Noble Park, Victoria

Noble Park is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located southeast of the Melbourne central business district. It is part of the administrative area of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area (LGA), and recorded a population of 32,257 at the . after the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, as Buckley had used the estate to demonstrate Nobel's explosives, but the name was soon transformed to Noble Park by common usage.

Early settlement was encouraged by building a community centre, church, school, postal centre and later, a railway station. The postal centre was opened in August 1910 and the railway station was completed in July 1912, but in the early days, the town's growth was relatively slow due to the lack of population growth in the area. In the early 1920s, the Railway Department set up a poultry farm and eventually a plant nursery was set up in the eastern part of the suburb. The focus of the small community was based around its local town hall. as well as the scene of a major shootout between members of the Victoria Police and Pavel Marinof, a burglar on the run. Residential growth in the second half of the century saw an end to the grazing paddocks and market gardens. By the 1990s, 56% of Noble Park's population was born overseas, with the largest being from Great Britain and Ireland, followed by Bosnians, Italians and Greeks; and South and Southeast Asians (including Indians, Sri Lankans and Vietnamese), according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In recent years there has been an upsurge of migrants and refugees settled from North African countries, especially Sudan. In 2007, Sudanese Australian Liep Gony was murdered in Noble Park by two white men, one of whom had previously expressed the desire to kill a black man. The murder sparked a media and political storm about so-called African gangs. to Mordialloc.

Route 811, to Dandenong railway station and Brighton.
Route 815, to Dandenong railway station.

There are also six other bus routes that traverses parts of the suburb, including:

Route 800, on Princes Highway to Dandenong railway station and Chadstone Shopping Centre.
Route 812, to Dandenong railway station and Brighton.
Route 813, to Dandenong railway station and Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre.
Route 824, to Keysborough and Moorabbin railway station.
Route 978 Night Bus, night service on Princes Highway from Dandenong railway station to Elsternwick railway station.
Route 979 Night Bus, night service on Heatherton Road from Dandenong railway station to Elsternwick railway station.

Bicycle trails

The Djerring Trail (Caufield–Dandenong Rail Trail), completed in 2018, is connected to the Noble Park railway station, as well as to Noble Park's skate park and aquatic centre.

The EastLink Trail, after crossing the Princes Highway, closely follows the Yarraman Creek and crosses the Pakenham/Cranbourne line railway via the Yarraman station footbridge, before continuing on along the Mile Creek after the two creeks join each other.

Community facilities

Noble Park Public Hall, located on Buckley Street just off the shopping strip.
Giac Hoang Temple, a Vietnamese Buddhist temple, is located in the suburb.

Environment

The middle-lower section of the Miles Creek, a second-order right-bank tributary of the lower Dandenong Creek system and the last before the latter becomes the Patterson River, flows obliquely through the centre of Noble Park just north of the town center. Majority of the creek within Noble Park is concrete-lined and its value is mostly hydrological (as a flood control channel) rather than ecological, except in its very last section east of Chandler Road.
The Yarraman Creek, a small urban stream flowing south from Noble Park North and the only tributary of the Miles Creek, forms the suburb's eastern boundary with the neighbouring Dandenong West. The creek, though small and often partly dry, has two groups of retention ponds along its course and is surrounded by linear parks and forested open space reserves, providing most of the ecological functions of the Miles Creek catchment. The Yarraman railway station servicing Noble Park East is named after this creek.
Noble Park has fertile soil and to this day still has many river red gum trees, including the oldest river red gum at Parkfield Reserve, which is classified by the National Trust of Australia.

Sport

The Noble Park Aquatic Centre, located just northwest of the town centre and the train station, is home to Melbourne's largest water slide. A former swimming pool of the Aquatic Centre, just off Heatherton Road, was converted into the Noble Park Skatepark.

Noble Park has a local Australian rules football team, the Noble Park Bulls, competing in the Eastern Football League. It also includes a cricket and lawn bowls club.

Noble Park is represented by Southern Stars FC soccer team. The team currently competes in the Victorian State League Division 1 which is the third tier in Australia behind the A-League and the Victorian Premier League.

Noble Park is also home to the Parkfield Netball Club, Noble Park United FC - Drina, and Parkfield Cricket Club.

Both Noble Park Tennis Club and Noble Park Community Tennis Club represent Noble Park in tennis.

Noble Park home to the Noble Park Skate Park located on Memorial Drive (off Heatherton Road). The skate park was designed and built by a team led by Noble Park resident and pro skater John McGrath. It is a unique skate park in Melbourne's south east and includes a plaza, snake-run and bowl. It is adjacent the Noble Park Aquatic Centre to the west on Memorial Drive, which currently has a heated outdoor pool, an indoor heated pool, a water slide and a water play area. The 50 m outdoor pool is partially shaded and provides ramp access, and is occasionally converted into two 25 m pools.

Notable residents

John Farnham Australian singer and songwriter
Darren Millane Australian rules football
Stephen Milne Australian rules football
Adam Ramanauskas Australian rules football player
Glenn Archer Australian rules football
James Gwilt Current Australian rules football
Adam Treloar, Australian rules footballer