Way back when when the tyranny of distance resonated…
Settlement of the area dates to the 1830s where Tarneit was used as agricultural grazing land. Tarneit was named when it was surveyed in 1839 – 1840 and comes from the Aboriginal word given to the area. The road network was largely planned in a square mile grid pattern and still forms the basis of the arterial road network today. Large scale residential subdivision did not begin until the 1990s.
As an electorate in the 21st century
Tarneit is one of the state’s youngest electorates, having the third highest proportion of children aged 0-4 (9.1%), the ninth highest aged 5-14 (14.6%), the second lowest proportion of residents aged over 65 (5.4%) and the state’s second lowest median age at 30. It is a classic mortgage belt electorate, having the seventh lowest proportion of fully owned dwellings (20.0%) and the fifth highest proportion of dwellings being purchased (50.1%). The electorate has the sixth highest proportion of residents moving since the previous census (47.1%), presumably most moving into new housing in the electorate. It is also an electorate with a high migrant population and has the third highest proportion of residents born in India (6.5%), the highest proportion born in New Zealand (3.7%), and has the highest proportion of Hindus ( 5.4%). (Source – ABC, 2014)
Living in Tarneit 