Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia

🇦🇺 Moonee Ponds is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Moonee Ponds is home to Queens Park and the Moonee Valley Racecourse.

History Moonee Ponds probably derives from a local aboriginal world meaning 'small flats', and was in reference to Mone Mone Creek. The area was part of the Essendon district - later City of Essendon - and was largely developed from the late 1800s. Mount Alexander Road led to the goldfields near Mt Alexander, and became a major commercial thoroughfare. The Moonee Ponds Junction includes the Clocktower Centre, formerly used as the Essendon Town Hall and council chambers. Puckle Street was developed in the 1890s, with the first Ferguson Plarre Bakery located on the street. Queen's Park was the site of where Burke and Wills camped in 1860 on their expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Planting of most of the trees and landscaping of the gardens and lake began in the 1880s.

Demographics In Moonee Ponds 69.9% of people were born in Australia. The other most common countries of birth were Italy 5.4%, India 2.6%, England 2.3%, Greece 1.5%, and New Zealand 1.5%. 70.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 8.8%, Greek 3.6%, Cantonese 1.0%, Spanish 0.9% and Mandarin 0.9%.

Sport Essendon Royals Soccer Club is located in Moonee Ponds and plays in the Victorian State League.

The suburb has an Australian rules football team, Maribyrnong Park playing in the Essendon District Football League, and another, Moonee Valley Football Club, based at Ormond Park competing in the same league. Moonee Valley Cricket Club also located at Ormond Park competes in the VTCA.

Transport Moonee Ponds station is located at the western end of Puckle Street, on the Craigieburn railway line. Bus route 467 runs from the station to Aberfeldie. For details of other tram/bus routes see Moonee Ponds Junction which is located at the eastern end of Puckle Street.

The Maribyrnong River Trail and Moonee Ponds Creek Trail are cycling tracks in and around Moonee Ponds.

Attractions The Clocktower Centre was originally constructed as the Essendon Mechanics' Institute, which the State of Victoria later purchased to become the Essendon Town Hall. Today it is primarily used as a large theatre. As well as serving for some international, interstate and local functions, the centre has a number of conference rooms. It is named after its prominent clock tower. The clocktower is often used every 2 years by St Monica's Primary School. - (20 Robinson Street)

Moonee Ponds Junction is the centre of the suburb, with buses, trams and trains all converging in the area. The Clocktower Centre is nearby.

Puckle Street is the main shopping street with many shops and cafes along its length. At its eastern end is Moonee Ponds Junction and at its western end is Moonee Ponds train station.

The Moonee Valley Racecourse is one of Melbourne's four horse racing tracks.

Moonee Ponds Central Shopping Centre has many stores including Kmart, Aldi, The Coffee Club, Man to Man, EB Games, Smiggle and Moonee Ponds Sewing.

Moonee Ponds offers an array of delights that span across continents. Most notable among these are Luke’s Vietnamese, Carosello, Marcelleria, Saros Bar & Dining and Chiba. Plus Grill'd, KFC, and GYG (Guzman y Gomez).

There is a range of allied health professions in the Moonee Ponds area, including acupuncture and Chinese medicine at Qi Medicine Acupuncture Melbourne, physiotherapy at Platform 7 Physiotherapy, optometry at Specsavers Moonee Ponds and osteopathy at Beyond Fitness Health.