Cockatoo, Victoria

Cockatoo is a town in Victoria, Australia, 48 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Cardinia local government area. Cockatoo recorded a population of 4,256 at the 2016 Census.Cockatoo is named after Cockatoo Creek, which runs through the town, and which the town was previously named.HistoryCockatoo was named after Cockatoo Creek. It was first settled in the 1870s but progress was tardy as the land was difficult to clear.A Post Office was not opened until 1 November 1901 when the railway arrived and was known as Cockatoo Creek until 1917.Shortly after the end of the World War I, a large number of immigrants went to live in Cockatoo while working in Melbourne. The most significant wave was made by Italians. Timbergetting was the major source of employment and this industry received a considerable boost when the narrow-gauge railway from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook was completed in 1900. Moreover, the railway brought leisure-seeking Melburnians into the area and a market for subdivision arose. The railway is operated today as the Puffing Billy Railway.Cockatoo is best known as one of the worst-hit townships during the disastrous 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires, where over 300 buildings were destroyed and 6 lives lost.