Lysterfield and Lysterfield South

Lysterfield was a mostly rural area 35 km south-east of Melbourne, until the 1990s, with Ferntree Gully to its north, Narre Warren to its south and Rowville on its west. It consists of a fertile valley along the Monbulk Creek, low ranges and a basin in which several watercourses drain to the Lysterfield Lake. The township of Monbulk is several kilometres north-east.

The Monbulk Creek valley was settled by Europeans in 1838 and was known as part of Narre Warren North. In 1874 William Saurin Lyster, a selector and operatic impressario, donated land in Wellington Road, 1 km west of Lysterfield Road, for a primary school. A public meeting thereupon decided on Lysterfield as the name for the district (including Rowville). Farming selections were taken up, mainly for dairying. A horse stud name Netherlea bred the famous steeplechaser Moss Trooper whose wins in 1929-30 remain impressive.

In 1929 the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission built Lysterfield Reservoir to reticulate water to the Mornington Peninsula, Springvale and Dandenong. Subsequently land comprising the water catchment area was resumed and reserved as the Lysterfield Lake Park, extending from Narre Warren North to Belgrave Heights.

Apart from Lysterfield's rural activities there was a quarry on the western ranges, a progress hall (1931), a recreation reserve (1941) and a school. Lysterfield’s residential development in the 2000s was in its west, adjoining urban Rowville. It has a new school (456 pupils, 2014), replacing the one in Wellington Road where the landscape was still rural. The store and petrol station at the corner of Lysterfield and Wellington Roads still signified Lysterfield’s centre, with the war memorial a short way north in Lysterfield Road.

Lysterfield's census populations have been:

Lysterfield South is separated from Lysterfield by Lysterfield Park. It adjoins Endeavour Hills, a suburb of Casey City. Its outer boundary passes through the Park, and coincides with boundary between Casey and Knox Cities. Its small residential area has had census populations of: