Wesburn

Wesburn, a rural township between Yarra Junction and Warburton, is 62 km east of Melbourne.

In 1894, after passing the Village Settlement Act two years before, the State Government subdivided 325 hectares of land along the Warburton Road into about 40 farm lots. It was named the Warburton Village Settlement, later West Warburton and finally Wesburn (1925), an abbreviation of the previous name.

The railway line from Lilydale to Warburton opened in 1901, but ran north of the village settlement. A school was opened in 1904.

Wesburn is situated on relatively undulating land, with forested ranges immediately eastwards. During the 1920s it combined farming with tourist/excursionist accommodation, having about 12 boarding and guest houses. Motor car transport was supplanting rail passenger service during that period. Wesburn Park included a racecourse (which held races until 1963), and the road from the railway station took visitors to the hotel and the Wesburn Hall.

Upwards of twenty sawmills operated in the Wesburn area since the first one had opened in 1903. (The two remaining mills are at Britannia Creek).

Wesburn is within easy commuting distance of Lilydale and Warburton, and is nearly contiguous with Millgrove. Wesburn Park has an oval and other sports facilities along with the hall, and the township has a church, a hotel and shops. There are numerous walking tacks east of the town and along the former railway line.

A former poultry farm on 7 hectares in Old Warburton Road, Wesburn, was transformed by the community into an environment park. The Wesburn primary school had 100 pupils in 2014.

Wesburn’s census populations have been:

At the 2011 census, technicians, trades workers and labourers comprised 35.8% of the workforce, compared with 25% for Australia.