Upwey, Victoria

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Upwey, Victoria is a residential suburb in hilly surrounds 34 km east-south-east of Melbourne and 2 km west of Belgrave, Victoria. In 1996 Upwey's population was 7,149.

The area of Upwey was originally known as 'Mast Gully' as several masts for ships were cut down in the 1850s. To this day Mast Gully Creek and Mast Gully Road still remain. The Tullidge sisters bought a homestead in 1897 and named it after an English village on the River Wey - Upwey - and requested the Victorian Railways build a stopping place nearby. In December 1900 the 2'6" narrow gauge railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook was opened and included a station named 'Upwey'. The name was adopted locally with the Upwey Church of England opening in 1904 (now in the suburb of Tecoma) and a post office opening in 1911. By the 1920s both a Progress Association and a fire brigade had been established and the annual gathering of the Uniting Church regularly visited the area. By the end of the 1920s and early 1930s many weekenders had been built in the area. When the Great Depression occurred the Victorian Government opened up Dandenong Ranges to housing and the population of Upwey and the surrounding foothills grew steadily. Upwey Primary School opened in 1934 and still exists today. Upwey Higher Elementary School opened in 1937 and became Upwey High School in 1945. Today it serves as the main secondary education provider in the Dandenong Ranges, taking students from around the foothills and Mount Dandenong. In 1956 the railway was closed due to a landslide further along the line. In 1962 the railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave was reopened as part of the 5'3" broad gauge suburban electric network, giving Upwey a direct link to Melbourne. With the reopening of the railway the main road (Monbulk Road, now Burwood Highway) no longer went down the main street of Upwey, leading to a connected yet quiet local shopping centre. In 1997 the Dandenong Ranges suffered devastating bushfires that threatened Upwey and its neighbouring towns, however Upwey was spared from the onslaught. After the last branch of the Commonwealth Bank closed Upwey's local banking services were reduced to an ATM in the old bank building. In 1998 the abandoned bank building became the first metropolitan and third ever Community Bank branch of Bendigo Bank, a model that returns branch profits into the community.

Today Upwey is a thriving community. Main Street boasts a wide variety of shops and services, instilling a traditional community village nature into an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne.