Maryknoll, Victoria

Maryknoll is a town in Victoria, Australia, 61 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the Shire of Cardinia. At the 2011 Census, Maryknoll had a population of 546.^[1]

Maryknoll lies adjacent to Bunyip State Park, and is one of the youngest towns established in the Shire of Cardinia.

History

Father Pooley of the Catholic Church envisaged a new 600-acre (2.4 km²) religious intentional community in West Gippsland where residents could live rural lifestyles ideal for the raising of families and practice of the Catholic faith. The name Maryknoll replaced the original name of St Mary's in 1955, and the Maryknoll Post Office opened on 3 October 1955.^[2] The original settlement consisted of about 30 families.

By the mid-1980s, the Maryknoll cooperative society formally closed. This had been an economic society, not connected with the social make-up of the community. Restriction of residents to Catholics had not been implemented since the 1960s.

Father Wilfrid Pooley was a helping founder of Maryknoll. He was the leader of the community<Maryknoll:History of Catholic Rural Settlement><ibid> and lived in Maryknoll until moved to the presbytery of Iona when the two parishes were combined. He died in 1968.

Facilities

Facilities include a CFA, community hall, Catholic Church, milkbar and recreation reserve which contains Maryknoll Tennis Club and Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll Cricket Club. Numerous forested parks and walking tracks are scattered throughout the locality. Maryknoll no longer has a school, with children often commuting to Pakenham, Warragul, Drouin or other places for education. Maryknoll also has a lawn cemetery and a small pony club with twenty members attending.

Flora and fauna

Maryknoll is abundantly covered in forest, with eucalypts, wattles, banksias and sheoaks being common species. Ferns, pittosporum and introduced species can also be found, and types of rare orchids have been discovered in the area. Kangaroos, wombats and possums are very common native species, and koalas have been occasionally sighted. The area also has the occasional herd of beautiful deer, with wild herds inhabiting forests and Bunyip State Park.

References

{{http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/SSC20854?opendocument&navpos=220}}

Further reading

• Maryknoll: History of a Catholic rural settlement by Gael White (2002)

External links

Coordinates: 38°01′55″S 145°36′07″E / 38.032°S 145.602°E / -38.032; 145.602