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Frankston, Victoria

Encyclopedia : F : FR : FRA : Frankston, Victoria

The main street of Frankston
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The main street of Frankston

Frankston foreshore
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Frankston foreshore

View of Frankston from Olivers Hill Lookout
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View of Frankston from Olivers Hill Lookout

Frankston is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the main town in the Local Government Area of the City of Frankston. The 3199 postcode, which includes Frankston and the adjacent suburb of Frankston South, had 49,491 residents in 2005.

It is a seaside suburb on Port Phillip Bay, 41 km southeast of Melbourne CBD. It is bordered to the north by the traditionally poorer Frankston North (also known as 'The Pines'), and to the south by the wealthier granite uplands of Mt. Eliza. Open, sandy beaches are found on the western side of Frankston. Kananook Creek flows through Frankston. As the northernmost city on the Mornington Peninsula, Frankston is sometimes known as The Gateway to the Peninsula.

Contents

Geography

The suburb of Frankston covers a wide geographic area compared to other Melbourne suburbs. Frankston is boundered on the west by Port Phillip Bay, on the north by a complex border featuring Overton Road and a number of golf courses, on the east by a freeway reservation, and on the south by Robinsons Road, Golf Links Road, Towerhill Road, Overport Road, Jasper Terrace and Warringa Road.

Frankston is at the southern end of a stretch of beaches that run from Beaumaris south to Olivers Hill unbroken except by Paterson River and Mordialloc and Kananook Creek. At Olivers Hill (about 1km south of Frankston Pier) where Sweetwater creek meets Port Phillip Bay, the beaches give way to weathered bluffs of sandstone and siltstone, with the odd sandy cove at Canadian Bay and Daveys Bay.

The central and northern areas of the suburb and generally flat, but the suburb rises gradually towards the east, and rises sharply at Olivers Hill in the south of the suburb into Frankston South and the granodiorite uplands of Mount Eliza. Some areas of native bushland still exist in place such as Sweetwater Creek Nature Reserve, though they have seen the more formal addition of paths and trails since the late 1980's.

The Southern uplands are at the northern end of a uplift area in a Horst-Graben structure that extends down the Mornington Peninsula. The fault zones are inactive.

Melbourne suburbs near Frankston
(City of Frankston)
Port Phillip Bay Seaford Frankston North
Port Phillip Bay Frankston Langwarrin
Port Phillip Bay Frankston South Frankston South

Social Conditions

Retail areas

Frankston is generally a residential suburb but also contains large retail and some light industrial elements. A central retail core near Frankston railway station contains several interlocking malls featuring department stores and major retail outlets, including Coles, Safeway, Kmart, Myer, Target and Dimmeys. This retail centre in addition to shopping centres also includes large areas of street shopping, as well as two cinema multiplexes, one of the few retail areas other than the Melbourne CBD to contain competing cinema operators.

The civic centre grew in the 1980s–1990s and was further enhanced by the opening of a new cinema complex in November 2004 and the Bayside North development in September 2005. With the continued dominance of the shopping centre, many strip shops in the central Frankston area faced decline, with some vacant shops.

A healthy pub scene centres around the Nepean Highway.

A second major shopping complex operates some 4km to the east of the city's centre, in the locality of Karingal. This major shopping centre, which has also undergone major expansion in 2005, features two separate Safeway supermarkets, Big W and a new cinema complex.

In addition to these two major shopping areas, street based strip shops operate in neighbourhoods throughout Frankston, many congregating along major roads, and also in pockets along major residential streets.

Major automotive retailers operate along Dandenong Road, in the suburb's north-west.

Industrial areas

A light industrial area, mostly involving the automotive repair industry, centres in the north-west of the suburb, in an area centred on New Street.

Residential areas

The dominant residential nature of the suburb is not as diverse as suburbs closer to the Melbourne CBD. There is very little multi-storey residential development, although with the designation of the Frankston CBD as a Transit City in accordance with the Victorian Government's Melbourne 2030 urban integration policy, there has been an increased focus on residential development in the CBD.

An aging population in older areas near the centre is balanced by several new housing estates on the fringes and eastern margins of the city. The Frankston area has one of the higher concentrations of English-born Australians and has not attracted the same number of immigrants as suburbs closer to the Melbourne CBD, though it does boast a substantial Greek community. 76% of Frankston residents are Australian-born, in comparison with 65% for the broader Melbourne population.

For the most part large parts of Frankston consist of the 'traditional' quarter-acre or slightly smaller blocks. Dual occupancy unit developments and some flats are centred in areas close to the retail centre.

House prices in Frankston have risen over the years particularly with the allure of the sea, however Frankston remains one of the most affordable Melbourne suburbs. In the 12 months to 31 March 2006, median house prices in Frankston were $256,000 and median unit prices were $190,000.

Sports and Leisure

There are many sporting and recreational clubs in Frankston. Australian rules football is played at many clubs in the area, at both senior and junior level. In the old zoning system of recruiting, Frankston was in alternatively Hawthorn Football Club then St Kilda Football Clubs recruiting zones, so several VFL and AFL players from Frankston have played at these two clubs. The beach area supports sailing clubs and [Life Saving clubs]. Several stadiums in the area support Netball, Basketball and other indoor sports. There are also several public and private golf courses, tennis clubs and lawn bowls clubs throughout the area. The City of Frankston Bowling Club hosted the World Bowls tournament in 1980. Athletics is popular, with 1988 Olympic 400m hurdles Gold Medallist Debbie Flintoff-King a member of the Frankston Athletics Club.

The Frankston International Guitar Festival is held annually and draws many acts and visitors to all things guitar. Frankston has produced several notable band and musicians over the years, supported by a live music scene at several pubs and clubs in the area.

In their leisure time, Frankstonians mainly tend to enjoy their homes and backyards, as well as the local beach in the summer. The City of Melbourne and the surf beaches of the Mornington Peninsula are both under an hours drive, so both are popular destinations for shoppers or surfers. The local VFL (formely VFA) Australian Rules Frankston football club is popular in winter, as are some of the national clubs, though with the demolition of Waverley Park has meant longer travel times for spectators. The wineries of the Mornington peninsula are increasingly popular, as awareness about their produce grows. The grow of large shopping retailers both in CBD and in other centres has meant that most needs are met locally. Frankston has a varied restaurant selection, including Italian, Japanese, French, Chinese, Fijian and Greek cuisines, though not all survive in a competitive market. Many Frankstonians like a beer at one of the local pubs or clubs, mainly clustered around the Nepean Highway, catering to several tastes and age groups from teenage nightclubs to RSL clubs for seniors.

Landmarks

Olivers Hill, with it's imposing bay and city views, is home to the most expensive real estate in Frankston. It also overlooks Frankston Beach and the newer Frankston Waterfront.

Frankston Waterfront is a redevelopment of a portion of the foreshore area. Featuring extensive ladnscaping, car parking, a new restaurant with bay views and a footbridge over Kananook Creek, it has proven to be a popular attraction with locals.

Frankston Pier is one of the more prominent landmarks, and the weekend will find young children dive-bombing off it in contravention of local by-laws.

The George Pentland Botanical Gardens, situated just south of Frankston Hospital, includes a broad representation of native and indigenous flora.

Frankston Marina is a long talked about project to provide a safe boat harbour at the bottom of Olivers Hill. It remains to be seen whether the development will ever be built.

The Frankston Arts Centre is an imposing building overlooking the Frankston CBD, and houses a theatre suitable for live performances and also an art gallery.

The currently unoccupied Peninsula Centre is an ugly office building which towers above the rest of the Frankston CBD. A vacant eyesore, it is also a common target for vandals. Jamie Durie, a popular television presenter of Backyard Blitz, is involved in the redevelopment of the 10-storey building which will see the building converted to apartments.

Weather

The [weather] in Frankston is mild, typically ranging from a few degrees Celsius in winter to low 40s in summer. Frankston is usually around 2 °C cooler than Melbourne city and in many cases is one of the first areas of Melbourne to feel the effect of the Cool Change weather pattern that occurs during the summer season.

History

Prior to the coming of Europeans, the Frankston area was populated by Indigenous Australians known as the Kulin people. Specifically, inhabitants in the Frankston area were from the Bunurong language group, of the Mayone-bulluk clan.

Europeans first set foot in Frankston as early as January 30,1803, some thirty-two years before the founding of Melbourne. A plaque near the mouth of the Kananook Creek marks the location of where Captain Charles Grimes and his party went ashore searching for freshwater, and met with about thirty of the local inhabitants.

Some pastoral settlement occurred in the late 1840s and early 1850s with the first land sales occurring in 1854. The Ballam Park Homestead, located in the east of the suburb, dates from this time. Fishing and service industries sprung-up to assist pastoral and farming communities developing on the Mornington Peninsula.

The origin of Frankston's name has been subject to some conjecture. Local mythology suggests that the town was named for a publican called Frank Stone who ran a hotel at the corner of the then Point Nepean Road (now the Nepean Highway) with the Hastings Road (now Davey Street). There is no evidence that such a person existed. Two more credible possibilities are that the town was named for Francis (Frank) Liardet, a prominent early settler, or after Charles Franks, an early settler of Melbourne who was killed by Aborigines.

According to local historian Michael Jones, however, Frankston is named after General Sir Thomas Harte Franks, a British army officer who fought in the Second Sikh War. This theory is strengthened by the fact a number of other towns in the area, such as Cranbourne, Hastings, Lyndhurst, Mornington and Pakenham, are named after British statesmen and generals (respectively, Viscount Cranbourne, Warren Hastings, the Earl of Mornington, Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Pakenham). Jones suggests that Andrew Clarke, the Port Phillip District's Surveyor-General 1853-58, named all these towns.

Frankston's development was hampered by poor soils, distance from Melbourne, and the existence of a major swamp occupying much of the area between Mordialloc and Seaford. The railway came on August 1, 1882, and turned Frankston into a popular holiday destination, particularly after electrification of the railway service on August 27, 1922, which reduced average journey times from 90 to 62 minutes.

Frankston was the site of the first Australian Scout Jamboree in 1935. The jamboree was attended by the founder of the Scouting movement, Robert Baden-Powell. Several streets in the southern residential area are named after the event. The grandstand at the Frankston Football Club, and the Quality Street Scout Hall remain today.

The Frankston municipality's population boomed after World War II, increasing from 12,000 in 1947 to 82,000 in 1982.

In 1959 the movie On the Beach starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner was partially filmed at Frankston station.

On September 2, 2004, Frankston was nominated for a Bursary Award in the International Awards for Liveable Communities.

Anna Hind-Linden, from the 2006 series of Big Brother proudly wore an "I ♥ Frankston" t-shirt on the show and described herself as a "Frankston Girl" and lived up to this label with her "I don't care" attitude.

Prominent Residents

Notable Frankstonians include:

See also

References

External links


Suburbs of the City of Frankston
Carrum Downs | Frankston | Frankston North | Frankston South | Langwarrin | Seaford | Skye

 

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