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Carrum

(3197, 32 km SE, Kingston City)

The name Carrum was originally used by Europeans to describe all of the swampy land and coastal ridges on Port Phillip Bay between Mordialloc and Frankston. The word is thought to be an adaptation of Karrum Karrum, an Aboriginal term for boomerang. Coastal allotments were sold in the 1860s with sales extending inland to the swamp in the 1870s. The railway station opened in 1882. However, apart from some local farmers, fishermen and hotel-keepers, there were few permanent residents until the early 20th century when it became popular as a beach resort. In the 1920s and 1930s permanent residents, who used the train to commute to work, followed the holiday-makers who had built shacks and cabins near the foreshore in earlier decades.

Jill Barnard