Clayton South, Victoria

Clayton South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Kingston. At the 2011 Census, Clayton South had a population of 11,625.The suburb sometimes goes by the name Westall, due to the name of the main road and the railway station that serve the area. Westall is not, however, an official name, and all post addressed to the area is addressed to Clayton South.HistorySettlement of the area dates from the mid 1800s, with land used mainly for farming and market gardening.The area was once coastal heathland and first occupied by John O'Shannessy during the early 1840s, who took a squatting licence to encompass a 40,000-acre (160 km2) block, around suburbs known today as Clarinda, Clayton South, Dingley and Heatherton. O’Shannessy later passed on his licence to John and Richard King, in 1846, which saw the transformation of the area. Some growth took place during the late 1800s and early 1900s.The area was also used for market gardening, although there was a considerable amount of swampy or unimproved land when the Forest Hill Golf Club acquired an area for its Spring Valley golf course in 1948. The golf course is one of several in the sand belt country, extending from Huntingdale to Dingley Village. Residential settlement and industrial growth began during the late 1950s. Notable developments were the Volkswagen assembly plant adjoining the Westall railway station, and cable-making and bakery establishments. The Clayton South primary school had been opened in 1929 for the farming community, but the postwar residential growth required the opening of Westall primary and high schools in 1961 and 1963.