Clayton, Victoria

Clayton Melbourne, Victoria
Clayton Road Shops
Population:	14,332 (2006)[1]
Postcode:	3168
Area:	7.7 km² (3.0 sq mi)
Property Value:	AUD [2]
Location:	21 km (13 mi) from Melbourne
LGA:	City of Monash
State District:	Clayton
Federal Division:	Chisholm, Hotham, Bruce
Suburbs around Clayton: Oakleigh East Mount Waverley Notting Hill Oakleigh South Clayton Mulgrave Clarinda Clayton South Springvale

Clayton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Monash.

Overview

The main focus for the suburb of Clayton is the shopping strip that runs along Clayton Rd. The local railway station, situated at the northern end of the shopping strip bears the name Clayton.

History

The area was first occupied for farming in the 1850s and was originally named after a property, "Clayton Vale", owned by lawyer John Hughes Clayton in the 1860s. A township was originally gazetted on Dandenong Road and in 1862 a primary school was opened at the corner of Dandenong Road and Clayton Road, to serve the whole of the Clayton district. This school changed its name to Clayton North Primary School in 1954. The construction of the railway to Dandenong and Gippsland about 1 km south of Dandenong Road in 1878 prompted the start of a second township where the line crossed Clayton Road. Clayton's rural lands and relative proximity to Melbourne attracted two institutions at the turn of the century: the Talbot Colony for Epileptics on land later occupied by Monash University, and a Women's Convalescent Home. Apart from that, in 1900 the community consisted of farms, three hotels, two churches, a tennis court and a few shops. Market gardens, fruit growing and a municipal abattoir were the leading industries. The 1960s saw the rapid disappearance of market gardens as urbanisation and industry advanced. At the western edge of Clayton the Oakleigh High School had been opened in 1955 and a second primary school was opened next year at Clayton South. Melbourne's second metropolitan university, Monash, was opened at Clayton in 1961. Monash is now Australia's largest university. Primary schools at Westall and Clayton West opened in 1961 and 1962, and high schools at Westall and Monash (Clayton North) in 1963 and 1965. In 1971 the Catholic bishops of Victoria and Tasmania purchased land adjacent to Monash University to house their seminary, Corpus Christi College. (The seminary was moved to Carlton in 1999, and the site now serves as a conference centre.) Numerous factories, including Wilke Printing, Robert Bosch GmbH and Repco were opened after the Second World War. Clayton South and Westall are closer to the "sandbelt" areas, with the Spring Valley Golf Club, The Grange Reserve and Heatherton Park . Sanitary landfill sites occupy former sand quarries. While the local community was formerly a part of the now defunct 'City of Oakleigh' local council, in 1995 the municipality became the south-western corner for the City of Monash.

Science, technology and research

Clayton is one of the largest centres of science, technology and research in Australia. It is located in Melbourne's south eastern suburbs, which contains the highest density of high technology industries in Victoria. Some of the science and technology institutions located in Clayton include:

• Monash University
• Monash Medical Centre
• Australian Synchrotron
• Australian Stem Cell Centre
• Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Precinct
• CSIRO
• Bosch
• Telstra Research Laboratories
• Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute
• Monash University Accident Research Centre
• Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science
• Centre for Human Bioethics

External links

• Clayton, Victoria is at coordinates 37°55′23″S 145°07′26″E / -37.923, 145.124Coordinates: 37°55′23″S 145°07′26″E / -37.923, 145.124
• Australian Places - Clayton

References