Brunswick, Victoria
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Brunswick is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland.
Approximately four kilometres due north of the central business district, it is bounded to the south by Carlton, Parkville, and Fitzroy. It is separated by the Merri Creek from Northcote to the east, Coburg to the north, and the massive Tullamarine Freeway to the west.
Brunswick is located on relatively flat terrain and the streets are laid out in an approximate grid. The main thoroughfares are the north-south Sydney Road (part of the Hume Highway) and Lygon Street, though the tourist strip of Lygon Street is substantially to the south in Carlton. Commercial activity in Brunswick is mainly centred on these two streets, though there is a shopping centre called Barkly Square located between them on Barkly and Weston streets.
Contents |
History
Establishment
Image:Brunswick 1893 police await unemployed.jpg Occupied from time immemorial by the Wurundjeri people who spoke the Woiworong dialect, white settlement began in the 1830s with Robert Hoddle surveying the area and land speculators taking title to it. North and south boundaries were drawn up, running in an east-west direction between Moonee Ponds Creek and Merri Creek. These boundaries would become Moreland Road and Park Street, respectively. This area was divided down the middle, which would eventually become Sydney Road. Ten alotments were drawn up on each side of this line, with each block of land running all the way to either Moonee Ponds Creek or Merri Creek. These wide strips of land are still reflected in the current street layout.
The land was sold at auction in Sydney, and attracted speculators, many of whom would never see the land they purchased. Only one original buyer, James Simpson, settled on his land. Simpson subdivided his land and marked out two streets; Carmarthon Street (later Albert Street) and Landillo Strret (later Victoria Street). Because the land was too marshy, he left the area in 1852 with much of the land unsold.
In 1841 two friends, Thomas Wilkinson and Edward Stone Parker, bought land from one of the original buyers. Stone soon left, but Wilkinson stayed on, subdividing his land for sale or rent. He markered out two roads, which would eventually become extensions of the roads marked out by Simpson. Wilkinson named the streets Victoria Street (after Queen Victoria), and Albert Street (after her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha).
Wilkinson had been an active campaigner for the rights of Caroline of Brunswick, the estranged wife of King George IV, and thus named his estate Brunswick, in her honour. When the area's first post office opened in 1846, it took on the name of Wilkinson's estate, establishing the name of the whole area.
In October 1842, Miss Amelia Shaw became the licensee of the first hotel in the area, the Retreat Inn. The hotel also had a weighbridge, so that bullock drivers could refresh themselves whilst their wagons were weighed. The establishment was rebuilt in 1892 and renamed the Retreat Hotel, which still stands today.
Also in 1842, work began on a new road along the central surveyors division. The road was originally known as Pentridge Road, for it lead to the bluestone quarries of Pentridge (now Coburg. In 1843, William Lobb established a cattle farm on his alotment, and the area would become known as Lobb's Hill. A laneway down the side of his property, originally called Lobb's Lane, would later be named Stewart Street.
In 1849, Michael Dawson, one of the original land purchasers, completed work on an ivy-covered mansion on his property called Phoenix Park. The property was named after Phoenix Park near Dublin, Ireland. Dawson cited his address not as Brunswick, but Philiptown, after a town in Ireland which has since reverted to its original name Daingean. Philiptown eventually grew into a village along the track which lead from Phoenix Park to Sydney Road. This track was later named Union Street.
Goldrush era
Henry Search opened at butcher shop in 1850, on the south-west corner of Albert Street and Sydney Road. This was the first retail establishment in Brunswick. By 1851, gold diggers began making their way through the area, on their journey from the populous suburns of Fitzroy and Collingwood. Brunswick provided a convenient place for lunch, before the diggers reached the beginnings of the roads to the goldfields, near present day Essendon. A small village sprung up to meet the needs of the travellers, near the present day Cumberland Arms Hotel. The village included a tent market, described as being like a bazaar, where miners could buy goods needed for the goldfields.
In 1852 Wilkinson established The Brunswick Record, the area's first newspaper. This changed its name in 1858 to The Brunswick & Pentridge Press.
The Brunswick municipal council was established at 1857 at the Cornish Arms Hotel, which still stands. The first municipal chambers were established in 1859 on Sydney Road at Lobb's Hill, between Stewart and Albion Streets. The present Brunswick Town Hall is an imposing Victorian edifice, built in 1876 near the centre of Brunswick on the corner of Dawson Street and Sydney Road. In 1908 Brunswick officially became a city.
In the 1860s, quarries, and, notably, a large brickworks, were established in Brunswick, using the local clay and bluestone. This quickly became the largest industry in the area.
Post-Goldrush era
Train and tram lines arrived in the 1880s, as did a number of local schools and the Brunswick mechanic's institute. The first steam train arrived in Brunswick in 1884. Template:Note The line ran directly into the Hoffmans Brickworks, reflecting the importance of the brickworks industry to the local community. Prior to World War I, Brunswick was the "brickyard capital of Victoria" Template:Note. Remnants of the brickyards are still visible in some parts of Brunswick, but most of the yards have long been converted to residential housing or parks.
Textiles became a large industry in the area in the early parts of the 20th Century. Quarrying declined with the depletion of reserves. Image:Workers cottage.jpg During the Great Depression in 1933 Brunswick was the site of free speech meetings by the Unemployed Workers Movement, which were harassed and suppressed by the police. Young Australian artist Noel Counihan played a significant part in this campaign. A Free Speech memorial was built in 1994 outside the Mechanics Institute on the corner of Sydney and Glenlyon Roads to commemorate the free speech fights. Counihan's work as an artist and local resident is also commemorated by the Counihan Gallery run by the City of Moreland Council.
A cable tram service ran from the city to Brunswick, with the cable house located on Brunswick Road near Sydney Road. The last cable tram to run in Brunswick was in 1936. The first electric tram ran in 1916. It ran along Moreland Road, Holmes Street and Lygon Street to Queensberry Street in Carlton. The first electric tram to run along Sydney Road coincided with the end of the cable tram, in 1936. Template:Note
In the post-World War II era, Brunswick became the home of a large number of migrants from southern Europe. More recently, migrants from Turkey and other Islamic countries have arrived. The brickworks and much of the textile industry has also begun to close, as gentrification began in the 1990s, and considerable amounts of renovation and new residential development is occurring.
In 2004, Brunswick and nearby Carlton were the location of several murders in what has been widely reported in Melbourne's media as a "underworld war"; in any case, the violence occurred between a numerically tiny group of organised criminals and left the overwhelming majority of residents unaffected. The area's overall crime rate is not regarded as particularly high.
Commerce
Commercial retail activity is mainly centred on Sydney Road (part of the Hume Highway) and the northern end of Lygon Street. While separated from the tourist strip in Carlton, northern Lygon Street has a substantial number of restaurants, though mainly catering to locals, as do some on Sydney Road. There is a small shopping centre, Barkly Square, in Barkly Street, between the two.
People
Brunswick is a suburb in demographic flux, with a number of distinct population groups making their presence felt. A considerable number of immigrants from southern Europe made the area home in the 1950s, and some of this group still remain, though they are now quite elderly. The suburb is also home to a considerable Islamic community, particularly from Turkey. Recent waves of immigration have seen strong growth in ethnic communities from Africa and the Indian sub continent. Finally, there is also a substantial group of students and young professionals, many familiar with the area through its relative proximity to the University of Melbourne. These groups live together with little discord.
Politics
Image:Radical womens shop.jpgBrunswick has long been a stronghold of left-wing politics in Melbourne, with the federal and state parliamentary seats held by the Australian Labor Party with very comfortable margins over the conservatives. Australian Greens candidates are gaining an increasing proportion of the vote, and in 2002 elected a Greens Councillor to Moreland Council. As well as the "mainstream" left, however, Brunswick and nearby suburbs have for many years been a holdout of other left-wing parties, radical socialists and anarchists.
The Brunswick Progress Association has had an active role in representing residents particularly on local issues to Council, but also at the State and Federal levels. It was formed in 1905.
Nightlife and Culture
In the 1980s, Brunswick's major nightspot was the Bombay Rock, a notoriously dangerous venue that saw considerable violence between ethnic groups. It was destroyed by a fire in the mid-1990s. Also worthy of note was the Sarah Sands Hotel, which hosted tours from a number of local and international acts, mostly punk, skinhead, goth or alternative in nature. It ceased operating as a venue for original bands in 1993 when the owner leased management of the venue to the Bridie O'Reilly's group.
The gradual gentrification has increased the numbers of bars, coffee shops, and restaurants in the area; most are fairly unpretentious and aimed at the locals but the food is often good and the prices quite reasonable. Several of the bars now offer live original music as well; the Cornish Arms hotel, in particular is regarded as one of Melbourne's major blues and roots venues, as well as "The Retreat" which caters more to the alternative scene. Both of the abovementioned venues are a good example of the gentrification of Brunswick; in their previous incarnations, as recently as 2001 for the Cornish Arms and 2004 for the Retreat, both were 'old style' pubs with eccentric landlords and a small but devoted (and ageing) clientele. This clientele are not to be found at their old watering hole(s) now, and as there exist fewer pubs which have this 'old school' appeal, some would argue that the success of the above venues and others has had a net negative impact on the cultural diversity of the area.
The Sydney Road Street Party, held annually in late February, is a major event in the suburb, and is a prelude to the Brunswick Music Festival, held in March, featuring blues, roots, and world music.
Media
Two free, weekly suburban newspapers are distributed in Brunswick. The Moreland Leader is part of the News Corporation-owned Leader Newspapers group and covers the area within the Moreland City Council area, while the Melbourne Times covers most of Melbourne's inner suburbs and devotes considerable efforts to covering local politics and urban planning issues.
Transport
The area is amongst the best-served by public transport in Melbourne, containing the Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey stations on the Upfield suburban train line. In addition, there is the number 19 tram service to Melbourne University and the city on Sydney Road, and the number 1 and 8 (formerly 22) trams along Lygon Street, and the number 55 tram also heads through Royal Park and to the city from nearby West Brunswick.
There are also east-west buses on Brunswick Road, Glenlyon Road/Dawson Street and Victoria/Blyth streets, though these bus services are not frequent enough to adequately serve cross-suburban travel in the way that the trams serve travel into and away from the city. None of these services operate after 10pm weeknights (most in fact cease at 7pm), nor do any of them operate at all on Saturday or Sunday nights.
Brunswick itself is relatively flat and is ideal for cycling. East Brunswick is bounded by the Merri Creek Trail; and West Brunswick by the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail, though neither of these can be described as flat. The Upfield Bike Path follows the Upfield railway line from Fawkner, through Coburg and Brunswick joining the Capital City Trail at Park Street. Many local streets also have painted cycle lanes adjacent to parked cars, presenting a significant hazard to cyclists in the form of rapidly opening car doors.
References
- Template:Ref{{cite book
| author = William F. O'Donnell | year = 1999 | title = Transport in Brunswick 1839-1995 | chapter = The Brunswick Baths | editor = Francesca Folk-Scolaro | publisher = Brunswick Community History Group | location = Brunswick, Australia | id = ISBN 09587742-5-0
}}
- Template:Ref{{cite book
| year = 1987 | title = It Happened in Brunswick: 1837 - 1987 | editor = Les Barnes | publisher = Brunswick Community History Group | id = ISBN 095877420X
}}
External link
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