Blairgowrie

Blairgowrie is a residential suburb and beach resort on the Mornington Peninsula, 64 km south of central Melbourne. Situated between Rye and Sorrento, Blairgowrie has beaches on Port Phillip Bay and on Bass Strait, although the latter includes several rocky headlands.

In common with Rye and Sorrento, Blairgowrie was the site of lime production for the Melbourne building trade from the 1850s. Locally extracted lime was burnt and transported across the bay.

During the 1860s, Charles Duffy, a parliamentarian with Irish forebears, built a holiday house at Sorrento. In 1872 another parliamentarian of Irish background, Michael O'Grady, built a holiday house at Sorrento east (now Blairgowrie). O'Grady's house, built of local limestone masonry in an Italianate design, was acquired by Dr John Blair in 1876 and named Blairgowrie. There was a succession of owners, and during the 1920s-40s Blairgowrie house hosted elegant gatherings before conversion to a guest house.

Until the 1940s Sorrento east's other properties were mainly a few farms, an abattoirs and a store. There were some early postwar subdivisions and in 1947 the name Blairgowrie was given to the local post office. In 1952 the Blairgowrie yacht squadron was formed by a breakaway group from the Sorrento yacht club, and the growth of the club and its facilities put Blairgowrie on the map.

Blairgowrie has a small shopping centre, a community centre, a Uniting church, a motel, a caravan park, a sports reserve, some foreshore camping and a jetty near the yacht club.

Blairgowrie House is listed on the Australian and Victorian historic buildings register.

There is a foreshore reserve along the bay and a wide reserve, part of the Mornington Peninsula State park, running from Point Nepean to Cape Schanck on the back beach.

Blairgowrie's census populations have been: