Narre Warren

About 38km south-east of the heart of Melbourne, Narre Warren is now part of the City of Casey which was formed in 1994 in a major reshuffle of the metropolitan local government areas. Along with the sister Princes Highway town of Berwick, Narre Warren was among a cluster of rural communities which served early travellers to the Gippsland region. They are all now part of one of the fastest growing residential and commercial areas in the greater Melbourne region - a municipality stretching from the Dandenong Ranges to the shores of Western Port, with a broad, ethnically-based population of 183,00, which is expected to peak at around 300,000 in the first quarter of the 21st century. Narre Warren also has considerable historic significance because the township embraces the site of Victoria's first Aboriginal Protectorate Station. Although the first settlers were mainly pastoralists, the districts heavy black soil was particularly suited to potatoes and grain and the state's oldest agricultural collective, the Port Phillip Farmers' Society was established in the region in 1848. The Narre Warren-based Westfield shopping town, Fountain Gate, has recently been extended to include a David Jones department store and a multi-screen, Village Cinema complex.