The locality of Mount Cottrell consists of mainly privately owned open land. It is named after the 203m high mountain it encompasses, Mount Cottrell, the most massive of the Werribee Plains volcanoes, a volcanic cone formed by the radial eruption of numerous lava tongues. The mountain was purchased by Melton Council in 2007 to preserve the significant geological and flora and fauna values on the site.
History
The locality is named after Anthony Cottrell, a member of the Port Phillip association who was allotted the land by the company in about 1835–36. The original "No.10" hut was located about 1.5km north of the Mount Cottrell summit.[2]
Mount Cottrell Post Office opened on 1 January 1866, closed in 1895, reopened in 1902 and closed again in 1958.[3]
The first residential subdivision in the area, Chartwell Estate, was established in 1957 on the corner of Boundary Road and Downing Street. Blocks were sold sight unseen to English migrants, and in a bid to attract them, the estate was named after Chartwell (Winston Churchill's country house) and streets were given distinctly English names. Only a handful of houses were ever built, due to the remote location and lack of basic infrastructure.[7][8]
Much of the southern section of Mount Cottrell lies within Melbourne's urban growth boundary and is zoned for urban growth.[9] Residential development of the locality began in the early 2020s, with the area between Leakes Road and the Regional Rail Link the first to be built up.
