Whittlesea, Victoria

Whittlesea is a town in Victoria, Australia, 40km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Whittlesea. At the, Whittlesea had a population of 5,611.HistoryThe Post Office opened on 1 September 1853 as Plenty and was renamed Whittlesea in 1864. The town may have been named after Whittlesey, in England. A school opened in a single stone building in 1878 and is to this day the home to Whittlesea Primary School.The railway to Whittlesea was opened on 23 December 1889 as an extension to what is now the South Morang line, and closed in December 1959.When the original railway was in operation Whittlesea had a large logging trade, taking the timber from Kinglake, Whittlesea region toward greater Melbourne for milling. There were later two saw mills in operation. At its timber producing peak Whittlesea had several pubs to help house the temporary timber workers.On 7 February 2009 and subsequent days thereafter, Whittlesea acted as a focal point of for firefighting and relief efforts during the Black Saturday bushfires. In a firefighting context Whittlesea Fire Station and its members play an important role in managing firefighting operations around the Mount Disappointment and Kinglake areas. The township also acted as a focal point for relief efforts, attracting support from the larger Victorian and Australian communities.