Frankston, Victoria

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Frankston
Melbourne, Victoria

View of the Frankston CBD from Olivers Hill.
Population: 34,457 (2006) [1]
Postcode: 3199
Area: 20.8 km² (8.0 sq mi)
Property Value: AUD $265,000 [2]
Location:
LGA: City of Frankston
State District: Frankston
Federal Division: Dunkley
Suburbs around Frankston:
Seaford Frankston North
Port Phillip Frankston Langwarrin
Frankston South

Frankston is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the main town in the Local Government Area of the City of Frankston, and a seaside suburb on Port Phillip Bay, 41 km southeast of Melbourne CBD. It is bordered to the north by 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. As the northernmost city on the Mornington Peninsula, Frankston is sometimes known as "The Gateway to the Peninsula".

Contents

[edit] Geography

The suburb of Frankston covers a wide geographic area compared to other Melbourne suburbs. Frankston is bounded 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 near Olivers Hill unbroken except by Patterson River and Mordialloc and Kananook creeks. 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 again at Daveys Bay.

The central and northern areas of the suburb are generally flat, but the suburb rises gradually towards the east, then rises sharply at Olivers Hill in the south of the suburb, continuing into the locality of 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 1980s.

The Southern uplands are at the northern end of an uplift area in a Horst-Graben structure that extends down the Mornington Peninsula. Similar plutonic intrusive uplifts occur elsehere on the Peninsula at Mount Martha and Arthurs Seat. The fault zones are currently inactive, though minor tremors have historically been experienced.

[edit] Weather

The weather in Frankston is mild. 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. At one of the widest points of Port Phillip Bay, Frankston seaside residents have an unobstructed view of oncoming westerly weather patterns. On rare days of severe storms with galeforce westerly winds, Frankston briefly becomes one of the few places on the bay with wave swell of size that allows surfing. The ability to see the You Yangs with the naked eye from the shoreline (some hills situated on the western side of the bay near Geelong) gives Frankston residents a handy test of visibility and air quality. While visible most of the year in the past, Melbourne's increasing air pollution has severely reduced the days they can be clearly made out.

[edit] 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, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. Several streets in the southern residential area are named after the event (the tree-lined Baden Powell Drive in Frankston South being the most prominent). The grandstand at the Frankston Football Club (destroyed by fire on February 12, 2008), 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 Livcom - International Awards for Liveable Communities. In October 2004 it received a bronze award for management of environment and enhancement of quality of life. It won this award for C category cities (population 75,001 - 200,000).

In March 24, 2007, Frankston won two awards in Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria's (KABV) clean beach challenge. It won the award for 'Friendliest beach in Victoria', and also the 'Natural Heritage Award' for the maintenance of, and providing of facilities at Frankston Beach.

[edit] Social Conditions

[edit] 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 Myer, Coles, Safeway, Kmart and Target. The major shopping centre is Bayside Shopping Centre, owned by the Colonial First State Property Management giant. The retail centre, in addition to shopping centres, also includes large areas of street shopping, as well as two cinema multiplexes. Frankston is 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, a facet of the Bayside Entertainment complex developed 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 have faced decline with some retail shops, mainly along Nepean Highway, now vacant.

A healthy pub scene centres around the Nepean Highway and Davey Street intersection, with others further along the Nepean Highway. Frankston is also one of the few suburban towns left in Australia to sport a pub on each corner of an intersection (Nepean Highway and Davey Street).

A second major shopping complex, Centro Karingal, 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 a new shopping mall connected to original building via walkway, and a new cinema complex.

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

[edit] Industrial areas

A light industrial area, mostly involving the automotive repair industry, is located along Dandenong Road centering around New Street. The area also spills over into the neighbouring suburb of Seaford, and centres around Hartnett Drive. The Seaford industrial area also contains some bulk retail and cash-and-carry outlets.

[edit] 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 blocks (colloquially known as the Australian Dream) 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 AU$256,000 and median unit prices were AU$190,000.

[edit] Community Initiatives

The Frankston 2025 Community Vision is community initiaive where Frankston residents were "workshopped" on where they envision the City of Frankston to be by the year 2025. Workshops, confrences and surveys were staged over 12 months from September 2006, and the initiative was officially endorsed by the Frankston City Council in October 2007. Then mayor, Councillor Glenn Aitkin, officially launched and adopted the vision on November 24, 2007[3].

A community supermarket located at 16 Young Street, Frankston was established by the Bayside Dream Centre to provide groceries and other essential items to disadvantaged people within the community at affordable prices. This service is available to all people, not only health-care or concession card owners. It is a not-for-profit enterprise.

[edit] Sports and Leisure

Australian rules football is played at many clubs in the area, at both senior and junior level. The Frankston Dolphins are a popular local Victorian Football League club that play out of the Frankston Park oval, a venue with capacity for around 8,000 spectators. In the old zoning system of recruiting, Frankston was in alternatively Hawthorn Football Club then St Kilda Football Clubs recruiting zones, so several VFL/AFL players from Frankston have played at these two clubs.

The beach area supports sailing clubs, Frankston Yacht Club being the biggest, as well as life saving clubs. The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard flotilla at Frankston was the first chartered Victorian flotilla in the organisation, becoming "Victorian Flotilla 1" or "VF1".

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 Sandhurst Club golf course, located in northern Frankston, is the new home of the Australian PGA. The 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.

In their leisure time, Frankston residents 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 wineries of the Mornington Peninsula are increasingly popular, as awareness about their produce grows. The growth of large shopping retailers both in the Frankston 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, Indian and Greek cuisine, to name a few. Frankston has a lively pub scene, and many Frankston residents 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 and more seniors-focussed venues.

Frankston also boasts the largest public skate park in all of Australia.

[edit] Festivals and Events

The I Love Frankston Pro-Am and Mayoral Charity Golf Day are annual golfing events. The Pro-Am offers AU$10,000 in prize money and is held at the Sandhurst Club golf course, whilst the Mayoral Charity is held in support of various charities at Long Island Country Club. The events attract a number of professional golfers and celebrities, as well as amateur players[4][5].

The Frankton Sea Festival is a celebration of Frankston's bayside heritage, held annually at the start of each year[6][7]. The festival includes the popular Frankston Bay Classic, an amateur swim/run event featuring a 7km swim and 14km run, with prize money awarded to the winners of each leg of the event[8].

The Christmas Festival of Lights is a popular annual Christmas event and one of the biggest on the Frankston community calender. The 2006 event attracted 17,000 people to the city to watch the lighting of the 100 year old Norfolk pine tree, fireworks display and engage in community festivals[9].

The I Love Frankston Parade was inaugurated in 2007 by the then mayor Cr. Glenn Aitken. The parade consists of community groups, sporting groups, schools and local business marching through the streets of Frankston in a show of civic pride, culminating at the Christmas Festival of Lights[10].

Sandsculpting Australia has announced that it will relocate its festival host city to Frankston from 2008[11].

The 2008 year marked the inauguration of the Frankston Beach Volleyball Series, which attracted A-list players, Olympian Tamsin Barnett and was broadcast on national television[12][13].

The running of the AU$50,000 I Love Frankston Cup, a 1600m horse race, commenced in 2008. The inaugural race was won by the horse Mangonui[14][15].

[edit] Landmarks

Olivers Hill, in the locality of Frankston South, boasts imposing bay and city views. It is home to the most expensive real estate in Frankston. It also overlooks Frankston Beach and the newer Frankston Waterfront. Known locally as "The Hill", some properties have been sold for in excess of AU$AUD2 million, when the 2005 median price for a house in Frankston was only AU$228,000 according to The Age newspaper[16].

Frankston Waterfront is a portion of Frankston's foreshore area, featuring extensive landscaping, themed playground, car parking, a Sophia's restaurant with bay views, the Landmark Bridge over Kananook Creek and a million dollar Visitor Information Centre[17]. The area disects the Frankston Boardwalk, an extensive raised timber walking path following the Frankston coastline from near Olivers Hill to the Frankston Life Saving Club. With the life saving club extension, the boardwalk is now over 1km long[18][19].

Frankston Pier extends 500m from the Frankston Waterfront into Port Phillip Bay, and is one of the more prominent landmarks. 'Sightlines' is an art installation along the Frankston Pier by Louise Laverack. The installation consists of 22 modular components (poles) along the pier. Weather vanes decorated with nautical signal designs respond to the prevailing wind, while the movement of the waves is reflected in lighting panels embedded in the poles.

Frankston Hospital (part of the Peninsula Health network) is a major public hospital in the Mornington Peninsula region. It is also a major health-science training centre affiliated with Monash University, which has a campus close to the hospital[20].

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

The iconic Frankston Arts Centre overlooks the Frankston CBD, and houses a theatre suitable for live performances and also houses an art gallery. The centre plays host to a number of major performances, including regular shows by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Victorian Opera, and is a tour venue for the Melbourne International Film Festival, Opera Australia and a number of national theatre companies[21].

Cube 37, next to the Frankston Arts Centre (on the Davey Street entrance), is an intimate performance venue and exhibition space. 'The Cube', as it is known to residents, also encompasses a state-of-the-art glass studio frontage for digital media exhibitions at night.

McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park is a prominent gallery featuring a sculpture park, set in eight hectares of landscaped bushland, in the Frankston suburb of Langwarrin. The McClelland Award for sculpture is awarded by the gallery biennially and is Australia's richest sculpture prize[22].

The Frankston Cultural Drive (signposted as Route 12) includes a tour of Frankston's unique cultural and heritage attractions. The selfdrive tour takes you to parks, gardens, galleries and homesteads as well as showcasing a vast collection of contemporary sculpture. The drive includes the Frankston Arts Centre, George Pentland Botanic Gardens, Ballam Park Homestead, Cruden Farm, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park and the Mulberry Hill Nation Trust property, to name a few. An audio CD is also available to listen to on the drive which details information about each attraction[23][24].

The currently unoccupied Peninsula Centre is a 12-storey 1970s office building which may be developed into a luxury apartment, retail and restaurant complex[25]. The Peninsula Centre was also mysteriously graffitied recently. As of 22 June 2007, the culprit or the means with which they graffitied the top floor of the building remain unknown to police according to local newspaper, the Frankston Leader.

Monash University operates an education and health-sciences focused campus just east of the CBD, adjacent the Frankston Private Hospital. The campus is also close to Frankston Hospital and St John of God Rehabilitation Hospital, along with a number of other medical-based businesses.

[edit] Future Projects

St Kilda Football Club has signed a deal with the City of Frankston to relocate their training base to the Frankston Park oval[26]. The deal includes a AU$10 million development of a high-tech facility to be completed by 2010, based on the facilities of the UK's Chelsea and Aston Villa soccer clubs[27].

The Kananook Creek Boulevard is a proposed project to revitalise the neglected Kananook Creek precinct. The Frankston Council has received AU$8 million from the Victorian Government to complete the project, which will make a major contribution to the revitalisation the city centre and the attractiveness of the waterfront. The proposal includes broad paved promenades and an open air plaza along the creek line, for 'riverside' dining and cafes[28].

The Frankston Marina is a proposed project to provide a safe boat harbour at the bottom of Olivers Hill.

[edit] Gallery

Part of Frankston Beach with views to Olivers Hill. Protected native flora in foreground.

Part of the Frankston Boardwalk, with views to Olivers Hill.

Landmark Bridge near the Frankston Waterfront, with views to Melbourne.

Mouth of Kananook Creek and Landmark Bridge. Frankston Waterfront to the left and Frankston Yacht Club to the right.

Frankston Railway Station on Young Street.

Christmas balloon float in the 2007 I Love Frankston Parade.

Granite rock formation in Sweetwater Creek Nature Reserve, located in Frankston South.

Beauty Park, located in Frankston South, was converted from a swamp in the early 20th Century.

The mosaic sculpture 'Power of Community' by Deborah Halpern in Beauty Park, Frankston South.

The heritage-listed Brian Mace Grandstand at the Frankston Park football oval was the original grandstand from the first Australian Scout Jamboree in 1935. It was destroyed by fire on February 12, 2008[29].

[edit] Prominent Residents

For a list of notable Frankstonians (past and present) see:

Main article: List of Frankston people

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Frankston (State Suburb). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
  2. ^ Frankston Suburb Profile, Domain, accessed 3 January 2008
  3. ^ Frankston 2025 Community Vision
  4. ^ I Love Frankston Pro-Am
  5. ^ Frankston Mayoral Charity Golf Day
  6. ^ Frankton Sea Festival
  7. ^ Only Melbourne - Frankston Sea Festival
  8. ^ Frankston Bay Classic
  9. ^ Frankston Christmas Festival of Lights
  10. ^ I Love Frankston Parade
  11. ^ Sandstorm Events Australia
  12. ^ I Love Frankston Beach Volleyball Series
  13. ^ VicBeach - We Love Frankston
  14. ^ I Love Frankston Cup
  15. ^ International All Sports Limited (AIS) - Cranbourne Race 8: I Love Frankston Cup 1600m
  16. ^ Surprise jump in home prices - The Age
  17. ^ Frankston Waterfront development
  18. ^ Frankston Boardwalk project
  19. ^ Frankton Boardwalk extension
  20. ^ Peninsula Health - Frankston Hospital
  21. ^ Frankston Arts Centre - What's On
  22. ^ Melbourne artist Rick Amor wins McClelland Award
  23. ^ Frankston Cultural Drive brochure
  24. ^ Frankston Cultural Drive map
  25. ^ Peninsula Centre Redevelopment
  26. ^ Saints to move from Moorabbin
  27. ^ St Kilda uses Chelsea as model for new training centre
  28. ^ Kananook Creek Boulevard project
  29. ^ Fire destroys historic Frankston grandstand - ABC News
  • Michael Jones - Frankston: resort to City. Allen & Unwin, 1989
  • Andrew Brown-May and Shurlee Swain - The Encyclopedia of Melbourne. Cambridge University Press, 2005
  • Frankston City Council - Frankston 1901-2000, an oral/pictorial history.
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics, for demographic info
  • Frankston suburb profile

[edit] External links

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Suburbs of the City of Frankston | Melbourne | Victoria