Healesville is a town located to the northeast of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is 60 km by road from central Melbourne and about 22 km north-east of Lilydale, considered to be the boundary of greater Melbourne. It is situated on the Watts river, a tributary of the Yarra River. It is in the local government area of the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
The creation of a railway to the more distant Gippsland and Yarra Valley goldfields in the 1860s resulted in a settlement forming on the Watts river and its survey as a town in 1864. It was named after Richard Heales, the Premier of Victoria from 1860-1861.
Healesville is well known for the Healesville Sanctuary - a nature park with hundreds of native Australian animals displayed in a semi-open natural setting and an active platypus breeding program.
Schools in Healesville include the 125 year-old Healesville Primary School, St Bridgids Catholic primary school, the Healesville High School, and Worawa College, an Aboriginal school whose former students include noted AFL player David Wirrpanda. Much of what is now Healesville lies on the ancestral land of the Wurundjeri people, and aboriginal missions have been there in the past.
Noted Aboriginal artist and Wurundjeri elder William Barak spent much of his life at Coranderrk Station, near Healesville.
Industries in and around Healesville include sawmilling, horticulture, tourism and more recently viticulture.
Swinburne TAFE has a campus in Healesville.
