Why Mernda is the best place to live in Melbourne
IT’S known for its new housing estates and affordable entry into the property market. Here’s why Mernda is one of the best places to live in Melbourne.
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THE GREAT Australian dream is alive for residents in Mernda, in Melbourne’s north east.
With property prices below the state’s average (you can still pick up a three-bedroom, two-bathroom abode for under $500k), and population growth well above, this suburban fringe dweller is offering increasing numbers of families, first-home buyers and empty nesters an idyllic area to build — or buy — their castles.
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Mernda — sharing its postcode with neighbouring suburb Doreen — lies 27km northeast of Melbourne’s CBD and is one of the state’s hottest up-and-coming locales.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the 3754 postcode ballooned by 14 per cent in 2016-17 — making it one of the largest-growing suburbs nationally, and the fifth largest in Victoria.
And the rate of growth shows no signs of slowing down with population forecasts by atlas.id predicting the area’s population will nearly double by 2041.
The area’s popularity is also reflected in its housing sales, with Mernda having the strongest clearance rate in Australia at 92.5 per cent, according to CoreLogic data from December 2017.
The clearance rate comes amid a strong demand for affordable properties on Melbourne fringes.
But this rapid suburbanisation is a far cry from the suburb’s peaceful, rural past.
“My Great Great Great Grandfather, Moses Thomas, was one of the earliest pioneers of Mernda,” says resident Neil Johnson.
The Mernda Historical Society president and Lost Mernda Facebook page founder said: “He moved to Mernda from Scotland in 1850 with his wife and — at the time — two children, and then proceeded to have a family of 18 kids.”
“When he was here in the 1850s there wasn’t a lot around. Instead of 400 square metre allotments like they are now, back then the standard block size was 400 acres so Moses was quite prolific in developing the area.”
The first thing Moses built, Neil says, was an inn; a rest stop for people travelling to the gold fields. The original structure, built in 1855, was made out of wattle and gourd — or whatever raw materials Moses could find and, after a little while, was relocated to Plenty Road where it is today.
“It is now called the Bridge Inn Hotel,” Neil says. “It was a timber building and he ran that as a business for about 20 years or so. Eventually he gave it to his eldest son as a wedding present in around 1875, but his son was a teetotaller and sold it soon after his father passed away.”
Moses also gave away land to build the area’s first school, as well as to the church, both of which are still standing today.
The name Mernda means “young girl” in the local Wurundjeri Aboriginal language.
Neil says the area only became known as Mernda in 1928.
“Before that it was called South Yan Yean and, before that, it was Morang,” he says.
“A lot of young families who come here think Mernda is a new suburb but, actually, it’s quite the opposite; it’s one of the oldest suburbs outside of Melbourne.”
These days, the open fields and empty paddocks have been replaced with housing estates and manicured parklands.
“My wife and I have been here for seven years now and we really love it,” says Neil, who moved to Diamond Creek to neighbouring Doreen.
“We liked the house but, more specifically, we liked the area. I’m a little older now so it suits us down to the ground. We’ve got probably a larger house but on a smaller block so it doesn’t require a lot of maintenance and, while we don’t have a big backyard, we live opposite a park.”
Neil says as well as offering a comparably affordable housing price, it’s the lifestyle factors that make living in the area so attractive.
“A lot of our mates have done the same thing as us,” he says.
“We really enjoy where we love and that’s a big part of it. There are lots of parks and walking tracks and the schools are all full. Sure, you get on social media and people say there’s crime and the roads are congested and find lots of negative things to say about it — but I tend to look at it in another way.
“Roads are short-term issues and, bit by bit, will improve. There are upgrades happening which are inconvenient now but will be good in the long term. The train station is set to open at the end of the month.
“I’ve never really been a sentimental person but I feel I really belong here.”
WHY WE LOVE MERNDA
SCHOOLS
Whether you’re looking for primary, secondary or tertiary proximity, Mernda caters to the lot. It’s a 15 minute drive to RMIT’s Bundoora campus and about 30 to La Trobe University.
It is also well serviced by local catchments, with three primary schools; Mernda Primary School, Mernda Park Primary School and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, and three secondary schools; Gilson College, Mernda campus, Ivanhoe Grammar School’s Plenty campus and Mernda Central College (all coeducational from Prep to Year 12). Plenty Valley Christian College is also in neighbouring Doreen.
SPORT
Mernda has long established itself as a sporting powerhouse. Mernda Football Club (The Demons), now play in the Northern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne and was established in 1891. The club has a long and successful history dating back more than 100 years. It has won 18 premierships. Mernda Netball Club and Mernda Cricket Club are also popular among juniors and seniors. Mernda is also home to tennis, karate and pony clubs.
RECREATION
Outdoorsy types are spoiled for choice in Mernda. There’s suburban parks, playgrounds dotted around the estates and the real showstopper — Plenty Gorge. This natural gem has hiking tracks to picnic and barbecue facilities. Keep your eyes peeled for kangaroos, echidnas, lizards and snakes, cockatoos, galahs, eagles, kookaburras and rosellas.
Mernda Villages Community Activity Centre provides an early learning centre and mobile library service, while child care, maternal health and a range of education activities are available at the new Mernda Village Community Activity Centre.
Golfers can enjoy nine or 18 holes many nearby clubs, including Yarrambat Park, Growling Frog and Plenty Valley.
Despite what its Wikipedia page says, Mernda is not home to a surf lifesaving club, nor does it cater to the needs of beach goers or penguin parade hunters. It is home to wetlands, lakes, rivers and hard-to-find swimming holes, if you feel like exploring along Plenty River.
TRANSPORT
Mernda is soon to be well serviced by public transport with the first trains set to depart Mernda Train Station later this month. There are also buses running through Mernda Village to South Morang Station, Westfield Plenty Valley, University Hill and RMIT Bundoora.
To ease local traffic congestion, Yan Yean and Bridge Inn roads will both be widened from two to four lanes, removing significant bottlenecks and improving access to the new train station.
“Locals know how frustrating being stuck in traffic along Bridge Inn Road and Yan Yean Road is — that’s why these upgrades are so important,” Member for Yan Yean Danielle Green said when the project was announced in April.
SHOPPING
As well as local shopping hubs Mernda Village and Mernda Junction, the recently redeveloped Westfield Plenty Valley and Pacific Epping are a short drive away. Pacific Epping boasts more than 230 stores as well as Reading Cinemas, Intencity games hub and an Urban Diner precinct with restaurants including The Groove Train, The Coffee Club, Laurie Dee’s Hamburgers & Frozen Custard, Hog’s Breath Cafe, Epping Plaza Hotel, Schnitz, La Famiglia, China Bar Buffet Signature, San Churro Chocolateria, Nando’s and T.G.I. Friday’s.
Westfield Plenty Valley also unveiled its new $80m dining and entertainment precinct in March and is now home to a new Village Cinema Complex as well as Australia’s first crowdfunded pub, the Sporting Globe.
DINING
Mernda is surrounded by some of Melbourne’s best-kept dining secrets. Locals love cafe-come-homewares boutique, Tanck’s Corner (461 Ironbark Rd, Yarrambat), where you can grab an Allpress coffee, acai bowls and smashed avo.
Rivers Cafe & Provedore (28 Kurrak Rd, Yarrambat) is also nailing the weekend brunch scene. It has mouth-watering food, open-air dining, a balcony cafe and curated gift shop.
Drop in for a morning yoga class and a coffee, get your daily dose of backyard inspo at the garden centre or splash out at a mums and bubs playdate at The Gallery. The options are endless.
The strawberries and cream waffle with fairy floss and fudge sauce from Appret Cafe (1/101 Hazel Glen Dr, Doreen) is a little bit naughty but oh so nice. Wrap your mouth around haloumi, tomato and olive pides at Zait Bakery Cafe (797 Plenty Road, South Morang), a new north eastern local plating up authentic, Lebanese cuisine. Get around the Nutella-filled doughnuts at Maple Tree (9/330 McDonalds Road, South Morang) or load up on pizzas at Santos Cafe & Bar (2/795 Plenty Road, South Morang).
Nine and dine is the name of the game at Bunkers Cafe (Yarrambat Park Golf Club, 649 Yan Yean Road, Yarrambat). For a back-to-the-future breakfast date, check out Two Beans and a Farm at the heritage listed 1860s Carome Homestead (10 Hathfelde Bldv, Mernda). Try artisan sourdough at Turners Bakehouse (107 Schotters Road Mernda), a boutique bakery with a traditional wood-fired scotch oven. It was built in the late 1890s by Charles and Stephenson Turner, who used to deliver their handmade bread by horse and cart as far as Heidelberg, and has been lovingly restored to its former glory. Farm Vigano (10 Bushmans Way, South Morang) was originally the home of Mario Vigano, the patriarch of Melbourne’s, and probably Australia’s, most prominent restaurant family. His wife, Maria is where it’s at for seriously delicious woodfired pizza and authentic Italian cuisine. Friday night drinks are sorted at the historic Bridge Inn Hotel (1425 Plenty Rd, Mernda), which boasts a bistro, lounge area, gaming and sports bar.
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