Viewbank

Heidelberg is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km north-east of Melbourne’s central business district. Its local government area is the City of Banyule. In 2016, Heidelberg had a population of 6,225.The population of Heidelberg Municipality (before the severances in the 1960s) was 8,610 (1911), 34,401 (1947, excluding Greensborough), and 60,007 (1961). The population in 1991 was 60,468. On 15 December 1994 most of Heidelberg City was united with part of Eltham Shire to form Banyule City.

Evidence of Heidelberg’s long history and early settlement can be found throughout the Municipality. The cemetery on Upper Heidelberg Road contains some of the oldest graves in Victoria. The Heidelberg Old Cemetery, the size of a house block near the corner of St James Road and Hawdon Street, contains graves dating to 1852. Heidelberg Primary School opened in 1854, Banyule Homestead was built in 1846, St John’s Anglican Church was built in 1849 and the Old England Hotel on Lower Heidelberg Road first opened its doors in 1848. All of these buildings still stand today.

The Heidelberg Shopping Centre, known as “Burgundy Street” has recently been revived. It had become rundown in the 1980s, but a new supermarket, and many trendy cafes have made the area much more liveable; as a result, house prices have increased dramatically.

“Burgundy Street” is now known as Heidelberg Central Shopping Precinct and has over 230 retail/commercial and professional businesses.

Warringal Shopping Centre (formerly known as Centro Warringal) opened in 1987. It is a compact shopping centre located on Rosanna Road, with a main entrance on Burgundy Street. The centre serves a well defined main trade area population of approximately 41,000 residents from the established suburbs of Heidelberg, Viewbank, Rosanna, Ivanhoe and Eaglemont. The opening of the Austin/Mercy Hospital has seen a shift in the demographic profile with an increase in the number of young professionals moving into the area and an increased demand for the development of multi density housing.