Pearcedale

Pearcedale is a township set in a rural locality at the north-west corner of Western Port Bay, 50 km south-east of central Melbourne. Its west boundary is the Western Port Highway and its east boundary adjoins Devon Meadows.

The township began as a speculative subdivision in 1887, promoted as Langwarrin or Langwarrin East. The town's boundaries were Colley, Evans, Hann and Hastings streets. There were numerous town lots, reserves for a 'town hall' and a school, and farms of ten acres (orchards) and larger ones up to 50 acres. A hall was built, a school was opened (1889), but the venture failed. A family named Pearce bought the township site in 1895. Prospects revived in the early 1900s, the school reopening in 1902 after being closed for ten years. In 1907 a local poll settled on the name Pearcedale, as the name Langwarrin had 'migrated' to a township on the Frankston to Hastings railway line 6 km to the west.

Upon the naming of the town the post office reopened. A public hall and a Methodist church opened in 1918 and an Anglican church opened in 1938. The general store continued to serve the community, doing so until 1989 when it was replaced by a drive-in centre. Electricity was turned on in 1957.

Pearcedale was a fruit growing and market garden area, continuing in that role until the 1970s when new residents chose the area for rural/residential living or hobby farming. A number of horse riding schools have been established.

The Pearcedale township has grown to an area slightly in excess of the 1887 boundaries. Pearcedale has a small shopping centre, a public hall, an Anglican church, a recreation reserve and a primary school (639 pupils, 2014). There is a bushland reserve in the town and a conservation park towards Western Port Bay. The Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park began successfully breeding orange-bellied parrots for release back into Tasmania. The bird is a rare migratory parrot that makes an annual voyage between Victoria and Tasmania.

Pearcedale's census populations have been: