Seville

Seville is a township in the Yarra Ranges, 44 km east of Melbourne, and was the third station on the former Lilydale to Warburton railway line.

European settlers in the Seville district came in the 1860s, and by the end of the 1870s there was a general store and post office. Originally named Redlands, a change of name to Seville was proclaimed in 1886, after the deceased daughter of a resident, William Smith. In the same year the Anglican church was opened and in the year following the Methodist church and the primary school. A cricket club was formed in 1890. In 1903 the Australian handbook described Seville:

In 1901 the railway from Lilydale to Warburton was opened. In addition to carrying produce and passengers the railway carried firewood to metropolitan Melbourne until 1950. Seville's main crops came from orchards and berry farms, and fruit remains a significant part of local production. There are several wineries.

A mechanics' institute was opened in 1913. In the postwar years an infant welfare centre was opened in 1952 and a memorial swimming pool in 1956. The closure of the railway in 1964 came after the decline of firewood harvesting and the greater availability of road transport.

The township has a strip shopping centre along the Warburton Highway and a large reserve with two ovals and other sporting facilities. The Wandin Yallock Creek runs through the reserve. Nearby is Seville East, with a progress hall and two reserves. The Seville East Vineyard was opened in 1972. A new Seville Town Centre with multiple commercial tenancies was established in 2010.

Seville primary school had 112 pupils in 2014.

The census populations of Seville and Seville East have been:

census date population
  Seville Seville East
1911 312 -
1921 435 -
1947 474 -
1954 438 124
1961 538 180
1991 2459 -
2001 - 610
2006 2077 621
2011 2370 674

Further Reading

Trevor Jones, Seville, the vision and the reality: 100 years 1886-1986, Seville, Seville Centenary Committee, c1986

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