Mulgrave, Victoria

Mulgrave is an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, situated 21 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. It is located within the City of Monash local government area. Mulgrave recorded a population of 19,889 at the 2021 census.

The suburb takes its name from Mulgrave Castle in the English County of North Yorkshire. Sir George Phipps, the Earl of Mulgrave in the Peerage of Great Britain, served as the Governor of Victoria from 1879 to 1884.

The suburb in turn gave its name to the Mulgrave Freeway, which was later renamed to the Monash Freeway.^{[citation needed]}

The first settler in Mulgrave parish (a division of the County of Bourke, which covers the Melbourne urban area) was Thomas Napier, in 1839. He was a Scottish builder who first reached the Colony of Victoria in the mid-1830s. Napier settled on the banks of Dandenong Creek and built his homestead in the Bushy Park Wetlands, in what is now Jells Park. None of the original homesteads remain, though some were demolished as late as the latter part of the 20th century. Remains of some homesteads were uncovered during the construction of the EastLink Tollway, temporarily halting work while they were archaeologically examined.

The first Mulgrave Post Office opened on 1 January 1869 but was renamed Wheelers Hill in 1888. In 1904, a second Mulgrave Post Office opened but closed again in 1956. The third Mulgrave Post Office opened in 1967 and closed in 1978. Meanwhile, a Mulgrave North (later Brandon Park) office opened in 1971, and a Mulgrave East (later Waverley Gardens) office opened in 1978.

On 19 January 1857, the Oakleigh & Mulgrave Road District (an early form of local government in Victoria) was proclaimed, covering the same area as that covered by the parishes of Oakleigh and Mulgrave. On 1 December 1871, the road district was redesignated as a shire and renamed Shire of Oakleigh. On 13 March 1891, the Borough of Oakleigh was created by excising part of Oakleigh Shire, and, in 1897, Oakleigh Shire was renamed as Mulgrave Shire.

Throughout its history, Mulgrave has been plagued by the shifting of its borders and the reduction of its total size. Its borders remained relatively unchanged until 1949 when land was transferred from Mulgrave Shire to Oakleigh City. This occurred again a decade later with the Shire of Mulgrave reduced to 23 square miles (60 km²). As a part of the changes, offices for the Shire were opened in present-day Notting Hill.

The end of Mulgrave Shire as a name occurred in April 1961, when it was proclaimed a city but renamed as Waverley. The name nonetheless continues in use as the name of the suburb and of the parish.