VICFarming
Cranbourne
An inn on the Gippsland track, briefly famous for iron from the sky.
1856Township surveyed on the Mayune run
WHAT STARTED IT
Cranbourne grew around an inn on the early track from Melbourne into South Gippsland, in open grazing country held as the Mayune run. It became the market town linking settlers across the Western Port district with Melbourne.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Selectors broke up the big runs from the 1860s, and the shire, racecourse and farmers’ society made the town a district centre. The railway arrived in 1888 but drew cattle sales away to Dandenong, and Cranbourne stayed a small dairying and racing town until suburban housing spread in the late 1970s.
TURNING POINTS
1856A township is surveyed on the Mayune run, where the track into South Gippsland passed.
1861Huge masses of meteoric iron found near Cranbourne are reported; the largest later goes to the British Museum.
1868The Shire of Cranbourne is proclaimed.
1888The Great Southern Railway from Dandenong reaches the outskirts of the township.
1986Suburban growth lifts Cranbourne’s population from 1800 in 1976 to more than 14,000.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A fast-growing outer suburb in the City of Casey, with High Street (the South Gippsland Highway) still its shopping spine. The racecourse and an annexe of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens devoted to Australian plants lie on its southern side.