Population 1,466 (2011 census) State electorate(s) Narracan Postal code 3814 Lga Shire of Cardinia | Postcode(s) 3814 Garfield Bunyip Local time Saturday 4:16 AM Federal division Division of McMillan | |
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Location 69 km (43 mi) SE of Melbourne
21 km (13 mi) E of Drouin
7 km (4 mi) E of Bunyip Weather 16°C, Wind W at 2 km/h, 77% Humidity | ||
Garfield is a town in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, 69 km south-east of the Melbourne central business district. Its local government area is the Shire of Cardinia. At the 2011 Census, Garfield had a population of 1,466.
Contents
Map of Garfield VIC 3814, Australia
History
The area was originally called Cannibal Creek, but was renamed to Garfield in memory of the USA President James Garfield.
The Post Office opened as Cannibal Creek on 1 May 1886 and was renamed Garfield in 1887.
Garfield filmed
In the late 1980s the appearance of the town was transformed for the cameras to look like the 1960s in a television miniseries on aboriginal boxer, Lionel Rose, who was raised in the region in Jacksons Track, near Drouin. Some shop fronts were restored and the main street of the town was filled with old cars to recreate the era.
Garfield today
Since the beginnings as a railway and timber town, and later a dairy and potato farming and orchard area, Garfield has always been a close community, with almost everybody knowing everyone else, and in some cases four generations of family staying in the (mainly), farming area. Recent growth has seen a doubling of residential building and the (2006), upgrading of the railway line from Melbourne to Traralgon with increases in frequency of services by upgraded modern trains, is an attraction to new residents. A housing development, nearing completion in 2007, is for over-55s in a secure environment. Previously derelict shops on the main street are now reoccupied.
Garfield has a small primary school with approximately 190 students. There is a church at the top end of the schoolgrounds. Local businesses include a milk bar, a newsagency, ANZ bank, pub, gift shops, and a bed and breakfast.
The town has an Australian Rules football team playing in the Ellinbank and District Football League. Garfield has an undulating golf course on Thirteen Mile Road run by the Garfield Golf Club. A community swimming pool operates in the summer months within the recreation precinct where there is also the lawn bowling club, netball and tennis courts, skateboarding site, along with the newly regenerated football oval beside which is the community hall and children's playground which local groups use for a variety of functions. Garfield's picture theatre, although long closed, is being restored for future multi-entertainment uses, and stands as a landmark in the town. A newsagency and a post office operating six days a week, a bakery outlet, a milkbar and take-away shop, a combined-churches charity shop, an Equestrian outfitters, a pet shop, a gift shop, a Ned Kelly memorabilia shop, an automotive garage, a chemist, butcher, and a full-time ANZ Bank branch operating out of the newsagency, a unisex hairdresser, plus the "Iona Hotel" (now known as the "Garfield Hotel") make up the occupants on the main street which runs parallel with the railway that dissects the town with the station at its centre. A local architectural engineering firm has been operational since the 1950s. The farming land nearby has an influx of horse owners in recent years and the Pakenham Racecourse will soon begin construction on a $35 million racing complex in the area.