(3916, 75 km S, Mornington Peninsula Shire)
Alfred Meyrick and his cousin Henry took up the Coolart and Balnarring cattle stations on the shores of Western Port in 1840. In 1841 a surveyor misspelled their name when indicating the position of Callert Merricks Cattle Station. In the 1860s selectors introduced orchards, cattle and sheep to the district and a village was surveyed in 1870. However, there was little development until the opening of a railway station on the Bittern-Red Hill line in 1921. Merricks Beach began to gain popularity as a beach resort in the 1930s. Though thoroughbred horse and cattle studs still exist in the district, Merricks is now well known as a wine-growing centre.