Enchanting Elsternwick

Elsternwick is an old well-established suburb in South Eastern Melbourne with a strong European influence. Elsternwick previously known as Red Bluff is just a 30-minute drive or 9 kilometres from the Central Business District. It earned its name from the largest property in the district: Charles Ebden’s house Elster (Elster meaning Magpie in German and the Anglo-Saxon suffix “wick” meaning village). The area was a popular re-settlement suburb for post war migrants from Eastern Europe and this is reflected in the number of synagogues and Jewish community centres in the surrounding suburbs.

Apart from being 9 kilometres from the Central Business District, it is also only 2 kilometres away from the beach. The suburb is ideal for school-aged children with the schools, sports clubs and public transport within easy reach and for the older generation with its easy access to shopping centres, healthcare facilities and chemists.

Elsternwick’s past

Elsternwick is home to numerous cafés, restaurants and bars, as well as one of Melbourne’s oldest and most beloved cinemas, the Classic Cinema. The building was built in 1889 and opened as a theatre in 1911. It has been an important part of the Elsternwick community for over a century. It hosts the Jewish film festival every year catering to the large Jewish community in this suburb. Glen Huntly Road is where you’ll find numerous Jewish food outlets, such as delis and bakeries, as well as restaurants, clothing and homewares shops.

The Elsternwick Cricket Club was founded in August 1901. The Elsternwick Main Oval, now known as Sportscover Arena or Elsternwick Park, was established shortly after the club’s foundation. The ‘Wickas’, as the club is affectionately known, plays in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association.

The ABC studios built during the 1950s were located on Gordon Street, Elsternwick but was decommissioned in 2017. Many programs were filmed and produced in the studios, such as Countdown, Recovery and Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight.

Today, it offers a mix of world-class restaurants and bars, leafy parks and quality schools. Elsternwick also boasts an enviable blend of period architecture including Edwardian and Victorian houses, and many prestigious modern developments.

The Elsternwick railway station, located on the Sandringham Line opened on 19 December 1859 was originally part of the Melbourne and Hobson’s Bay United Railway Company’s network which was taken over by the Victorian Government in 1879 and became part of the Victorian Railways. The station also functioned in the 1880s as the eastern end of the cross-suburban Rosstown Railway, built by William Murray Ross to serve the sugar beet processing mill. The station was upgraded in November 1995 and refurbished in 2004 to include a multi-storey car park with a lift.

Buses also ply from Elsternwick to Fisherman’s Bend, Chadstone Shopping Centre, Clifton Hill and Carnegie.

Moving around in this culturally rich suburb is relatively easy with its access to public transport but relocating can be a little more of a hassle. With SmartBox, you can alleviate the stress by just calling us to pick up and store your goods. All you need to do is stack the mobile storage unit with your household effects and lock it up. We will collect it and store it for you until you call for it again.