Murrumbeena, Victoria


Murrumbeena is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Murrumbeena recorded a population of 9,996 at the 2021 census.
Murrumbeena is a small and highly coveted suburban area with extensive parklands and a rich artistic heritage.
It has multiple commercial zones featuring services and cafes, including Murrumbeena Village, near the train station; Poath Road; North Road; and Murrumbeena Road, near the Beauville Estate and Duncan McKinnon Reserve.

Toponymy

The name "Murrumbeena" derives from the Aboriginal word "mirambena." It may have meant "land of frogs", "moss growing on decayed wood" or it may be a derivative from the name of an Aboriginal elder. The evidence for any of these etymologies is uncertain. The name was officially adopted when the Murrumbeena railway station opened in 1879.

History

The Boon Wurrung, the Indigenous Australians of the Kulin Nation, are recognised as the traditional owners of the land now known as Murrumbeena.
A more in-depth look at Murrumbeena’s history and historic photos can be found at Glen Eira Historical Society's Victorian Collections page and at Murrumbeena 3163.
  • 14 May 1879 – Murrumbeena Railway station opens and the name Murrumbeena is officially adopted for the settlement
  • 21 September 1889 – Railway station signal box contract signed to erect by J. Brown.
  • 12 May 1890 – Murrumbeena Post Office opens
  • 1891 – A Murrumbeena football team competes against Oakleigh and other clubs.
  • 1900 – Film segments of Soldiers of the Cross, the world's first narrative drama film presentation, are shot at Murrumbeena Girls Home.
  • 1918 – Murrumbeena Football Club is formed
  • 1921 – Merric Boyd opens Australia's first pottery studio at Open Country, 8 Wahroonga Crescent
  • 1922 – Electrification of railway & wicket gates
  • 12 May 1923 - Murrumbeena Bowls Club is formed and plays at 'The Green', a 4 rink private bowling green owned by A. W. P. Olsen, a local Real Estate Agent at 'Oakdene' 41 Murrumbeena Road
  • 1930s – Fredrick Cox commences Jolliff Pottery
  • 1939 – Hatton Beck and Lucy Boyd open Altamira Pottery
  • 1944 – Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and Peter Herbst establish Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery at 500 Neerim Road
  • 1972 – Shortening of railway siding at station used to deliver coal and goods.
  • 1972 – Schwob's Swiss Bakery expand into manufacturing, moving to premises in Murrumbeena
  • 6 December 1977 – Removal of railway siding at station.
  • 1989 – Boyd Park established and officially opened by the Mayor of Caulfield, Veronica Martens. Caulfield Environment Group established by local residents to rehabilitate and plant flora in park.
  • 1996 – Murrumbeena Secondary College closed
  • 2006 – The second Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship held in Murrumbeena
  • 2010 – The Neerim Road level crossing identified by the RACV as one of the worst for traffic congestion in metropolitan Melbourne.
  • 2016 – The Victorian government announce plans for grade separation works with an elevated rail project to run through Carnegie, Murrumbeena and Hughesdale, and the relocation of Hughesdale station to within Murrumbeena
  • 2018 – New elevated station opens
  • 2021 – Murrumbeena Village Precinct receives Heritage Overlay

    Murrumbeena Village

Heritage protected Murrumbeena Village sits on the main street of Neerim Road, the intersection of Murrumbeena Road and the railway station. The oldest building is a double storey Victorian era building dating from 1889. The village contains modern cafes and dining options ; a wine bar; businesses including hairdressers/barbers, florist and curio/op shops; and services including a bank, post office, newsagent and pharmacy. Yoga and dance studios, and a martial arts centre also feature in this area.
Murrumbeena Village is currently undergoing a creative revival following major infrastructure upgrades during 2017–2019. Numerous unique street cafes, evening dining options and a wine bar have popped up alongside small businesses in creative fields which value the suburb's combined ease of access, walkability and village feel.
A creative market with local wares pops up fortnightly on Sundays opposite the station. 'Local Sundays,' combines live music with barefoot bowls on the last Sunday of the month at the nearby Murrumbeena Bowls Club.
"Frogtopia," twin murals by local artist Anthony Breslin, feature in Attwood Lane between Neerim Road and the station.

Transport

Murrumbeena is a well-connected suburb with ease of access to public transport and main road arterials leading to freeways and CityLink.
The main roads delineating Murrumbeena are Dandenong Road, North Road, Murrumbeena Road and Poath Road, while Neerim Road traverses through it.
Murrumbeena railway station is a Zone 1 suburban railway station providing regular services to the city and along the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines. Most peak hour services run partially express, with only five stops between Murrumbeena and Melbourne's CBD. The popular service is well used through to late night. There are direct train connections to Monash University and bus connections to Monash University and Holmesglen TAFE.
Upon completion of the Metro Tunnel in 2025, express city bound trains from Murrumbeena will be just 3/4 stops from Anzac /Town Hall stations.
Murrumbeena Bus Interchange sits on Murrumbeena Road under the elevated railway station, with Bus Routes 624 and 822 traversing through it.
  • Bus Route 623 stops at Dandenong Road service lane, on the northern boundary of Murrumbeena, en route from Chadstone SC to St Kilda.
  • Bus Route 624 travels between Kew and Oakleigh via Malvern, Carnegie, Murrumbeena Bus Interchange, Chadstone SC and Holmesglen TAFE, and travels east and west along Neerim Road.
  • Bus Route 625 travels between Elsternwick and Chadstone SC via Caulfield, Ormond, Carnegie and Oakleigh, stopping along Kangaroo Road in Murrumbeena.
  • Bus Route 626 stops at Dandenong Road service lane, on the northern boundary of Murrumbeena, en route from Chadstone SC to Brighton.
  • Bus Route 627 travels between Chadstone SC and Moorabbin Station via Dandenong Road service lane, predominantly stopping along Murrumbeena Road and East Boundary Road.
  • Bus Route 630 travels between Elwood and Monash University along North Road via Ormond, Murrumbeena and Huntingdale, stopping on the southern boundary of Murrumbeena.
  • Bus Route 822 travels between Chadstone SC and Sandringham via Murrumbeena Bus Interchange and Southland SC, predominantly stopping along Murrumbeena Road.
  • Bus Route 900 travels Rowville via Monash University, Oakleigh, Chadstone SC to Caulfield/Monash University. It stops on Dandenong Road service lane, on the northern boundary of Murrumbeena, en route to Caulfield.

    Architecture and design

Murrumbeena Village is heritage protected due to its brick and rendered building facades. This rejuvenating suburb, has seen a significant increase in urban density along the rail corridor and main arterials with single-level dwellings replaced by four to five-storey buildings. Outside of the main streets, Murrumbeena is a mix of predominantly single-family detached homes with small pockets of walk-up flats of up to two stories developed since the 1960s. The predominant style of the buildings in the shopping strip, station and surrounding homes are Federation and Interwar which include many magnificent examples of single story Art Deco designs.
The Victoria Heritage Database lists the following significant buildings in Murrumbeena:
  • Murrumbeena Primary School in Hobart Road
  • "Alnwick," 11 Railway Parade, is an early example of Queen Anne style and was built for Sir James Patterson, former Commissioner of Public Works, and Railways and Premier and Chief Secretary at the time
  • ”Tralee", 4 Wahroonga Crescent, was built by painter Arthur Merric Boyd and Emma Minnie Boyd, and is a unique blend of California Bungalow and Victorian styles with ornate features
  • "Urangara," 21 Omama Road
  • "Croft Head" at 13 Poath Rd - historically and aesthetically significant
  • The Beauville Estate, built by Albert Victor Jennings, was the harbinger of planned community developments after WW1 and is listed under the National Trust due to its state heritage significance.
  • The stained glass memorial windows of the Uniting Church are listed in the Victorian War Memorial Register.
  • Despite its listing in the Heritage Overlay, the original 1922 Murrumbeena Railway Station building, footbridge and associated gardens were demolished in 2017 to make way for the elevated rail project.
Other listed significant features include:
  • Springthorpe Reserve Gates, in Neerim Road, is the last remnant of the Old Melbourne Hospital, founded in 1846-48 and important as the city's first public hospital.
  • Andreas Svensson Pipe Organ, in St Peter's Anglican Church at 371 Neerim Road, is the only identifiable example of the leading builder's work and retains its original pipework.
  • Murrumbeena Baptist Church, 44 Murrumbeena Road, ‘is aesthetically significant as an unusual example of post-WW2 ecclesiastical architecture incorporating historicist references in a modernist framework.’ Significant features of the stark post-WW2 modernist building, designed by architect Eric Lyon, include the tall hall-like structure with zigzag roof, narrow copper spirelets and a façade of angled bays to the Murrumbeena Road elevation, and rose windows with coloured glazing to the Sydney Street elevation. It was included in the City of Glen Eira Heritage Review 2020.
"Butterfly House," 38 Kangaroo Road, was designed as a template for modern sustainable design in established suburbs.

Arts and culture

One of the most significant artistic groups in mid 20th-century Melbourne gathered at "Open Country", the Boyd family property in Murrumbeena.
Outer Circle: The Boyds and the Murrumbeena Artists presented the works created by Merric Boyd, Australia's first studio potter, Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and others at Open Country and the Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery on Neerim Road.
In 1954–56, Arthur Boyd was commissioned to create the ceramic Olympic Pylon, known as Totem Pole, here for the Olympic Pool in Melbourne. The heritage-registered sculpture is now erected outside the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Colourful sculptures tower above the Murrumbeena Community Garden beds and painted furniture at Anthony Breslin's Community Art Project. The surrounding walls feature works of Breslin and other local artists, an extensive mural wall displays hundreds of tiles created by local primary school students, and a sustainable water garden feature sits alongside the shed. It is reached via the driveway of Murrumbeena Uniting Church, 117 Murrumbeena Road.
In 2021, Murrumbeena also became the home to a colourful 40-metre long mural on Railway Parade, The Story of Big Frog, based on Breslin's children's book, BREZANIA.