MOOROODUC

The early European settlers on the Moorooduc plain were woodcutters. The trees were harvested for the building of Melbourne’s homes, bridges and jetties. The timber for the early Mornington Pier came from Moorooduc.

Farming became the next activity on these plains and although the community was small, it was tightly held. The little wooden Moorooduc Church was established on Moorooduc Road (formerly Three Chain Road). It was used as a meeting place and the first school until a permanent school was built.

The Church has now been incorporated into accommodation. Two Bays Nursery and orchards on the corner of Bungower and Moorooduc Road was established by Canadian brothers and grew to become the largest in the southern hemisphere. Many of their employees volunteered for service in World War 1. Apple and pear orchards were established necessitating the building of a cool store alongside the railway line. Ballast on the Peninsula’s new railway came from the slopes of Mount Eliza.

The Moorooduc Quarry produced valuable rock for from the late 1800s until it started to wind up in the late 1940s/50s. It is now is a park.