What's in a name? For Montmorency, it's the French influence

Francophiles, rejoice. Montmorency was named after a suburb just 15 clicks from the centre of Paris. Here in Melbourne we’d, at a long stretch, call that inner city, but in France, it’s really some way out.

Montmorency (Victoria) is some 18 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD, though with its canopy of gum trees and Aussie bush feel, it feels more like 100 kilometres away.

As you might have already guessed, our Monty doesn’t have much in common with France at all. Sure, “Monty Village” does have three bakeries, but Brumby’s isn’t exactly boulangerie. And while the French Montmorency has Musee Jean-Jacques Rousseau, we have the Banyule Council Art Project.

There’s art everywhere on Were Street. The bench you’re sitting on has most likely been mosaiced. The footpaths are dotted with mosaics. They’re remnants of a decade-old “beautification project” and feature stories from Montmorency in the old days – back when it was all dairies and orchards.

Even the well-trained Melbourne eye will notice that Were Street’s brick shop walls are covered in graffiti. Wait, those crazy graffiti artists have written their school name and year alongside their works. Talk about getting busted. OK, OK, it’s obviously sanctioned artwork.

Judging by-now fading posters in the local shop windows, the local football club is a big deal here, too. According to Scott Nugent of Barry Plant Eltham, the Montmorency Football Club is supported by “pretty much the whole community.” He should know; he played there for five years, and it’s how he ended up with his job. “A real estate agency sponsored the local footy club,” he says. “I met an agent, got chatting, had an interest in it, and seven years on, here I am!”

Which brings us to the homes in this hilly suburb. They’re a hodge-podge of weatherboards and brick numbers. Some are cared for, most not. Brand new townhouses on freshly-split blocks still glow, and seem to blend in with the rather disjointed streetscape – it’s almost like anything goes here, and that’s OK. You can even buy a tennis court (perfect if you’re after flat land!)

It’s the dramatic difference between houses that makes pricing them challenging, says Nugent. “If you go to a certain suburb in the inner city, every home is pretty much the same,” he says. “With a terrace, if it’s renovated it’s worth so much, and if it’s not, [it’s] this much. Here, you could sell one house for $1 million and the house next door for $550,000 or $600,000 because it’s completely different – run down, but you’re in the same location. It is pretty hard to price homes in Montmorency.”

Still, Nugent says, entry level is $750,000 to $800,000. And there’s one pocket that is more popular then the rest. “People want to buy within a 300-400 metre radius of the Were Street shops,” he says. “That’s basically blue chip. That makes it very competitive.”

But it’s not all about Were Street in Monty. There’s also a “hidden secret” shopping strip on Grand Boulevard, opposite one of three local primary schools, as well as a close-to-Were Street collection of community buildings including the huge Montmorency Eltham RSL, a bowling club, children’s centre and Diamond Valley Racing Pigeon Club. Down by Plenty River, on Para Road, you’ll find two footy fields – a focal point for the sporting community in this arty ‘burb.

Five things you didn’t know about Montmorency:

• Montmorency has had its own train station for nearly a century. It’s on the Hurstbridge line.
• Singer Gotye moved here with his Flemish parents when he was two (perhaps they thought they were moving to France?)
• Member for Bulleen and Leader of the Opposition Matthew Guy was raised here.
• Scott Nugent worked with the local community to start Facebook page Monty Life 3094. It’s where locals can post about missing drones, car accidents and noisy parties.
• Martin Harvey, one of the authors of graffiti book Kings Way The Beginnings of Australian Graffiti: Melbourne 1983–93 grew up in Montmorency, and has been quoted as saying that his interest in graffiti sprung from being creative in a town where you either built cubby houses in the bush or played footy.