Springvale

Springvale (Boonwurrung: Monite) is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 22 km (14 mi) southeast of the Melbourne central business district.

Springvale (Boonwurrung: Monite) is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 22 km (14 mi) southeast of the Melbourne central business district. Its local government area is the City of Greater Dandenong. At the 2016 census, Springvale had a population of 21,714.Springvale is a large suburb occupying 11.2 km2 (4.3 sq mi), bounded by Westall Road to the west, Princes Highway and Police Road to the north, the Springvale Crematorium and Corrigan Road to the northeast, Heatherton Road to the south and Lawn Road to the southeast. Springvale is linked to the Melbourne CBD by Monash Freeway via the Ferntree Gully Road exit to the suburb's northwest.

The area that is now Springvale has been inhabited by the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung people for tens of thousands of years.

The municipal area of Springvale is at the doorstep of the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The area contained natural springs which were a permanent water source for stock and travellers moving between Melbourne and Dandenong, giving rise to the suburb's name.

In the 1840s, Springvale was the residence of Christian Ludolph Johannes De Villiers; a South-African leader of the Native Police. De Villiers founded an inn 'No-Good-Damper' in the area which was infamous for bushranger attacks. No-Good-Damper was named for the practice of locals killing Aboriginal people by lacing sacks of flour with poison; the Aboriginal people were forced to steal flour for food as settlers destroyed and displaced them from their hunting grounds.In the 1850s, a Spring Vale Hotel was built by Matthew Bergin near a newly surveyed route between Oakleigh and Dandenong at what is now the intersection of Princes Highway and Springvale Road. However, it did not develop into a settlement. Nearby, a blacksmith shop and a rest house for travellers was established by the Young Family.The first Springvale Post Office opened on 12 September 1864 and closed in 1892. This office had been superseded by Springvale Railway Station office (opened 1887) which was renamed Springvale in 1902. A Springvale North Post Office was also open between 1946 and 1978.In 1886, land was subdivided near the railway station and the area began to grow. By the 1920s the Spring Vale community had a lodge, brass band, a recreation reserve, a mechanics' institute, a few shops and some houses in the township. A picture theatre opened in 1924. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Springvale was a pastoral, residential and industrial township with market gardens in the surrounding areas. Sand extraction industries were active, lasting until the 1990s.

The clearest indication of postwar residential growth occurred in the early 1960s when Rockman's Shopwell department store was built, and later when shops on the east side of Springvale Road were removed for road widening. Housing growth was rapid and estates with made roads and services replaced unserviced subdivisions. The new Sandown racecourse site was opened in 1961 for both horse and motor-car racing.

During the 1970s and 1980s, many Vietnamese people moved to Springvale as a result of displacement during the events in the Vietnam War. Today, they make up the largest ethnic group in the area and Springvale is renown for its Vietnamese shops, markets, and community. Nonetheless, Springvale is one of the most diverse suburbs in Australia.Springvale was once a city in its own right, but a local government boundary reshuffle in December 1994, saw part of the municipality amalgamated into the City of Greater Dandenong and the rest merged into the new City of Kingston.