Mooroolbark, VIC 3138

Mooroolbark feels like a place where life slows down a little. I love its leafy streets, friendly neighbours, good private schools, low crime, lovely scenery and easy access to parks and the Yarra Valley. It’s close enough to Melbourne for convenience, yet relaxed enough to feel like home every day.

The East and Greater Melbourne! Very low crime, excellent walking paths and cycle trails, lots of public transport options including Train and Buses (great Telebus service). Open unchaperoned parkland, a mix of both private and public schools, zero tolerance for drugs, lovely township shopping, huge investment by both federal and state, large number of homeowners. Very little Public or Social housing. Attractions include the Yarra Valley, Yarra River and Mt Dandenong Ranges in close proximity.

I've lived in Mooroolbark for approximately 10 years now , and I have to say that I've loved every minute of it.
There certainly are areas that need some work , but there are also incredibly beautiful streets lined with greenery and nice houses. Some examples of which include Kirkford drive, Great Oak court, Partridge way, Hilledge lane, Drummer Hill lane , High Tor and Hayrick lane (and many more ). These streets tend to come at a premium compared to the median house price of the suburb but are definitely worth it due to their peaceful nature.
Even so investing in this area is typically worth it due to the regions rapid gentrification and increasing house prices.

Mooroolbark itself is also in close proximity to some really stellar schools in neighbouring suburbs such as Oxley and Luther which is great for families.

Look around outside the suburb, it's calm isn't it!

Bought a place in Mooroolbark two years ago as I was working as a Senior Project Engineer while they were doing upgrades in the area. Mooroolbark is a scum hole of a place to live. Graffiti, hoons, bogans, junkies and high crime rate. Nothing around, and the internet is terrible!

Now that the construction project I was assigned to has come to a conclusion I have sold my place on Cambridge Road and now purchased another property in Prahran where I have always lived prior to the works in Mooroolbark and boy can I tell you does it feel good to be back and away from the scum of Mooroolbark!

Pros: Great value, Green neighbourhoods, Schooling options
Cons: Mooroolbark Terrace, Development projects and the erection of units

Some of the reviews here probably aren't entirely representative of Mooroolbark given the community is changing. This is an area of growth (massive price increases over the last couple years) with a lot of new people arriving. There are still many established households that have been here for a long time.

Property: Most of the long term established people a beginning to realise how much their property has gone up in value and are cashing out given they don’t like the change (read medium density development). There is quite a lot of ‘mum and dad’ developers buying the full blocks, chopping up the land and reselling the original house (with half the land) for the same price. This makes it difficult for new starters wanting a house on a full block.

Schools: Mooroolbark has a number of primary schools and enables a lot of choice. Make sure you look around though as some of these schools are small and might be limiting for your child. There tends to be few high schools in the area and tend to be large in student enrolments – not a negative or positive necessarily as it depends on your child’s learning style.

Greenspace: Lots of it and is the biggest selling point that you discuss with your friends at BBQ’s without starting a debate. Close to the yarra valley and Dandenong ranges.

Night life: There isn’t much of a night life. Restaurants are reasonably busy of an evening along brice ave and Manchester rd but once dinner is done the it’s pretty quiet. I have never had a problem walking around at day or night and don’t feel any more/less unsafe then other areas around Melbourne.

Crime: Let’s not be ignorant here; there is undesirable activity happening in Mooroolbark just like there is anywhere else. Being connected to the local emergency services I get to witness first hand a lot of it. However, my experience and the crimes stats indicate that Mooroolbark is fairly normal.

Transport: Generally it’s the lilydale line (train) for city commuters and mostly driving. I personally found this difficult when I first moved to Mooroolbark. Majority people exclusively drive their car. The yarra ranges council suck at infrastructure for walking and riding bikes. Take the development at the “five ways” roundabouts for example – 50ish townhouses are built along Manchester Road increasing the density and Yarra Ranges allows the pedestrian crossing to be REMOVED crossing Manchester road. Not a lot of logic there. Let’s Hope when Hungry Jacks is built at the five ways (soon), more consideration will be taken regarding this. The Manchester rd railway crossing is on the state government’s to-be-removed list but will not happen not for a while yet. At this stage there is not enough parking at the train station for train commuters. Naturally the community has improvised and overload the reserve opposite Hookey Park everyday.

Mooroolbark terrace: on Brice ave/Bathurst st/Charles st is a sad old shopping centre that has needed to be scrapped years ago. Thankfully change is in the air as most of the shops are empty making way for development. Rumours suggest that a large number of apartments on top of a new shopping centre will be built – I would speculate that Woolworths would be behind such a project.
Coles: are always busy most of the time like most suburban areas. The area is starting to connect well with the red earth community centre, cafes, Library, brice st shops and train/bus station.
Chirnside park shopping centre: although not Mooroolbark, it services the area. Currently in the planning stage for a multimillion dollar upgrade.
Croydon: also not Mooroolbark but has most things you need close by.
Food: Locals will understand this – pizza or pizza or pizza or fish and chips or fish and chips or fish and chips or fish and chips, indian, thai, kebab, maccers, kfc. Basically there is not a lot of variety.

Work: Next to nobody works in Mooroolbark as there is little industry. It’s a mobile workforce where most people must commute (drive/train) out of Mooroolbark everyday to get to work. Take a look at the census data that backs this up.

These reviews are always interesting to see what people think, and you can see it tends to be divided to extremes– die hard passionate defending their decision to live here or complete negative who can’t see a single positive at all. Mooroolbark fits in the middle. You might be reading this because you want to move to the area because you can no longer afford to buy into a closer suburb. I was the same a number of years ago and don’t regret it. Mooroolbark is not amazing and but terrible either. The area is changing for the better.

It really has become a suburb to be proud of. Conveniences that are easy to find, with all the major stores within 10-15 minutes by car or public transport. It costs so much to get into the area now but I guess you get what you pay for. I've travelled the world and have lived in a number of other suburbs both in Victoria and interstate. Many of the places I have lived are very close to the city and with that is also that city vibe and also the trouble that comes with that. But Mooroolbark is a lively town during the day with friendly people but at night its quiet and the shops are mostly closed. What I do hate is that there are so many older people moving on or scaling down, leaving houses with large parcels of land and because of this, unfortunately, there are greedy developers that have nothing to do with the area and want to line their pockets are carving up the neighbourhood, extremely rude actually. Also Yarra Ranges Council should start restricting these types of developments and start mixing up the suburb with some bigger homes, some two stories and some five bedroom single story houses, it's time for some diversity now! There's been enough apartments built and dual occupancies are now a bit overkill. So that change would be nice to see.

Regarding Mooroolbark, here are some things that others haven't touched on. Proximity to Eastland Ringwood only three train stops away, Go Carting, Ten pin bowling, great sports facilities and plenty of open spaces, some of the best private schools are accessible via the train line as well as a number of private schools in the area, Train to Puff and Billy via Ringwood, and in the other direction direct access to the Warburton Trail (awesome bike ride), the Yarra Valley. Mooroolbark is really in the centre of everything, via the Eastlink which is only 10-15 min away. Whether it's to the Coast or the Bush or City vibe, Mooroolbark is within reach of all of these without too many delays, the Dandenong Ranges, and all the tourist hubs that are only a stones throw away.

The things that would be nice to see is the Brushy Creek running free again and like others have said the Terrace Shopping Centre in Brice Ave needs to be demolished and a Woolworths with fuel or a mixture of shops there in its place, the Terrace is dead and old and overdue for a revamp, I don't know how people make a living in that place actually.

That said there's plenty of things to do otherwise if you're into physical activity. Mooroolbark has a long history and I would say Mooroolbark is part rural, part suburbia, and also unique and quiet but has plenty of things to see, I've been here over 20 years and still finding unique places around Mooroolbark. Yes, all-in-all and very good suburb that is under appreciated by some locals and overlooked by good people looking for other good people. Great place to live, period! I just wish there'd be a few more younger people have a go at building new homes that make a bit of a statement. Venture out to some places like Greenvale and the house cost for a small piece of land is when compared to Mooroolbark, I just don't understand why a 864 Square Meter block doesn't appeal to a young family wanting to demolish and rebuild a newer home? But I guess it's easier to see something built than envisage a final investment opportunity. Finally I was on a flight from Singapore and found an Album by Barney McAll called Mooroolbark, listened to all the tracks. You can see why after his return home that he named the Album after the town. In a similar way although I've only been here for 22 years I feel that my heart is in the place.

To all the negative reviewers I say get out into the world and then you will see how incredible Mooroolbark really is. No place is perfect but if you can find peace then it's good enough.

I dont understand some of the negetive comments made.
Old railway station? Its basically brand new!
Scrubby main st? All new paving, planting, parks, updated library, new signage! Sorry, what part of that is scummy?
Nothing licensed ? Bricies pub and the Moo Bar are obviously not good enough!
Maybe these people should open their eyes and really see how lucky they are.
Honestly, i love Mooroolbark. I have one child at Mooroolbark East Prinary which is one of the best schools in the eastern suburbs and my other child is at Mooroolbark College which is wonderful. Good disapline, little bullying, extensive range of classes.
The shops, although not numerous are unique and friendly. More small town than suburbia with everything from delies to the wool shop and even a cobbler!
We are also less than 5 mins from chirnside shopping centre that has Target and Kmart
We must be the capital of eateries from restaurants to take away.
I grew up here and since have lived in 3 states and numerous suburbs and can hands on heart say that we have the best place to live.
No suburb is crime free but we are pretty low down in the crime stats.
There is always plenty of social activities too. The community centre is well run and boasts semi annual theatre productions as well as many classes and plenty for kids to do as well.
I guess some people will whinge no mater what.
My only grumble is The Terrace shopping centre which is old and tired, however i believe that it is to be fixed up soon, other than that
Complete thumbs up from me

I moved from Glenroy to Mooroolbark about 2.5yrs ago and still enjoying the location. We live in assisted housing like several other neighbours so housing/cost of living is not too important for us.
Schools are fairly good, but unfortunately there's not much else in Mooroolbark..... Cafe's & restaurants are non existent, and shops are very basic.
The open spaces & green surroundings are far better than the west.
Sharon .