Rowville, Victoria

Rowville Melbourne, Victoria
Population	29496 (2001 census)
• Density
Established	1882
Postcode(s)	3178
Area	19.5 km2 (7.5 sq mi)
Location	32 km (20 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s)	City of Knox
State electorate(s)	Scoresby, Ferntree Gully
Federal division(s)	Aston
Suburbs around Rowville: Wheelers Hill Scoresby Ferntree Gully Mulgrave Rowville Lysterfield Dandenong North Endeavour Hills Lysterfield South

Rowville is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is situated in the local municipality of the City of Knox.

Rowville is named after the Rowe family whose property Stamford Park was established in 1882. The Stamford Park homestead has in recent years been restored by Knox Council. Physically Rowville is one of the largest suburbs in the South-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Rowville has developed rapidly over the 1980s and 1990s, especially in terms of housing and light industrial activities. Culturally though, Rowville is, like much of Melbourne’s outer suburbs, still developing. This development has included the construction of a new shopping centre called 'Welllington Village' on Wellington Road which complements the Rowville Lakes shopping centre on Kelletts Road and the largest shopping centre in the suburb, Stud Park. This centre is the location for the Rowville Library and the Rowville Community Centre, where, each October, the Stringybark Festival is held. This popular event, organised by Knox Council, focuses on environmental sustainability. Three golf courses provide Rowville with great leisure outlets for the burgeoning population of mainly young families. The members of the 2005-2007 Knox Youth Council Representatives for this area are Kevin Lam, Hannah Nelson, Joe Strummer, Georgia Knight, and Katie Kallista.

Education

Rowville has one dual campus High School, Rowville Secondary College, with the Eastern Campus (7-10) and Western Campus (7-12). Students from the Eastern Campus move to the Western Campus to complete their VCE. There are 4 government primary schools, Rowville Primary, Karoo Primary, Heany Park Primary, Park Ridge Primary and one Catholic Primary School, St. Simons. When Lysterfield Primary School was relocated to its present site it was in Rowville, however the boundary between the suburbs has changed and Lysterfield Primary is once again in Lysterfield.

Transport

Rowville is a heavily car dependent community with most families having at least 2 cars with 5 or 6 cars per household not uncommon, depending on the number of children of driving age still living at home.

The current State Government has proposed that the public transport problems will be resolved by the implementation of what is known as the SmartBus system, which includes special bus lanes on major traffic routes. One SmartBus route connecting Rowville to Caulfield via Monash University and Huntingdale Station has been established, with the Outer Eastern SmartBus providing a link to Ringwood and Frankston announced by the government to begin operation in 2008.

The general consensus among Rowville residents is that any railway line to Rowville would run east-west along or parallel to Wellington Road linking to the Pakenham (and Cranbourne) rail lines at Huntingdale to provide a form of mass transit to this growing suburb. The stations suggested for the line are Monash University, Rowville Parkway and Stud Park. An alternative route could involve an extension of the Glen Waverley railway line by tunnelling under residential areas and linking to Stud Park along the Dandenong Creek valley.

These suggestions have no official status and there has been much debate over the Victorian State Government’s decision to permit new motor tollways (such as the north-south EastLink), rather than providing rail services to Rowville. The area remains somewhat of an infrastructural 'wasteland'.

Governance

Federal Rowville is in the Federal Division of Aston which is held by The Honorable Chris Pearce of the Liberal Party of Australia.

State Rowville is split down the middle with half of the suburb in the State Lower House seat of Scoresby which is held by Kim Wells of the Liberal Party of Australia and the State Lower House seat of Ferntree Gully which is held by Nick Wakeling of the Liberal Party, following the 2006 election.

Council Rowville is part of the City of Knox and has 3 ward councillors representing it.

• Taylor Ward - Tony Kamitsis
• Friberg Ward - Debbie Field
• Tirhatuan Ward - Denny Pincic

External links

• http://www.rlcnews.org.au/stories/the_changing_landscape/discovering_the_history_of_rowville_and_lysterfield.php