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Brunswick Today
Melbourne is widely regarded as one the most liveable cities on the
planet. With its easy paced lifestyle and inner suburbs loaded with
character, it is plain to see why it has earned this tag. One of Melbourne's
most identifiable features is its willingness to embrace a wide variety
of cultures, giving an already diverse city a distinctive multicultural
flavour.
(Extract from www.csbackpackers.com.au/melb)
Brunswick is an inner-northern suburb of Melbourne and one of the
municipal areas of Moreland. The suburb's southern border is defined
by the expanses of Royal Park which hosts the Mt Royal and the Royal
Children's hospitals, the Melbourne Zoo and Melbourne University which,
of course, are just a brisk walk from the famous Fitzroy Gardens and
the heart of Melbourne. The Moreland municipality is a diverse community
with 36% of residents born overseas and 45% speaking a language other
than English in the home. This multicultural diversity adds a great
deal of colour to the annual Sydney Road Street Party and Brunswick
Music Festival which are held in March. After a long battle by conservationists,
Brunswick is on the verge of gaining its own distinctive arts and
cultural precinct on the old Hoffman's Brickworks site. Art is also
a focal point in the open space redevelopment of the Brunswick Town
Hall which is now home to The Counihan Gallery.
(Extract 2006 www.travelmate.com.au)
Discover the exploding fashion industry in Sydney Road Brunswick
that includes fashion houses, factory outlets and young talented
designers. Eclectic, glamorous, sassy, funky and with a vintage
feel.
Eating at the marvellous array of world food restaurants along
Sydney Road is a great way to kick off a night of music. With so
many cultural delights to choose from, you can enter into any part
of the world. Very affordable main courses and banquets that will
have your tummies and your pockets, still full! You can visit the
website www.sydneyroad.com.au to view all the restaurants, cafes
and bars along the strip. It's a great place to promenade and discover
the treasures along the way.
(Editorial extract: Sydney Road Brunswick Association 2007)
Brunswick Early Days
From the 1840s the settlement started to grow. The Retreat Inn, Brunswick's
oldest hotel opened in 1846, and provided a popular stopping place
for travellers. However it was still an isolated rural community with
a dirt track for a main road, until everything changed with the discovery
of gold in Victoria in 1851 and the quickest way to the goldfields
in Ballarat and Bendigo was through Brunswick. A camp was set up opposite
the Methodist Church where people on the way to the fields could rest
and organise themselves for their journey. Next to the church was
a 'Rag fair' where clothes and goldfield equipment were sold. More
shops and hotels opened, including the Brunswick Hotel in 1852 and
the Edinburgh Castle and the Sarah Sands both in 1854. Gold fever
caused a rush of settlers to Australia. The settlers needed houses
once they had tried their luck on the fields, and suitable clay had
been discovered in Brunswick by John Glew in 1849.
The natural deposits of clay for bricks and bluestone for houses
and roads meant Brunswick's quarrying industry was born. The Cornwell
works began in 1861 and John Barry and Jenkin Collier launched the
Hoffman brickyard in 1863, which eventually employed 800 people.
By 1865, most of the population of 3000 was involved in brickmaking
and bluestone 'dressing'.
The first schools in the area were run by individuals in private
homes. The Methodists opened a school in 1849 that combined with
a Presbyterian one to become Central Brunswick State School 1213
in 1877. A Catholic school began in a back room at the Brunswick
Hotel in 1860. This became St Ambrose Primary School. The Mechanics
Institute opened in 1868 providing a library book service, but a
fee had to be paid. A free service started in 1926 and the library
moved to the town hall facing Sydney Road in 1976, then to its present
location in the large hall in Dawson Street in 1992. The Campbell
Turnbull library in Melville Road opened in 1982.
In 1884 the railway line came to Brunswick, and the first cable
tram in 1887. (In 1916 electric trams began in Lygon Street and
replaced horse drawn buses.) In April 1888 Brunswick was proclaimed
a Town with a population of 14,792. By 1891 there were as well as
the brickworks, nail and rope factories, two banks, three schools,
two newspapers, five railway stations, a Mechanics Institute and
three fire brigades! Electricity supply began in 1914.
After the First World War new industries developed creating more
employment, hosiery and textile companies such as Prestige, Holeproof
and Peerless. By 1928 the population had reached 55,799. Brunswick
Town Hall held the best dances in the north, and there were many
theatres showing films. The 1930s saw the decline of the brick and
clay industries as much of the clay and bluestone had been used
up. Many of the quarries were filled in and became parks and reserves.
Migration from European countries after the Second World War saw
thousands of people come first from Italy, then Greece, Turkey,
Lebanon and other countries.
Extract from History of Moreland - Fact Sheet 2 - compiled by Moreland
Libraries
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