Doncaster, Victoria
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{{City of Manningham suburbs}}
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Doncaster (postcode: 3108) is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the local municipality of the City of Manningham. Image:Doncastertower.JPG Doncaster is a suburb centred around Doncaster Hill, which is 12km east from the Melbourne central business district. The border of the suburb follows the Koonung Creek from Doncaster Road, along the south of the suburb to Wetherby Road, Wetherby Rd & Victoria St form the eastern border and the northern border follows Ruffey Creek, Williamsons Road, Manningham Rd and Ayr Street to the junction of the Koonung Creek and Doncaster Road.
The major east-west road (Doncaster Road) leads from Kew to Donvale. The Eastern Freeway terminated at Doncaster Road at the western edge of the suburb from its construction in the 1970s until December 1997. During this period the road carried 60,000 vehicles a day as a major arterial road. Since the Freeway was extended along the course of the Koonung Creek Doncaster's through-traffic has dropped considerably.
The region was settled in the 1860s and 1870s by a few orchardists. In the 1880s an observation tower (285 ft high) was constructed on Doncaster Hill, which attracted day-trippers to (what was then) the countryside.
Doncaster was the location of the first tram to run in Melbourne in 1889. The tram started in Doncaster and ended in Box Hill (Approx 3.5km away). However, the service didn't gain any profit, so the service ended in 1896 due to feuds with land holders and financial problems. more information can be found at Tram Way Society Site
The majority of houses in the suburb were built from the 1950s to the 1980s. In 1969 the first large shopping centre was built in Melbourne at the corner of Doncaster and Tram Roads. Westfield Doncaster (also known as Shoppingtown) has expanded several times since and still serves as the largest shopping centre in the City of Manningham.