Warrandyte: '70s charm in Melbourne's closest tree-change suburb

Warrandyte’s more recent history started in the 70s, according to Vicki Gardiner from Gardiner McInnes Estate Agents. And yes, there was cheesecloth clothing and flowers in the hair.

The suburb, just 24 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD, was colonised by artists and musicians and anyone else looking for somewhere beautiful and tree-filled to live. Of course, the Yarra River, which flows right through it, is an amazing natural drawcard.

Gardiner was one of those attracted to the village, and, yes, she admits to the cheesecloth clothing. Of course, today if you’re buying into this much-loved suburb and its strong community, your cheesecloth is possibly going to be more designer than op shop.

The cheapest house on Gardiner’s books this week is priced in the mid-$700,000s — and for that you’ll get “a home that has potential but needs a refresh” — but it’s in the prized Goldfields precinct.

One of Warrandyte’s three precincts is the Goldfields Precinct, with its supermarket, professional services, retail, the sports pavilion and primary school. This precinct is “quite keenly contested by buyers”, according to Gardiner. The areas most of us weekend visitors know are the Village Shops and the Bridge Shops, both with Yarra views and access.

Some weekend visitors decide they like the place enough to live here. “People with very young families move here from the inner suburbs because they’re looking for more space, more bedrooms,” says Gardiner. “They want their children to have an authentic experience, but they don’t want to move to a conventional eastern suburb … they want to move to something that is a little left of centre,” she explains.

So what exactly makes Warrandyte left of centre? “The population!” says Gardiner. “Lots of people came here in the ’70s, like me and my husband. It was very hippy. I had a lot of cheesecloth tops. There was a lot of development in city in the ’70s, but it was quite rustic and alternative here, but not too far out,” she says.

The ’70s vibe has remained. “We still have a lot of homes with shagpile carpet and lime green Laminex,” says Gardiner. That look is cool now, of course, and they’re still coming onto the market. “We just looked at one with a sunken lounge, open fireplaces, Daniel Robertson bricks, lots of pine lining … Sometimes we have campaigns where the home is so uniquely 1970s, so we market that. And they’re bought by people who truly have a passion for the 70s”.

Six things you didn’t know about Warrandyte

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Off peak, it takes 50 minutes to get from the Warrandyte Bridge/Yarra Street bus stop to Melbourne Central on the 906 Smartbus – “zooming” along the Eastern Freeway in the bus lane. During peak hour, buses leave every five minutes and take 80 minutes to reach the big smoke.

You can’t subdivide. Says Gardiner: “Warrandyte forms part of the green wedge, and, how ever the titles were in 1971, basically it has to stay like that.” Knock down a ’70s masterpiece and replace it with a few townhouses? Nope, not a chance. Not in Warrandyte, anyway.

Where once locals could tell the seasons by the blossoms on the trees, Warrandyte’s days as an apple-growing area are all but over.

There are 23 cafes catering for the wanderers who find themselves in Warrandyte at the weekend. Either that, or the usual population of 2,700 has a massive coffee addiction. It’s both happy-hippy-family-heaven, and happy-hipster-with-a-MacBook- heaven at not-for-profit cafe Now and Not Yet, at 148-150 Yarra Street.

There are a lot of petitions. Recent local petitions include one trying to stop a petrol station being built on Yarra Street; a call for another bridge to be built over the Yarra to avert disaster if another bushfire comes its way (it’s been through a few); a call for a 24-hour police station (but everyone seems so nice!); and one to stop a winery from building a helipad near its vines.

The best swimming spots are in the town centre; out at Jumping Creek (I misheard it as Jump In Creek, but if it’s warm, you’ll want to); Pound Bend Reserve, as well as a not-much-parking spot where Hamilton Road meets the Yarra River.