Officer is a suburb in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, 49 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district

Melbourne city centre

Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...

. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Cardinia

Shire of Cardinia

Cardinia Shire is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne between the Western Port bay and the Yarra Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne...

. At the 2006 Census, Officer had a population of 1417.

History

The suburb is named after the Officer family, who were early settlers in the area. A timber industry was established, and by 1870 timber was being transported from the railways sidings named Officer's Wood Siding. This was shortened to Officer's and later, Officer.

A brickmaking industry began in the 1880s, but died away after the collapse of the land boom. The population was sufficient to justify a Post Office opening on 16 December 1885 (known as Officer's Siding until 1888, Officer Railway Station until 1913).

The Town today

Three schools, Officer Primary School, Maranatha Christian School (Officer Campus)and Berwick Grammar School are situated here.

Officer is home to the Australian Rules ROC Football Club (Rythdale

Rythdale, Victoria

Rythdale is a bounded rural locality in Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Cardinia.-History:Rythedale Post Office opened on 22 June 1925, was renamed Rythdale around 1930 and closed in 1944...

, Officer, Cardinia

Cardinia, Victoria

Cardinia is a town in Victoria, Australia, 52 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Cardinia.Cardinia is located between Pakenham and Tooradin on the south-eastern fringe of Melbourne....

) competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League

Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League

The Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League is an Australian rules football competition, governed by the Victorian Country Football League. The MPNFL contains teams near the south eastern region of Victoria, Australia...

. They last won the premiership in 2002.

Despite now being considered a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 and having its own railway station, most of the land around Officer is undeveloped and used for farming. This is likely to change in the future, when construction of a 4,000 lot housing estate http://www.vicurban.com/index.php?action=officer_index begins at Officer.

Notable people of Officer

• AFL
  Australian Football League
  The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
  
   player Greg Tivendale
  Greg Tivendale
  Greg Tivendale was a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.Recruited from the Gippsland Under 18s & Rythdale-Officer-Cardinia Football Club, Tivendale debuted in 1998 with the Richmond Football Club and was noted for talents including his long-kicking and long-range...
  
   (Number 32 for Richmond
  Richmond Football Club
  The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
  
  ) grew up in Officer.

• A conjoined
  Polycephaly
  Polycephaly is a condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the Greek stems poly- meaning 'much' and kephali- meaning "head", and encompasses bicephaly and dicephaly . A variation is an animal born with two faces on a single head, a condition known as diprosopus...
  
   bearded dragon hatched here in Officer on January 2011.