The first people to live in the Malvern area were the
Kulin people. The
Yarra River and
Gardiners Creek approximates the boundary of two Kulin groups, with the
Boonwurrung to the south and the
Wurundjeri to the north. According to
Alfred Howitt, the rising area in Malvern from the junction of Wattletree Road and
Dandenong Road was known as
Koornang by the Kulin people, which meant 'rising ground'. The name was used for Koornang Road, which runs south of Malvern, through
Carnegie. The area of Malvern was first settled by Europeans in 1835.
John Gardiner was one of the first Europeans to make his home in the general area. 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 in
Hawthorn. According to Howitt's notes, the place where Gardiner made his home was called in the Woiwurrung language. In the 1860s the
Gardiners Creek Roads Board was the forerunner of the Gardiners Creek Shire that then became
Malvern Council. 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. The then shire hall (later
town hall) was built in 1886, on the corner of
Glenferrie Road and High Street and later extended.
Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust ran its first car out of
Malvern depot on 30 May 1910. Malvern is the original home of
Malvern Star, once Australia's largest and most well-known bicycle manufacturer. Another business that began in Malvern was
Crittendens chain of grocery stores and liquor outlets. ==Attractions==