Cheltenham, Victoria

Cheltenham is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located 19 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Kingston to the eastern side of the area's metropolitan railway line and Charman Road north, while the City of Bayside presides over the suburb's western region towards extensive golf links, parks and Port Phillip Bay. At the 2011 Census, Cheltenham had a population of 20,292.

History
Cheltenham includes one of the early estates in the parish of Moorabbin developed by Josiah Holloway from 1852. Named Two Acre Village lots were sold between 1853 and 1854 and the township was renamed Cheltenham. Sufficient population had settled for Cheltenham Post Office to open on 1 August 1857, although the major growth of the township was in the 1880s.

Cheltenham Park was established in 1879 and is used for cricket and other recreational activities.

Much of the residential development was built in the 1940s and continued into the 1980s. Cheltenham also has a large industrial area on the eastern edge and a smaller area at the far western edge. The western area is noted for Melbourne's only lift test shaft.

In 1993, the landmark 7-storey 1230 Nepean Highway office tower was built. The City of Kingston leased spaced within the building for use as its main office before purchasing it in 2010.

Health
The Kingston centre is a large aged care and rehabilitation facility which opened on Warrigal Road, Cheltenham, in 1911 as the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum. It was known as the Cheltenham Home and Hospital for the Aged from 1965 through to 1970, before it was renamed to its present day name, the Kingston Centre. The Heatherton Sanatorium with its entrance on Kingston Road (Heatherton, Victoria) is a now defunct sanatorium located behind the Kingston Centre and it operated for nearly 85 years, before it was closed in 1998. In 2010, The Kingston Centre underwent a $46.3-million redevelopment, which was opened on 11 May 2012.

Education
There are six schools in the suburb of Cheltenham; five of which focus on Primary education with the remaining one focusing on Secondary education. They are:
 * Cheltenham Secondary College - opened 1959
 * Cheltenham Primary School - opened 1855
 * Cheltenham East Primary School - opened 1956
 * Le Page Primary School - opened 1994
 * Kingston Heath Primary School - opened 1976
 * Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Primary School - opened 1951

Le Page Primary School was formed as a result of the merger of former primary schools 'Cheltenham Heights Primary School' and 'Cheltenham North Primary School' in 1994.

The Cheltenham Community and Education Centre is located at 8 Chesterville Road, Cheltenham. They offer English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, courses, childcare facilities and workshops.

Sport
Cheltenham is home to some great sporting facilities and clubs. Sports played in the area include golf, cricket, Australian Rules football, lawn bowls, baseball and swimming. There are a number of golf courses in Cheltenham; Cheltenham Golf Club on Victor Avenue, Sandringham Municipal Golf Links on Cheltenham Road, and the  Victoria Golf Club on Park Road

The suburb has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Southern Football League.

Cheltenham Football and Cricket Clubs are based in Weatherall Road. The Cricket Club was established in 1872, originally in the Frankston-Glenhuntly Cricket Association, and migrating to the Federal District Cricket Association where the junior sides still play. The four senior sides now play in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association.

The most famous son of Cheltenham Cricket & Football Clubs is Trevor Barker, who went on to play Australian Rules Football for the St. Kilda Club. Trevor, also a talented cricketer won his only Premiership with Cheltenham Cricket Club as an under 16. His father Jack coached the side.

Shopping
Cheltenham is home to the super regional shopping centre Westfield Southland, located in the northern part of Cheltenham. The centre was opened in 1968 and it featured a couple of stores. Since its opening, the shopping centre has been continually expanded over the years resulting in a multi-level retail bridge across Nepean Highway to a newer site. Southland now features up to 416 stores including 3 department stores, 3 discount department stores, 3 supermarkets, 3 electrical retailers and a 16 screen Village Cinemas Multiplex. Many new retail outlets have popped up in Cheltenham in recent years, most notably Direct Factory Outlets Moorabbin, which is located adjacent to Moorabbin Airport. DFO was originally built in 1992 as Fairways Market, and it is a large shopping centre that contains up to 135 stores, mainly fashion outlets.

Kingston Central Plaza, situated next to DFO, is also a new shopping precinct, which opened in 2008 and has 10 stores including: The Good Guys, Aldi and Sam's Warehouse. Cheltenham Shopping centre is located in the heart of Cheltenham, on Charman Road. It is a large shopping strip that has a mixture of retail, residential buildings and offices.

Places of worship
There are a number of religious organisations and places of worship in Cheltenham, including Anglican, Church of Christ, Uniting, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian churches.

Cemeteries
The Cheltenham Pioneers Cemetery is located in Charman Road, next to the railway station, and was established in October 1864. The cemetery has many of Cheltenham's most distinguished inhabitants. There are also many memorials to some of Cheltenham's youngest inhabitants, such as the many unnamed babies from the nearby Children's Home (the site is now occupied by Westfield Southland Shopping centre) who died as a result of disease early in the last century.

Most burials now take place at the Cheltenham Memorial Park, located on Reserve Road, which was established in 1933.

Notable burials
Both cemeteries contain the remains of many notable Australians:

Transport
Cheltenham railway station is located on the Frankston line, at Charman Road. Bus routes also service the suburb, mainly focusing on the large Westfield Southland Shopping centre complex, Warrigal Road (Highway) to the far east, Park Road to the north and Centre Dandenong Road around the suburb's geographic centre.

Library services
The Cheltenham branch of the City of Kingston Library is located 12 Stanley Avenue, Cheltenham.

Cheltenham Major Activity Centre
Cheltenham is one of 82 higher order Major Activity Centres identified by the Melbourne 2030 growth planning policy. Although the growth planning policy was scrapped by the Victorian coalition government in April 2011, some elements of the policy still remain, including activity centres. Development of Cheltenham's Major Activity Centre, which is within 400m of Cheltenham railway station, is to be completed by 2030.

Developments within the activity centre include:

Southland Principal Activity Centre
Southland is one of 28 Principal Activity Centre's located adjacent to the Highett Activity Centre and the Cheltenham Activity Centre. The activity centre's main focal point is Westfield Southland shopping complex.

The activity centre is to feature:

Politics
In terms of State and Federal Government, Cheltenham is situated in the Electoral district of Clarinda, Mordialloc and Sandringham for state parliament and the Electoral district of Goldstein and Hotham in the federal system.

Cheltenham twin towns


Cheltenham, Victoria, is a "twin town" with six other Cheltenham's around the world:
 * Cheltenham, England
 * Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, United States
 * Cheltenham, Ontario, Canada
 * Cheltenham, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
 * Cheltenham, New South Wales, Australia
 * Cheltenham, Auckland, New Zealand