Broadmeadows, Victoria

Broadmeadows
Melbourne, Victoria

Hume Global Learning Centre
Broadmeadows

Location in metropolitan Melbourne

Coordinates 37°41′06″S 144°55′30″E / 37.685°S 144.925°E / -37.685; 144.925Coordinates: 37°41′06″S 144°55′30″E / 37.685°S 144.925°E / -37.685; 144.925
Population 10,578 (2011 census)[1]
 • Density 1,259/km2 (3,262/sq mi)
Established 1850s
Postcode(s) 3047
Area 8.4 km2 (3.2 sq mi)
Location 16 km (10 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s) City of Hume
State electorate(s) Broadmeadows
Federal Division(s) Calwell
Suburbs around Broadmeadows:
Meadow Heights, Westmeadows Dallas Campbellfield
Westmeadows Broadmeadows Campbellfield
Jacana Glenroy Fawkner

Broadmeadows is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km (9.9 mi) north from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Hume. At the 2011 Census, Broadmeadows had a population of 10,578.

Broadmeadows is a sub-regional centre within the northern suburbs of Melbourne, and is often used as a reference for the suburbs around it, although this may be due to its former status as a municipality.

History

The Broadmeadows area, home to the Wurundjeri Aboriginal tribe prior to European settlement, was settled by pastoralists in the 1840s.

The original Broadmeadows aka "Old Broady" is now known as Westmeadows, which lies to the west of the present Broadmeadows. The first Broadmeadows township was laid out by a Government survey in 1850. Ardlie Street was its commercial centre with a hotel (the Broadmeadows Hotel, now Westmeadows Tavern), the police station and the shire office (the District Roads Board Building, opened in 1866).

Broadmeadows' centre was altered when the railway line and station were opened two kilometres to the original centre's east in 1872. Shire loyalties clung to the old township until new civic offices were built near the railway station in 1928.

Broadmeadows was the site of the main camp for the reception and training of recruits for the AIF from Victoria early in the First World War. Broadmeadows had been identified as a possible site for military training in 1913, but no facilities had been established. The camp was established in August 1914 at "Mornington Park", a property loaned to the government by Mr R.G. Wilson. Early on, Broadmeadows was predominantly a tented camp and conditions were quite spartan. These facilities, combined with wet weather and poor drainage resulted in a rapid increase in sickness among recruits in autumn 1915. Public concern, fuelled by sensationalist press coverage, resulted in a decision in May 1915 to re-establish the main Victorian training camp at Seymour, approximately 100 kilometres north of Melbourne. Broadmeadows Camp remained in use throughout the war, however, with facilities being progressively improved.[2]

The Housing Commission of Victoria began the building of a 2,226 ha. estate in the Broadmeadows area in 1949. Not until 1975 did it begin building in the vicinity of the old township, which it called Westmeadows Heights. Between 1975 and 1979 it built over 900 houses in the area.

The first Broadmeadows Post Office (near Mickleham Road in today's Westmeadows) opened on 1 January 1855, was renamed Broadmeadows West in 1955, Westmeadows in 1963 before closing in 1973. The second Broadmeadows Post Office was renamed in 1956 from Broadmeadows East (from 1923 the successor to Broadmeadows Railway Station Post Office open since 1902). It closed in 1968 the day Dallas (located centrally and open since 1966) became the third Broadmeadows Post Office.

This office reverted to Dallas in 1995, when Broadmeadows Square Post Office, on Pascoe Vale Road north of the station (previously named Meadow Fair from 1965 having replaced Jacana Post Office, to the south, open since 1961) was renamed and became the fourth distinct location of the Broadmeadows Post Office.

A later Broadmeadows East office, near Widford Street to the southeast of the station, opened in 1961, was renamed Broadmeadows South in 1969, and also remains open.[3]

The City hosted the road cycling event at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[4]

Industry

Broadmeadows has a strong manufacturing industry, including a large Ford factory in Campbellfield.

Schools

Demographics

Broadmeadows is a culturally diverse community. Just over half (55.2%) of Broadmeadows' population was born in Australia and 37.1% were born overseas. Around one third (33.0%) were born overseas in a non-English speaking country. The most common overseas countries of birth of Broadmeadows residents are Turkey,[5] Iraq and Lebanon.

Growing communities in Broadmeadows include residents born in the Philippines. The most common languages spoken at home, other than English, for residents in Broadmeadows are Arabic and Turkish, Assyrian, Vietnamese and Italian are the next most common languages. Christian religions remain the most common in Broadmeadows with 57.9% of the population of Christian faith. Non-Christian religions however, are also common, at 21.8% (compared to 14.6% for Hume City).

Transport

Broadmeadows is serviced by the Melbourne metropolitan railway service as well as the Victorian regional railway services from Broadmeadows railway station, located between Pascoe Vale Road and Railway Crescent, which is served by regular trains on the Craigieburn railway line. Broadmeadows is also the terminus for the area's bus routes.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Broadmeadows (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.awm.gov.au/units/place_493.asp. Retrieved 16 December 2009
  3. ↑ Premier Postal History, Post Office List, retrieved 11 April 2008
  4. ↑ 1956 Summer Olympics official report. p. 47.
  5. ↑ John Ilhan will be fondly remembered by all those who knew him

External links

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