Trobe University. Operated by Dysons.

Train

Macleod is served by one

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Macleod MacLeod, McLeod and Macleod ( ) are surnames in the English language. The names are anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic ', meaning "son of Leòd", derived from the Old Norse ''Liótr'' ("ugly"). One of the earliest occurrences of the surnam ...

, located on the

Hurstbridge line The Hurstbridge line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's seventh longest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street Station in cen ...

References

External links

{{City of Darebin suburbs