Werribee Suburb Overview
Werribee is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 32 km south-west of Melbourne’s Central Business District. Its Local Government Area is the City of Wyndham. At the 2011 Census, Werribee had a population of 37,737.
Werribee is situated on the Werribee River, approximately halfway between Melbourne and Geelong, on the Princes Highway. It is the administrative centre of the City of Wyndham Local Government Area and is the City’s most populous centre. Werribee is considered part of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area and is included in the capital’s population statistical division.
Since the 1990s the suburb has experienced rapid suburban growth into surrounding greenfield land, and becoming a commuter town in the Melbourne-Geelong growth corridor. Due to this urban sprawl Wyndham and its suburbs have merged into the Melbourne conurbation.
It was established as an agricultural settlement in the 1850s, originally named Wyndham and was renamed Werribee in 1904.
The suburb is best known for its major tourist attractions, which include the former estate of wealthy pastoralist Thomas Chirnside, known as Werribee Park and the Werribee Open Range Zoo.
The name Werribee is an aboriginal name meaning “backbone” or “spine”. It is thought that this name was given as the shape of the Werribee River valley and the landscape look like a backbone. The Werribee River seems to have provided a boundary between the territories of the Woiwurong aborigines to the north east and the Wothowurong to the south west, although other tribal groups visited the area. One of these tribes was the Yawangi tribe, whose last survivor “King” Bill Leigh died on Wooloomanata Station in 1912.
Early leasing of pastures was led by members of John Batman ‘s Port Phillip Association. A rural township began in the early 1850s. This village was named Wyndham. The name derived from a suggestion by the owner of a local village inn, Elliott Armstrong, who sought to honour Scottish soldier Sir Henry Wyndham. The Post Office opened on 12 January 1858 as Wyndham and was renamed Werribee in 1904. However, its adjacent river was called the Werribee River, and the town’s name was later changed to Werribee in 1884, and the Shire Council at that time was also renamed Werribee in 1909.
Werribee at this time was very popular for development. Thomas Chirnside, a person famous in this area even today, was attracted to the open plain’s suitability for agricultural uses. By 1863 he controlled more than 280 square kilometres around Werribee. Chirnside bought other smaller holdings of land at this time. The town grew steadily, helped by a railway line from Melbourne to Geelong, with a station at Werribee in 1857. A religious school was opened in 1855 but was replaced by a public school in 1861. A Catholic church was also opened in the same year.
On October 10 1862, the first Local Council
Between 1860 and 1890, Werribee had two epicentres, the township and Werribee Park Mansion, owned by Chirnside. In 1878 a mansion was built and completed in Werribee Park, a major landmark today. Chirnside’s brother Andrew also started to acquire land around Werribee, enlarging the area to nearly 400 square kilometres.
Thomas Chirnside committed suicide in 1887. He was found dead in the laundry at Werribee Park with a shotgun lying beside him. His brother Andrew died three years later, and the property was now divided between Andrew’s two sons. A new mansion was built, called “The Manor”.
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