The area of Malvern was first settled by Europeans in 1835. John Gardiner was one of the first Europeans to make his home there.[3] A small hamlet known as "Gardiners Creek" (1851 Melbourne Postal Directory) was established, but it diminished with the gold rush. The nearby creek was also named Gardiners Creek. Gardiners Creek Road (now Toorak Road) ran from South Yarra, east to the junction of Gardiners Creek and onto the Gardiner Homestead, which is now the site of Scotch College.
Malvern Post Office opened on 1 January 1860 on Glenferrie Road, near Malvern Road. In 1892 this was renamed Malvern North when a new Malvern office on Glenferrie Road, near Wattletree Road, replaced the Malvern railway station office.[4]
The then shire hall (later town hall) was built in 1886, on the corner of Glenferrie Road and High Street and later extended.
Malvern is the original home of Malvern Star, once Australia's largest and most well-known bicycle manufacturer.[5]
Attractions
The main shopping attraction is Malvern Central, home to David Jones, Woolworths and BWS as well as forty other stores, mostly fashion stores like Cotton On Kids. Glenferrie Road is also Malvern's main shopping attraction, which has shops as well as a wide variety of restaurants and boutiques.
There are several Victorian parks and gardens in Malvern, including Malvern Gardens, in Spring Road. This park has a beautiful fountain which was built on the site of a natural spring. The water used to flow naturally, but as the land was developed, the water feeding the spring was interrupted, and the fountain is now run by electricity.
The Malvern Town Hall, in the Second Empire style, is where the Stonnington City Council meets and is opposite the corporate headquarters known as the Stonnington City Centre, which is also home to the Malvern Police Station and the Stonnington Council.
Other significant buildings include St Joseph's Parish Church (Roman Catholic) and De La Salle College tower building. There is also an Anglican parish church dedicated to St George and the Malvern Presbyterian Church.
The Malvern Police Station is located at 288 Glenferrie Road opposite the new Stonnington council building and next to the town hall. Malvern Police Station was the first Station in the state to receive the new Ford Ranger Divisional Van. Malvern Police Station is also home to Protective Service Officers with the Transit Division.
Harold Holt – 17th Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 to 1967 and the namesake of the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre, a swimming pool complex in neighbouring Glen Iris.
Mack Horton – Australian Swimming Champion. 2016 Rio Olympics 400m Gold Medalist, 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 400m Gold Medalist, 2017 Recipient of The Order of Australia Medal.
Ian McLaren - politician, businessman and historian
Sir Robert Menzies – former Prime Minister of Australia, lived in Haverbrack Avenue, Malvern and has been commemorated in the naming of the Robert Menzies Reserve, bounded by Elizabeth Street, Henderson Avenue and Toorak Road in Malvern.
Hubert Opperman – cyclist and politician, who was once employed by Malvern Star Cycles, a tiny cycle shop in Malvern.