Glen Iris, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Glen Iris
city = Melbourne
state = vic

---

caption = High Street
lga = City of Boroondara
lga2 = City of Stonnington
postcode = 3146
pop = 23,270 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC21299 | name = Glen Iris (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-09-26 | quick = on]
area = 7.1
est =
propval = $900,000 [cite web|url=http://www.domain.com.au/public/suburbprofile.aspx?suburb=Glen%20Iris&postcode=3146|title= Australian Property Monitors (Feb 2008) - Glen Iris|publisher=domain.com.au|month=March | year=2008|accessdate=2008-03-13]
stategov = Malvern, Hawthorn, Burwood
fedgov = Higgins
dist1 = 13
location1= Melbourne
near-nw = Hawthorn East
near-n = Camberwell
near-ne = Camberwell
near-w = Malvern
near-e = Burwood
near-sw = Malvern
near-s = Malvern East
near-se = Ashburton

Glen Iris (postcode 3146) is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is split between two local municipalities: roughly three quarters lies in the City of Boroondara, and the other quarter lies in the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Glen Iris had a population of 23,270.

History

Captain Thomas Henderson of the Royal Navy arrived in Melbourne on a ship called "Iris" in 1850. He acquired a property bounded by Gardiners Creek, High Street and a line extending Summerhill Road to Gardiners Creek. The property was advertised for sale as "Glen Iris" in 1852. Robert Kent, a subsequent owner of the "Glen Iris" homestead, suggested a Mechanics Institute be established, but it was never completed. A Wesleyan church was established in 1865 and in 1871 land was granted for an adjacent school (now Glen Iris Primary School). By the 1880s reference was made to the Township of Glen Iris.cite book|publisher=City of Camberwell|last=McWilliam|first=Gwen|title=Early Glen Iris|year=1992]

Places of interest

A number of government and independent schools are located in Glen Iris, including Camberwell South Primary School, Glen Iris Primary School, St Cecilia's School, St Roch's Catholic Primary School, Sacre Coeur School, Korowa Anglican Girls' School and Caulfield Grammar School Malvern campus.

Recreational and sporting facilities include the Harold Holt Swim Centre, a BMX track at Hill'n'Dale Park, Burwood District Bowls Club and a number of reserves and ovals, including Hartwell Sports Ground, Ferndale Park and T.H. King Oval. The Glen Iris wetlands were established by the former City of Malvern in 1989. [cite web|publisher=City of Stonnington|title=Glen Iris wetlands|accessdate=2008-07-17|url=http://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Glen_Iris_Wetlands_Fact_Sheet.pdf]

The former head office of Coles Myer (opened in 1986 on the site of the former Toorak Drive-In Theatre), now corporate office of Wesfarmers Coles division, and the adjacent Tooronga Village Shopping Centre (under redevelopment) are located in the north-west corner of the suburb.

Glen Iris Road Uniting Church incorporates part of the original 1865 Wesleyan Church building. [cite web|publisher=Glen Iris Road Uniting Church|title=Glen Iris - A Social History|accessdate=2008-07-17|url=http://history.glenirisuniting.org.au/content1.html] .

The division between the Boroondara and Stonnington municipalities follows the course of Gardiners Creek, which is a tributary of the Yarra River. A tributary of Gardiners Creek running north through the suburb, Back Creek, has largely been turned into a drain. Also roughly following the course of Gardiners Creek is the Monash Freeway, and the Glen Waverley train line.

Transport

Two train stations on the Glen Waverley line, Gardiner and Glen Iris, lie within the suburb. Passing through the eastern part of Glen Iris is the Alamein train line, with Burwood station also within the boundaries of the suburb. (Glen Iris did not originally cover this far east, and this station and its surrounds were originally in the suburb of Burwood). Residents are also served by the numbers 5, 6, 72 and 75 tram routes, as well as the numbers 612 and 734 bus routes.

Glen Iris is roughly 11 km east of the central business district. It is also Melbourne's geographical centre of population. [cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/04/1028157879586.html| publisher=The Age|date=5 August 2002|accessdate=2008-03-01|title=Glen Iris still at the heart of city's urban sprawl]

Notable citizens

* Wayne Arthurs - Australian tennis player and Davis Cup representative.
* George Johnston - Author of the Miles Franklin Award winning novel My Brother Jack. Johnson and his first wife rented in Britten Street, Glen Iris for a brief period in 1938-39. [cite book|title=George Johnston, A Biography|year=1986|last=Kinnane|first=Garry|pages=pp. 27, 33|publisher=Nelson|location= Melbourne]
* Colin McDonald - born 1928 in Glen Iris, is an Australian cricketer who played in 47 Tests from 1952 to 1961. [cite web|publisher=Cricket Victoria|title=McDonald Colin Campbell|accessdate=2008-08-05|url=http://premier.cricketvictoria.com.au/page/mcdonald_colin_campbell.html]
* Prominent mathematician Sir Thomas MacFarland Cherry [cite web|publisher=Australian Dictionary of Biography|title=Cherry, Sir Thomas MacFarland (1898 - 1966)|accessdate=2008-08-05|url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130459b.htm]
* Matthew Wales - resident of Glen Iris who was convicted of the murders of Margaret Wales-King and Paul King in 2003 in what became known as the Society Murders. [cite web|publisher=Melbourne Herald-Sun|title=House of death on the market|date=2007-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-05|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22221769-2862,00.html]
* Ross Ryan - Australian singer-songwriter and producer [cite web|publisher=Ross Ryan|title=Press Bio|accessdate=2008-07-18|url=http://www.rossryan.com/presskit/crbio.htm]
* Ernie Sigley - Australian entertainment personality [cite web|publisher=Herald-Sun, Melbourne|title=What's up with Ernie Sigley - readers' comments|date=2007-12-26|accessdate=2008-07-18|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/comments/0,22023,22972327-5012974,00.html]
* Glen Iris was also infamously the home of Australian comedian and satirist Barry Humphries' fictional character Sandy Stone. [cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20994817-5006029,00.html|publisher=Herald Sun, Melbourne|date=1 January 2007|accessdate=2008-03-01|title=Edna's final curtain]

See also

* City of Camberwell, City of Malvern, City of Hawthorn - former local government areas which encompassed parts of Glen Iris.

References

External links