Monbulk is a town in

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 ...

, 42 km 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

Shire of Yarra Ranges The Shire of Yarra Ranges, also known as Yarra Ranges Council, is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. It has ...

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 ...

. Monbulk recorded a population of 3,651 at the 2021 census. The town is the home of the Monbulk Rangers Soccer Club, Monbulk Cricket Club and Monbulk Football and Netball Club.

History

The town's name is believed to have been derived from the

Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Aboriginal peoples, Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language, Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the traditional owners of the Yarra River Valley, covering much of the present location of ...

word Monbolok or Monbolac, which means "hiding place in the hills" or "sanctuary in the hills". Early in the initial period of European colonisation, Europeans referred to the area as the Dandenong Forest Village Settlement. A town was established in 1893, and comprised 76 farms across 10-acres or 40,000m2. When the Parish of Monbulk was established, the town's name was changed to what it is today. The town’s abundance of rich fertile soils led to the foundation of a number farms and orchards, growing fruits and vegetables, as well as cut flowers. A number of businesses took advantage of the rich soils, and focused their production on jams and preserves, such as the Monbulk Jam Factory, established in 1897. The town's first school, Monbulk Primary School, was established in 1897, and by 1906 three churches had been built in the town. The town has been affected by

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

throughout its history, with the Monbulk Primary School razed by fire in 1913. The town was again affected by bushfires in 1944. Monbulk continued to grow throughout the later half of the 20th century, growing from a post-war population of 781 in 1947, to 3,577 people at the most recent census. The town continues to be a centre of agricultural activity, with the nursery production and floriculture production industries both representing the two most common industries of employment for residents of Monbulk as of 2016. In the 1950s, Ivan Southall, built a house at Blackwood Farm, on Old Emerald Road, Monbulk. His children's novels Ash Road and Hills End were written there and set in the area.

Economy

Monbulk is one of the many towns of the Yarra Ranges that is known for its agricultural production. Most notably, the town's two largest sources of employment are in nursery production and floriculture production. Monbulk is also the location of the headquarters and growing facilities for Australia's largest online nursery and

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

garden supplier, Garden Express. The state's oldest wholesale flower company in continual operation, Tesselaar Flowers, is also located in Monbulk.

Geography

Monbulk is located 42 kilometres east of

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 ...

, 7 kilometres north-east of Belgrave and 7 kilometres south-east of

Mount Dandenong Mount Dandenong, sometimes styled as Mt. Dandenong, is a township and suburb of the Greater Melbourne area in Victoria, Australia, east of the Melbourne central business district (CBD), located within the local government area of the Shire of ...

. Monbulk shares a border with Silvan to the north,

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

to the east,

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Recife metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state ca ...

to the west, and The Patch and

Kallista Kallista is a locality within Greater Melbourne beyond the Melbourne metropolitan area Urban Growth Boundary, 36 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Kall ...

to the south. The soils found in Monbulk are highly regarded for their drainage ability and low erodibility.

Climate

Monbulk experiences a warm summer

Temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfb'') and receives an average rainfall higher than that of nearby Melbourne.

Monbulk Jam

Established in 1897, the Monbulk Co-operative Fruitgrowers' Association was one of the most successful fruits and preserves company in the area, with the jams produced by the company becoming a common household item through much of the 20th century. Co-founded by Daniel Camm, the co-operative constructed their own pulping and tinning facilities, to overcome issues with transporting raw product over the ranges and into Melbourne. The jams produced by the company were used during World War Two, after the company secured a contract to supply the armed forces of both Australia and Britain. By the 1970s, the company was producing more than 5 million kilograms of jam per year, at which point the ownership of the company exchanged hands, eventually transferring to the Shepparton Fruit Preserving Company. The factory in Monbulk was eventually closed in 1991.

References