My suburb changed its name decades ago, but everyone’s still confused

2 months ago 5

Opinion

December 15, 2025 — 7.00pm

We inspected our first (and forever) home on the same day that I found the engagement ring of my dreams. It was 2011, and we travelled from the ring shop in Eltham, through the bush, via Warrandyte. We started to see suburbs I never knew existed. Park Orchards is so unique it blew my mind; it’s like stepping back in time.

Further down the winding roads, we arrived at the home for inspecting. Looking at the photos online, I hadn’t been keen. I thought it looked like overgrown and tacky like an ’80s restaurant. Lucky for us, the photos were terrible – in person, it was perfect.

At a time when all our young and hip friends were enjoying city life, we chose to settle in leafy Ringwood North. My husband and I are old souls and delighted in our suburban lifestyle. Nowadays, Ringwood North is like the doorstep to Melbourne with its access to Eastlink and the Eastern Freeway. Back in 2011, I don’t think its prime location had been fully realised, and luckily for us, the house price reflected that.

Ringwood North was recognised as its own suburb, separate from Ringwood in the 1990s. Some people ask whether it is Ringwood North, as in Ringwood North Primary School, or North Ringwood, as in North Ringwood Preschool. Or is it Norwood, as in Norwood Secondary College, which is officially in Ringwood? The answer is that one is the official name, and the others are used in the context of landmarks. Confused? Yeah, we all are.

Family businesses are the vibe at the Ringwood North shops, especially when Julia’s Woodfired Pizza, This Little Kitchen cafe and Mastika ice-cream are family to each other ... literally. The gal in the ice cream shop is the sister of the cafe owner, and married to the pizza shop man. If you aren’t queuing all the way along Milne Place to get into the Pastry Board after Saturday sport, then you ain’t living. You can spot their coffee and their hot pink takeaway lids a mile away.

Public transport buses follow the long route, winding through every street imaginable, while failing to go near – let alone stop at – Ringwood North shops. You can risk your life crossing at the Ringwood-Warrandyte/Oban Road roundabout, if you like. My friend lost her daughter-in-law’s car keys from the roof of her car in the middle of that notoriously weedy roundabout. She stopped her car on top of the roundabout to retrieve them; the steady flow of traffic showed their feelings with a steady stream of honking.

“Friends of...” groups are booming here in Ringwood North, often led by passionate local women. Across our many pocket parks, there’s large-scale removal of pittosporum and plantings of natives. Locals wanted to honour the friendly tawny frogmouths of the area by installing a sculpture. Award-winning Melbourne artist Alexander Knox was the successful applicant, and his artwork in Melview Reserve is now a local landmark.

There is tension between two camps here: those looking to nurture the natural environment and groups of local youth who are to be congratulated for getting off screens, but then dig up public bushland to make bike jumps. What’s the answer? Local government advises that we don’t approach and try to talk it out, but leave it to them to do the job of negotiating, which seems wise given the emotions involved for both parties.

There is a desire to avoid high-density housing in parts of Ringwood North, to preserve the historically bushy feel. Residents fondly remember the manmade Loughnans Lake that was here from the 1950s to the 1970s (when it was removed in preparation for development) and how they would catch and release the many frogs there, and snakes too!

There is a strong cohort in Ringwood North who’ve been in the area for generations. The water tower on Pine Crescent is a significant landmark. It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but a huge portion of the community would celebrate Guy Fawkes night there with a massive bonfire, crackers and skyrockets.

Parts of Ringwood North follow creeklines; when it rains, the water cascades down the valleys, which are now the roads, and you can imagine what life would have been like when these landscapes were fully natural. The construction of footpaths is gradually taking place in areas that remain unfriendly to the humble pedestrian. Some funky footpath angles can be seen as paths are forced to navigate around beautifully established trees.

With our unending steep hills, who needs the 1000 steps of Ferntree Gully if you’re training for Kokoda? Bike-riding up the hills is popular here too. Kids of Ringwood North Primary School also enjoy the natural angles of their 100-year-old school – it’s fitting that as you age through the grades, you also increase in altitude.

It has to be asked, is there a steeper suburban street in Melbourne than Glenvale Road in Ringwood North? Some locals aren’t happy that they took some of the excitement out by sealing it and adding a dogleg. In my first weeks living here, I made a wrong turn on my way to netball, and my VW Golf ran out of puff halfway up this monstrous hill. It was terrifying. Approach the hill from the top and you can experience the rollercoaster “lurching stomach” feeling.

McAlpin Reserve is a favourite for locals. If your kid hasn’t fallen in the pond trying to catch a duck, or someone hasn’t tried to sell you yabbies from a grubby bucket, you aren’t a true local.

Ringwood North’s Melview (yes, Melbourne view) Drive was a highlight during COVID restrictions. We couldn’t visit the city, but we could at least get a good view of it. Ringwood North looks down on parts of Ringwood, but we don’t behave like we are better than Ringwood … do we?

Victoria no longer names suburbs by their association to another, e.g. north, east. It’s not retrospective, but if we did reconsider the name, I think it would be fitting to change it to Tuckerbag, after the old supermarket that used to be here.

My husband and I now share our home with our three children and take pride in maintaining a street library and adjacent fairy (and dinosaur) garden. We have transformed our bare, grassed backyard into a wildlife haven and delight in the tawny frogmouths that call our place home. Our 1970s kitchen is hanging on by a thread, but the butter yellow walls make us very happy, along with our beautiful, friendly Ringwood North community.

Elspeth De Fanti is a Ringwood North resident. She aspires to do more writing in the future.