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Satellite map of Broadmeadows
Research Site Manager: Dr
Martin Mulligan
 In the 1950s and 60s, the Victorian government established hastily built public housing estates in what were seen as 'empty paddocks' at Broadmeadows on the edge of Melbourne. A strong community spirit evolved among people who lived in an area with inadequate infrastructure and facilities, yet extraordinary media attention on the activities of 'gangs' of young people in the area meant that, by the 1970s, most people outside the area thought of it as a bad place to live. This was partly because Broadmeadows was at the end of an urban railway line and was seen as being at the edge of the city. Few people knew that area was once described by the 'explorers' Hume and Hovell as being the most attractive they had seen on their long walk from Sydney to the site of what would become Melbourne and that one of the first settlements outside Melbourne was built around a point where the old road to Sydney crossed the Moonee Ponds Creek at 'old Broadmeadows' (now called Westmeadows). Although the city has grown to engulf the area, it still contains areas of delightful grassland, groves of river redgums that can be up to 800 years old, and a series of creeks that were once degraded but are now being lovingly rehabilitated by community volunteers.
From the late 1970s onwards, migrants from non-English speaking
countries began arriving in the area in large numbers and over 33% of
the population now comes from non-English speaking backgrounds. There
is also a significant community of people from the indigenous
Wurundjeri Kurnung-Willumballuk clan ( meaning 'people of the creeks')
and other indigenous Australians. With around 14% of residents coming
from the Middle East, high schools in the area now include some large
Islamic colleges as well as a special koori (south-east Australian name
for Aboriginal) education school. Census data reveals that the area
still includes a large number of single-parent families, many families
on very low incomes, and a relatively high proportion of people unable
to find employment. At the same time, new housing estates for families
on 'middle incomes' have been developed all around Broadmeadows as a
centre and the area is seen as being 'strategically located' - just 25
minutes to the city by train, 10 minutes by car to the airport, and
adjacent to the highway heading towards Sydney. Real estate prices have
risen rapidly, the local shopping centre is turning into a regional
central business district, and the suburban rail link is being extended
to the new suburbs further north. Within the CBD, a new, purpose-built
Koori Education Centre (associated with the Technical and Further
Education college) stands across a large park from a high-tech Global
Learning Centre sponsored by Hume City Council, The Age newspaper, and
other corporations that have their headquarters in the area. Old and new Broadmeadows
Our attention focuses on the part of the Broadmeadows suburb that contains
the highest proportion of public housing stock in the region, centred
on the local shopping centre of Olsen Place. This area has become
the focus for a 'neighbourhood renewal' funded by the Victorian government's
Department of Human Services. Residents of this area must now orient
more than ever to the shopping centre and CBD that lies on the other
side of the railway line (creating issues of access). A short distance
to the west, the 'old Broadmeadows' village can still be identified,
clustered around an historic bridge over Moonee Ponds Creek, at the
heart of the relatively prosperous suburb now called Westmeadows.
Standing above Westmeadows is Gellibrand Hill with its panaromic views
down to the city, at the edge of the Woodlands Historic Park. A lot
of work is going into the rehabilitation of Moonee Ponds Creek in
this area.
The Globalism Institute has conducted a pilot study, funded by
VicHealth, on sense of place and community wellbeing that compared
the experiences of Broadmeadows and Daylesford. This has been compiled
and published as Creating Resilient Communities: A Comparative
Study of Sense of Place and Community, by Martin Mulligan
with Paul James, Chris Scanlon and Chris Ziguras. To extend that
research the Institute has established partnerships with the Hume
City Council and the Neighbourhood Renewal team working in the area.
The research will focus on people living in the part of Broadmeadows
that surrounds Olsen Place and those living in the area surrounding
the historic village; all of them orienting to the Broadmeadows
CBD and its burgeoning facilities.
The Globalism Institute is working with a critical reference group in
Broadmeadows to provide a reflective forum and reference base for the
project:
Rosalind Vincent is Project Manager, Broadmeadows Community
Neighbourhood Renewal
Anne Kershaw, Arts & Cultural Planner at Hume City
Council, works with the Hume City community on arts and cultural
initiatives that build local identity, assist urban renewal and support
Council's social justice priorities.
Moya White is Co-ordinator of Dallas Neighbourhood House
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