Strathmore

Strathmore is a residential suburb 10 km north-west of Melbourne. It is between north Essendon and the Essendon airport, with a crescent shaped area running between the airport and the Moonee Ponds Creek. The northern part of the crescent is Strathmore Heights.

Strathmore was beyond the reach of Essendon's inner residential development until 1872 when the railway line was extended from Essendon to the Seymour district. Even then, Strathmore remained a farming district. A homestead was built by the renowned stock agent, Harry Peck in 1891 on the west side of the Moonee Ponds Creek, opposite John Pascoe Fawkner's estate on the other side, west of the Pascoe Vale railway station.

The original centre of Strathmore, however, was further south, where Woodland Street crosses the railway line at the Strathmore railway station, and runs easterly to a bridge over the Moonee Ponds Creek. A settler of Essendon, Thomas Napier settled on a property which he named Rosebank. The Cross Keys hotel (1848) was nearby. Rosebank continues as a street name, Cross Keys as the name of the local post office and reserve, and Napier is commemorated by parkland donated by his son. Napier Park has an important stand of old river red gums.

Strathmore was described in the Australian handbook in 1903:

In the early 1920s there were four large estates north of Woodland Street. Rosebank, a larger Magdala owned by Napier's son (and surrounding Napier Park), Glenview beside the Moonee Ponds Creek and Woods Farm next to Bulla Road. By the late 1920s they had been subdivided, some houses built and a progress association formed. A primary school was requested in 1928, but not opened until 1944.

During this period (1936) the name Strathmore was given to a newly opened Presbyterian church, derived from the name of a valley near where Thomas Napier had been born in Scotland. The church name was substituted for the previous district name of North Essendon which, at that time, was in Broadmeadows Shire. A Catholic school was also opened in 1936 in Woodland Street, east of Napier Park.

By 1945 Strathmore was described as a new residential suburb, a splendid locality for homes overlooking the city, with two churches, two private schools and a State primary school. In 1951 Strathmore had about one quarter of its space held for farming or other primary production. By 1960 nearly all that land was subdivided or built on, the number of houses had increased by 1000 to 2200 and the number of shops had more than doubled. Strathmore high school opened in 1958 and the Strathmore North primary school in 1961. Strathmore bowls club began in 1954.

Strathmore is relatively isolated by its public transport being limited to a railway line along its eastern edge. Houses are mostly medium cost brick veneer, and retailing is the only local industry. In 1969 the Tullamarine Freeway was opened, running between Strathmore and the southern boundary of Essendon airport. Strathmore was transferred from Broadmeadows city council to Essendon on 1 October 1979.

The northern crescent of Strathmore and Strathmore Heights has substantial parkland adjoining the once flood-prone Moonee Ponds Creek valley. Shopping areas are near the Strathmore railway station and near the Strathmore primary school.

In 2014 Strathmore primary school had 495 pupils, Strathmore North primary school had 373 pupils and Strathmore secondary college had 1553 pupils.

Strathmore's census populations have been:

Strathmore Heights' census populations have been: