Werribee South 3030 |
Werribee South is a rural area on alluvial land at the southern end of the Werribee River where it enters Port Phillip Bay. It is situated on the east side of the river and extends further eastwards to Point Cook. (The other side of the river is Metropolitan Farm, a sewage treatment site.)
The area was part of the large Chirnside Werribee Park estate (1860s-1890). The descendants of Andrew Chirnside gradually dispersed the estate, predominantly used for sheep grazing, first by having tenant farmers and later by freehold sales. In 1904 the State Government purchased 9,400 ha. in Werribee South for closer-settlement farming, but mistakenly subdivided the land into lots which were not viable. The mistake was corrected by the enlargement of the lots (1909) and the provision of irrigation to supplement the areas relatively low rainfall.
In 1912 the State Rivers and water Supply Commission established the irrigation settlement - Werribee Estate - drawing water from the Werribee River and the Pykes Creek and Melton reservoirs upstream. The farms proved ideal for orchards, poultry, lucerne crops and dairying, and had good proximity to metropolitan markets.
After the first world war, soldier settlement farms were provided, along the access way named Diggers Road. The community centre was the Diggers Hall. In 1928 a primary school was opened in the hall, twelve years after the districts first school had been opened two kilometres eastwards in Duncans Road, on the Werribee Estate.
During the 1920s Italian - and pre-dominantly Sicilian - immigrants were employed on soldier-settler dairy farms and took up tenant farming on the Catholic churchs Corpus Christi property on Werribee Park. They later acquired dairy holdings and changed them to market gardening. Despite antagonism from Anglo-Celtic farmers and the internment of some Italians during the second world war, the Italian community survived. The Federal Labor Minister, Arthur Calwell, and Archbishop Mannix were supportive.
Werribee Souths market gardens continue to be a significant source of fresh produce. The Diggers Road school was renamed Werribee park, and the Duncans Road school closed. St. Marys Catholic primary school is nearby. A farm supplies and general store serves the district, and an urban settlement is at the very south at the mouth of the Werribee River.
Eastwards around the coast is Point Cook. Originally spelled Cooke, the point was named by Captain William Hobson after his Mate on H.M.S. Rattlesnake, John Cooke (1836). In 1853 the farm lands around Point Cook were acquired by Thomas Chirnside and added to his substantial Werribee holdings. He built the bluestone homestead of twenty-five rooms about 1857.
The area is flat, with marshes which are a haven for bird life. It was used for grazing until the present century, unlike the market-garden land further westwards. In 1907 the Australian Government purchased 300 ha from the Chirnside estate. It became the Royal Australian Airforce station, and was the Central Flying School for pilots in the first world war. Training continued during the inter-war period and intensified after 1939, with the base accommodating 2,000 personnel. Later training has included aviation medicine, officer training and aircraft fire-fighting. A RAAF Museum was established in 1952.
The Chirnside family disposed of its last Point Cook land in 1920 and the area was grazed. In 1978 the State Government acquired land around the homestead for a metropolitan park.
North of the Point Cook Homestead Road is the Cheetham Salt Works, a mixture of dry and wetlands, extending to the coast north of Point Cook. Disused salt-harvesting lagoons are proposed for residential development and avifaunal wetlands in a reserve next to the coast.
Werribee South has had census populations of 752 (1933), 382 (1954) and 585 (1966). Point Cook had a census population of 317 in 1947 for the RAAF Training School.
❊ Web Links ❊
➼ Werribee South 3030
Update Page
