My suburb doesn’t get mentioned alongside Melbourne’s other, more exclusive, mini-suburbs. You would think proximity to championship golf courses and Chadstone The Fashion Capital would count for something, but no. I expect it’s because most people – if they’ve even heard of it – don’t know where it is.
Before moving here, neither did I. With fewer than 2000 residents in 0.8 square kilometres, Huntingdale is definitely small.
Small but not boutique. And too small to contain the train station that bears its name, which is in Oakleigh. Not to be confused with Deepdene or Kooyong , Huntingdale is a remnant pocket of industry and postwar housing best described as eclectic.
Wedged between Oakleigh and Clayton in Melbourne’s south-east, it’s both old school and a modern melting pot. An aggregation of the people that make up Melbourne in 2024. About the only thing you’ll struggle to find here is hipsters.
Planners dream of 20-minute neighbourhoods , where your needs are within a 20-minute walk. Huntingdale could be the model for a five-minute version. It packs a lot into a little.
Hungry? Grab some kokoretsi from Pita Wrap It or a kongbiji jjigae at Samwon Garden. Need something stripped, welded, recast and plated? There are different industrial workshops for each of these tasks. On a spiritual quest? Sample the teachings at the Buddhist centre, the Bangladeshi mosque or the Chinese Methodist church.
We came here 18 years ago in search of an affordable home (how .