Macleod

Macleod is a residential suburb 14 km north-east of central Melbourne, between Heidelberg and Bundoora. It was named after Malcolm Macleod who acquired land in the area in 1903. When the nearby Mont Park site was acquired by the State Government in 1914 for a hospital/asylum, it wanted to build a spur railway line to it from the Heidelberg to Hurstbridge line. In return for allowing passage of the spur line over his land Macleod secured a railway station named after himself. At that time the area was entirely rural, which was an attraction for siting an asylum there. Other medical institutions were built nearby.

In 1925 a primary school was opened in the Presbyterian church, and moved to permanent premises the next year. In 1948 the school's attendance was boosted by children from the Watsonia Army Barracks whose parents had moved there from the postwar Army buildings in Royal Park (Camp Pell). A high school was opened in 1954 and a technical school in 1960. The technical school, on Kingsbury Drive, became LaTrobe Secondary College in 2012.

All of the Mont Park, Macleod Repatriation, Plenty Hospital and Grasswell Sanatorium facilities were in the Macleod post code area. All were decommissioned in the 1990s and 2000s. Several Mont Park buildings are heritage listed and Grasswell Hill and forest wildlife reserve remain as open space around new housing. To the south of Mont Park in the area known as Mont Park West there is a subdivision with streets named after World War I Victoria Cross winners. There is an avenue of honour in Cherry Street. Near the railway station there are a community centre, two parks, the high school (Macleod college 571 pupils, 2014) and a shopping centre. The Strathellen Baptist Homes in Macleod are named after the estate of which part was sold by Malcolm Macleod.

Macleod’s census populations have been: