Clayton North, Victoria

Clayton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 19 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Monash. At the 2011 Census, Clayton had a population of 15,543.OverviewThe main focus for the suburb of Clayton is the shopping strip that runs along Clayton Road. The local railway station, situated at the northern end of the shopping strip bears the name Clayton railway station.DemographicsIn 2011, the population of Clayton was 15,545 and 28.1% of people were born in Australia. Other dominant groups include Chinese 17.6%, Indians 9.7%, Malaysians 5%, Greeks 3.3% and Indonesians 3.1% and the top languages spoken were English 30%, Mandarin 17.6%, Greek 6.3%, Cantonese 4.9%, Italian 3.2% and Punjabi 3%. The median age for Clayton was 27 which is 10 years younger the Australian average.HistoryThe area was first occupied for farming in the 1850s and was originally named after a property, "Clayton Vale", owned by lawyer John Hughes Clayton in the 1860s. A township was originally gazetted on Dandenong Road and in 1862 a primary school was opened at the corner of Dandenong Road and Clayton Road, to serve the whole of the Clayton district. This school changed its name to Clayton North Primary School in 1954.The construction of the railway to Dandenong and Gippsland about 1 km south of Dandenong Road in 1878 prompted the start of a second township where the line crossed Clayton Road.