Kalkallo growth: from a gold rush stop to one of Melbourne's largest planned communities
Kalkallo began as a stop on the road to the goldfields, known first as Kinlochewe and then Donnybrook before taking its current name in 1874. It stayed a small township for more than a century. The urban growth boundary was extended to include it in 2010, and the Lockerbie Precinct Structure Plan was gazetted in June 2012, setting up the Cloverton community.
A town that boomed and faded
The township grew with the gold rush traffic of the 1850s. Once the railway north opened in the 1870s, road traffic fell away and so did the town.
Back inside the growth boundary
Kalkallo came inside the urban growth boundary in 2010 and was zoned for urban growth in 2012. The Lockerbie and Lockerbie North precinct plans set out where homes, centres and open space go.
Cloverton at full size
Cloverton is planned for about 30,000 residents, with a large town centre and a train station proposed for the future. Timing for the station has not been confirmed.
Population today
The 2021 Census counted 5,548 people in Kalkallo. That figure has grown quickly since, as each Cloverton stage settles.
What growth means for buyers
More stages means more volume building on the same street at the same time, and more resales of homes only a few years old.
More about Kalkallo
- Building a new home in Kalkallo: estates, stages and the defects that repeat
- Buying an established home in Kalkallo: prices, age of stock and what to check
- Permits, Hume City Council and building disputes in Kalkallo
- Kalkallo soil: the Gilgai plain, reactive clay and cracking
- Termites in Kalkallo: management systems, gardens and conducive conditions
- What our Kalkallo inspections find, stage by stage
- Kalkallo site conditions: wind, climate, grassland and creek overlays
Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Kalkallo. Licensed building practitioners, Building & Plumbing Commission registration CDB-U 53425.
