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Produced and published by the School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
Published July 2008
Published July 2008
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(3926, 63 km S, Mornington Peninsula Shire)
Balnarring and Balnarring Beach are located on the Western-port side of the Mornington Peninsula. The Meyricks brothers used the name, taken from Aboriginal words meaning gumtree and little, for their pastoral station established in 1840. When the Parish of Balnarring was surveyed in 1865, provision was made for a township called Balnarring at what is now Point Leo. As selectors moved to small holdings in the late 1860s, a general store and hotel opened at the junction of three major Peninsula tracks, the Frankston-Flinders, Balnarring and Sandy Point roads, and the developing village became Balnarring. A horseracing club was formed in 1863, its racecourse, Emu Plains, being formally reserved in 1878. Balnarring Beach township, then called Tulum, was gazetted in 1886. It began to attract campers in the 1920s when the newly formed Harley Davidson Motor Cycle Club began meeting there. Increasingly popular as a holiday spot after World War II, Balnarring's permanent population began to rise after the Western Port Regional Planning Authority and the Shire of Hastings zoned it as an area of residential growth. Several vineyards are located in the district, which still contains significant areas of agricultural land and open space. The historic Warrawee Homestead now operates as a restaurant and guesthouse.