thumb|'Schnapper Point after sunset', Mornington, Victoria, 1859–63, Eugene Von Guerard

thumb|Mothers Beach

thumb|Mornington Yacht Club

Mornington is a seaside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. It is the most populous locality in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mornington had a population of 25,759 at the 2021 census.

History

Originally home to the Indigenous Boonwurrung people, the first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1840s for fishing, logging and agriculture.

A 46-metre long pier was opened in 1858 and became the social and economic gateway to the Mornington Peninsula, connecting the surrounding areas with Melbourne. Originally known as Schnapper (or Snapper) Point, the town was renamed Mornington in 1864 after the second Earl of Mornington. The Courthouse was built in 1861 and the Post Office in 1863. Surrounding the gallery are several parks and the Mornington Botanical Rose Gardens.

Education

Within Mornington are several schools including Mornington Primary School, Mornington Secondary College, Mornington Park Primary School, St. Macartan's Parish Primary School, Padua College and Benton Junior College.

Transport

Mornington is served by three major roadways, Peninsula Link (Mornington Peninsula Freeway), Nepean Highway and Moorooduc Highway. All three are dual-carriageway arterial roads with varying speed limits of 80–100 km/h. The Melbourne bus routes 781, 784, 785, and 788 services the area.

The Mornington railway line closed in 1981 and reopened in 1991 as the heritage Mornington Railway with the aims of restoring the line in future.

Sport

Mornington has an Australian Rules football team, the Mornington Bulldogs, competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League.

Mornington has a horse racing club, the Mornington Racing Club, which schedules around twenty race meetings a year including the Mornington Cup meeting in March. The Mornington Racecourse also hosts the Peninsula Cup in November and monthly markets.

Mornington also has an active Yacht club, the Mornington Yacht Club, located at Schnapper Point.

Mornington is home to 3 Australian rules football/ Cricket grounds, Narambi Reserve, Alexandra Park and Dallas Brooks Park

Golfers play at the course of the Mornington Country Golf Club on Tallis Drive.

Mornington has a Field Hockey club competing in the Hockey Victoria Association known as the Mornington Peninsula Falcons.

Terri Sawyer, the 18-year-old female driver who won the first ever AUSCAR race at the Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne in February 1988, is a resident of Mornington.

Climate

Mornington has an oceanic climate (Cfb) with warm and occasionally hot summers and mild winters where temperatures below freezing are very rare occasions.

Notable residents

  • Finola Moorhead
  • Brodie Harper
  • Terry Denton

<gallery>

File:Mornington Mechanics Institute.JPG|Mornington Mechanics Institute

File:Mornington Grand Hotel.JPG|Mornington Grand Hotel

File:Mornington ca 1940.jpg|Historic aerial photo of Mornington 1940 looking west

File:Mornington Roman Catholic Church b.jpg|Catholic Church at Mornington

File:Mother's Beach, Mornington Peninsula.jpg|Mothers beach, Mornington Peninsula

</gallery>

See also

  • Shire of Mornington – Mornington was previously within this former local government area.

References