I cringe when people ask where I live. But my suburb ended up proving me wrong

September 22, 2025 — 7.00pm

Opinion pieces from local writers exploring their suburb’s cliches and realities and how it has changed in the past 20 years.

Sometimes I cringe when someone asks me where I live. I’m tempted to name Berwick or Upper Beaconsfield. Both so close. Places where land values have soared way above mine. Places that, unlike my suburb, are posh. Places where renowned figures such as Lord Casey of Berwick settled. Instead, I tell the truth, and name Pakenham, with its dodgy reputation.

I had every reason to harbour hostility towards Pakenham after my first encounter with it. It was 1964 and I had been driving my trusty, green Morris Minor when it broke down in the middle of nowhere one Sunday night. As a new teacher, I was heading to Morwell, and my grade one class, after a weekend at home in Ashburton.

A minute before, the town’s fleeting lights were barely noticed as I drove through. Do you want to know that I was in my pyjamas? Embarrassing. It made sense at the time: drive to Morwell, arrive about 10pm and straight to bed. Little did I realise as I walked back to this dark, cold place that it would be my future home.

Love brought me back to Pakenham. My husband’s Eastern European parents had a small acreage property on the north side of the Princes Highway – beautiful, hilly, treed country. We bought 25 acres (about 10 hectares) adjacent to them. My in-laws lived a sustainable lifestyle in the old European tradition, living off the land and buying only staples such as flour, sugar and salt. It was eye-opening for a girl from the suburbs.

The Boon Wurrung people were the first known custodians of the area. Artefacts from 25,000 years ago have been found on Mt Shamrock, which is now a quarry, in the suburb’s north. In 1850, the Latrobe Inn (now known as Pakenham Hotel) was built next to Toomuc Creek, where a track from Melbourne crossed into Gippsland. That track is now the Princes Highway. The pub is my local; while much-changed, it retains the hotel’s original chimney breast.

In 1887, the railway arrived to the south, and in the haphazard growth that followed, we were left with a narrow Main Street, which now causes problems with traffic flow and parking. Shops and restaurants have come and gone but Pakenham Market Place, a busy, undercover retail outlet remains popular.

Some say our town centre is that of a soulless suburb, lacking a unique personality. I’d argue that the few remaining historic buildings and the remnants of its farming history give it character, if not the cultural depth of more established inner-ring suburbs.

In 2012, Pakenham, known by many locals as “Pakky”, was designated part of the Melbourne urban growth corridor and has since exploded with housing development. Tradies are ubiquitous. Its population was 7000 when I arrived 45 years ago; it’s now 55,000, making it the fourth or fifth-biggest suburb in Australia, and is predicted to hit 83,000 by 2041. You will still find small-acre hobby farms within 15 minutes of town, as well as larger beef farms, but along with the orchards, they’re rapidly being gobbled up by housing and factories.

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Social issues have bubbled away over the years, mainly petty crime. Recent incidents at the railway station, involving assaults and violence with machetes, are creating an atmosphere of fear and disorder, some residents say.

The police conduct regular patrols. Top of the offence list in Cardinia Shire is theft from motor vehicles, but the crime rate is lower than the Victorian average. Sure, we have issues like most places, but I feel the general population of Pakenham is not impacted unduly.

The stereotype that we are all bogans is annoying. If it were ever true, I don’t believe it is now. I’m proud of our town. To me, it still feels similar to the country town of old, with welcoming friendly folk. When shopping, I regularly bump into people I know, some from my years as a teacher in the area.

Our township, arguably the suburb that is furthest from CBD since becoming part of Melbourne in 2016, has blossomed into a haven for young families drawn by the cheaper land and rents. According to the most recent census, people with countries of birth other than Australia, are India (6 per cent), England (3.2 per cent) and Sri Lanka (2 per cent). We have modern sporting facilities. Cardinia Life – a leisure facility in the Lakeside precinct – has pools, basketball courts and a gym. At times, when all the vehicles overflow the car park, it seems a little too beloved.

Access to parks and bush areas with walking and cycling trails are a valued feature of Pakenham. Ollie, our dog, loves her walks along the Toomuc Valley Road trail with the smells left by horses, kangaroos and wombats, as well as other dogs. Lakes, sea and bush are all within an hour. Where I live, ten minutes from the town centre, we see kangaroos daily, occasional wombats, echidnas, deer (a feral pest), and assorted native birds and smaller animals. The kookaburras peer down from the grandkids’ basketball ring like judges passing a verdict on our misdemeanours. The magpie family, which bagged our property as theirs, sees off anyone or anything intruding on their domain, including the kookaburras. We are tolerated as the keepers of their territory. King parrots frequently fly onto our verandah to check if I’ll feed them, but I won’t.

Pakenham was the end of the Metro railway line, but that’s now the new Pakenham East station, which opened last year. The line is the city’s longest metropolitan railway track at almost 60 kilometres. The somewhat remote station is a sign of changes to come. Freeways have been a game-changer. Off-peak, we can drive to the city in under an hour. During peak hours, the Monash Freeway is a war zone, and it takes much longer.

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For many Pakenhamites, one of the highlights of the suburb is the Lakeside development, with its walking path around the beautiful man-made lake, officially named Lakeside Pakenham Lake. New broods of swans, ducks and other waterfowl emerge from the reed beds each spring. It’s even big enough for a sailing club.

Among the advantages of all the space here are the possibilities. We’re hopeful a long-planned FIA Grade 2 racetrack and motor sport facility could be built on a 65-hectare site in the suburb’s south. Reports suggest that part of the benefit would be to reduce hoon driving, which is occasionally a problem at night in the new factory areas.

Schools are prolific, both public and private. But even out here on Melbourne’s fringes, traffic can be a problem with all those parents causing significant congestion at drop-off and pick-up, leaving parents cranky.

I never feel the need to travel out of Pakenham to dine, including first-class food at Shanikas. But should you want more choice, I’d recommend Jason’s in Upper Beaconsfield, and the two-hatted O.My in Beaconsfield, last year’s restaurant of the year.

My suburb is exploding with people, but I love its history, fresh air and peaceful, semi-rural life. The judgment by some that we’re all bogans shows their limited viewpoint of the diversity of cultures, interests and lifestyles of the people here. As an ex-city-slicker, farmer and now retired teacher, I couldn’t have known years ago when I stood beside my broken-down car that those faint lights in the distance would become the heart of my home town.

Kate Feher is a resident of Pakenham.

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