The City of Darebin is a
local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609.
[ Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston.
Darebin was rated 386th of 590 Australian Local Government Areas in the BankWest Quality of Life Index 2008.]
History
The City of Darebin was formed in 1994 with the merger of most of the former Cities of Northcote and Preston, with the transfer of the portion of the City of Northcote of Heidelberg Road to the City of Yarra
The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state with an area of , and in June 2018 it had a population of 98,521, ma ...
and minor adjustments with the former Cities of Coburg
Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...
, Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and the Shire of Diamond Valley
The Shire of Diamond Valley was a local government area about northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1964 until 1994.
History
The name relates to the lowlands to the ...
.
Suburbs
* Alphington (shared with the City of Yarra
The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state with an area of , and in June 2018 it had a population of 98,521, ma ...
)
* Bundoora (shared with the Cities of Banyule and Whittlesea)
* Coburg
Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...
(shared with the City of Merri-bek
The City of Merri-bek is a local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. The Merri-bek local government area covers , and in June 2018, ...
)
* Coburg North (shared with the City of Merri-bek
The City of Merri-bek is a local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. The Merri-bek local government area covers , and in June 2018, ...
)
* Fairfield (shared with the City of Yarra
The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state with an area of , and in June 2018 it had a population of 98,521, ma ...
)
* Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent
** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station
* Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...
* Macleod
MacLeod, McLeod and Macleod ( ) which cited: are surnames in the English language.
Generally, the names are considered to be Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic ', meaning "son of '".
One of the earliest occurrences of the surname is of Gi ...
(shared with the City of Banyule
The City of Banyule is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It was created under the Local Government Act 1989 and established in 1994 as an amalgamation of former councils. It has an area of ...
)
* Northcote
* Preston
* Reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
* Thornbury
Economy of Darebin
The 2012 Business Register states that Darebin currently has 11,575 businesses operating within the region. These businesses create 55,278 jobs for locals and residents of Melbourne, and the Darebin area itself has 74,291 employed residents. Darebin had a Gross Regional Product
Gross regional product (GRP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region or subdivision of a country in a period (quarterly or yearly) of time.
A metropolitan area's GRP (gross metropolitan prod ...
of A$5.23 billion in 2012, a 0.3% increase on the previous year. Since 2001, approximately A$1 billion of extra GRP has been created in the region. The biggest exports in Darebin are:
* Manufacturing ($1,072 million)
* Education & training ($313 million)
* Wholesale trade ($243 million)
Since 2006, gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
in the Darebin area has seen average incomes and property values increase significantly in the region, particularly in the suburbs of Northcote, Fairfield, Alphington and Thornbury. As a result, there has been a dramatic change in the economy of Darebin and the types of businesses that operate. For example, since 2006, there has been increases in the total exports of the following industry sectors:
* Accommodation & food services – 49% increase ($39 million to $88.8 million)
* Wholesale trade – 39.4% increase ($203 million to $243 million)
Darebin also experienced growth thanks to the mining boom, with a 57% increase in mining-relating exports from 2006 to 2012, despite there being no mines in the municipality.
Of the 11,575 registered businesses in Darebin, the most common industry sectors are:
*Construction – 1,992 registered businesses (17.2%)
*Professional, scientific & technical services – 1,442 registered businesses (12.3%)
*Rental, hiring & real estate services – 1,167 registered businesses (10.1%)
*Transport, postal & warehousing – 1,031 registered businesses (8.9%)
Demographics of Darebin
As of 2012, Darebin has 144,086 residents living in its boundaries which include 5,344 hectares or 53 km². This gives the area of Darebin a population density of 26.96 persons per hectare.
Darebin residents have a median age of 36 and earn on average $1,178 per week. According to the 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics census, in Darebin:
* 28% of households are couples with children. (4% lower than Victorian average)
* 34% live in Medium/High density housing (11% higher than Victorian average)
* 34% of residents rent their property (8% higher than Victorian average)
* 28% have a bachelor's degree or Higher (7% higher than Victorian average)
* 21% travel on Public Transport to work (10% higher than Victorian average)
* 29% from Non-English speaking backgrounds (9% higher than Victorian average)
The most common occupations in Darebin are:
*Professionals (28.7%)
*Clerical & Administrative Workers (14.7%)
*Technicians & Trade Workers (12.0%)
With gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
, more educated and affluent residents are moving to the Darebin area, particularly in the suburbs of Northcote and Fairfield. This has seen a marked change in the occupations of residents in Darebin since 2006. There has been a decline in the number of residents employed in manual labour sectors and an increase in the number of residents employed in managerial, professional and community service sectors. This is also related to the number of residents living in Darebin with tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
education, with a 6% increase in residents with degrees in the last 7 years. Furthermore, the largest increase in residents in Darebin came from those earning in the top 25%, with a 3.4% increase in these households since 2006.
Darebin has a diverse multicultural population, with 33.7% of residents being born overseas. The most common countries of birth are:
*Italy (5.3%)
*Greece (3.7%)
*India (3.3%)
*China (3.2%)
26% of Darebin residents also arrived in Australia within the last 5 years.
Darebin as a region is home to many environmentalists
An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
, and this, along with Darebin's proximity to the Melbourne CBD, is reflected in the transportation methods used by Darebin residents compared to Melbourne as a whole. Most residents still drive to work, with 50.1% of residents driving alone to work, however this is 10% lower than the Greater Melbourne average. Furthermore, 14.2% of Darebin residents travel to work by bus, compared to 11.9% in the rest of Melbourne. Darebin residents also walk to work, cycle to work or catch other modes of public transport more often than the rest of Melbourne. Since 2006, the largest single increase in transportation use has been in train travel, with 2,423 more residents catching the train, compared to 2,416 new vehicle drivers. This is the largest increase in Victoria.
Council
Until the 2016 elections, Darebin Council elections were dominated by the Labor Party (ALP). At the first City of Darebin election in 1996 and at subsequent elections in 1998, 2002 and 2004 only ALP member candidates were successful. The ALP endorsed candidates for the very first Darebin Council elections, but in subsequent elections the local party organisation supported particular candidates in each contested ward. The decision of the party not to endorse candidates almost certainly arises from the performance of the very first elected council, in which a deal between ALP factions determined the preselection of the party's council candidates.
Dissatisfaction with the performance of the first Darebin Council led to the Kennett Government holding an Inquiry under David Elsum, which reported to the Victorian Parliament
The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...
in April 1997. The Elsum Report found that factional differences led to poor governance on the Council. As a result, the Kennett Government sacked the Council and appointed a commissioner, but decided to return to an elected council about eighteen months later in 1998.
The council consisted of nine single-Councillor wards at each of the four elections totally dominated by the ALP. In 2008, following a representation review by the Victorian Electoral Commission
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literatu ...
(VEC), Darebin was divided into three wards comprising three councillors in each elected by proportional representation. For the first time the ALP stranglehold was broken with the election of Trent McCarthy, a Greens candidate, to the Rucker Ward. In 2012, the ALP stranglehold was further weakened with the election of independents Julie Williams and Bo Li elected to the Cazaly Ward, along with Oliver Walsh, a Liberal Party member, elected to the Rucker Ward. Later in that term, Vince Fontana of Cazaly Ward and Gaetano Greco of La Trobe Ward quit the ALP, leaving only three ALP members, Tim Laurence, Steven Tsitas and Angela Villella, on the Council.
The first election in 1996 was by attendance voting. Postal voting has been used at each subsequent election.
ALP factions provided much of the interest in Darebin politics, given that the ALP has traditionally been in a commanding position within the municipality. Two councillors elected from the Right or Labor Unity faction, Nazih Elasmar
Nazih Halim Elasmar (Arabic: نزيه Øليم الأسمر) (born 16 April 1953), is a former Lebanese-Australian politician and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Labor Party between 2006 and 2022.
In 2006 Victoria ...
and Marlene Kairouz
Marlene Kairouz (born 2 March 1975) is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since 2008. She was the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation between 2016 and 2020.
Polit ...
, were subsequently elected to the Victorian Parliament. Both Elasmar and Kairouz have at various times served as Mayor of Darebin, Kairouz having held the office of Mayor on two occasions.
At the first Darebin Council Election no faction held control, with four councillors from the Preston area being members of the Labor Unity (Right) faction, four councillors from the Northcote area being members of the Socialist Left, and one Councillor from the Preston area being a member of the Pledge faction, a breakaway group from the Socialist Left frequently voting with the Right. After elections in 1998, 2002 and 2004 the Labor Unity group held almost all Council positions, but complications existed within Labor Unity as two sub-factions competed for dominance and for the election of Mayor. In 2008, with the introduction of the proportional representation voting system, no faction again held dominance.
Current councillors
Coming into effect at the 2020 council elections, Darebin was divided into nine single-member wards, each elected through preferential voting. Prior to this, councillors were elected from three multi-member wards.
Arts and entertainment
Darebin City has an active artist community which is contemporary, experimental and culturally diverse. Writers, musicians and visual artists flock to the locality for performance, collaboration and acceptance. Notable contributors to the Darebin arts community are locals, Rose Turtle Ertler, Sundown and/or Last Stand, The Contrast, The Melbourne Ukulele Kollective, DIY artshows and housegigs collective, Loveanarchistpress Publishing, Performing Older Women's Circus (POW Circus) and TRAX Arts.
Darebin celebrates the artistry and diversity of the community with regular festivals and events such as the Darebin Music Feast and the High Vibes festival. The city also funds community music, such as the Preston Symphony Orchestra and public artwork, such as the Fairfield Industrial Dog Object.
The Preston Markets are a central feature of Darebin and attract people from all around the area.
Controversies
Australia Day
In August 2017 the City of Darebin followed the City of Yarra
The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state with an area of , and in June 2018 it had a population of 98,521, ma ...
Council in deciding not to celebrate Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port ...
events. This was criticised by conservative commentators, with the Federal government subsequently removing the council's powers to hold citizenship ceremonies.
Same-sex marriage
In the lead-up to the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey
The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the postal service between 12 September and 7 November 2017. Unlike voting in ...
the council announced it will allow pro same-sex marriage campaigners to use its facilities and services (for free) and deny this access to those of an alternate view. This was criticised by conservative commentators but welcomed by community members.
The council subsequently reversed its plans to oppose those campaigning for the 'no' vote.
Men banned from applying for job
In September 2021, it was widely reported in the Australian media that the Darebin City Council had banned men from applying for a new position despite being an "equal opportunity employer".[ ]
See also
* List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the City of Darebin
References
*Population â€
Darebin City Council – Research and Statistics
External links
Official website
Metlink local public transport map
Link to Land Victoria interactive maps
*
Darebin Council Waste Management photos
*
Darebin City Council
{{Coord, 37, 44, S, 145, 01, E, type:adm2nd_region:AU-VIC, display=title
Darebin
The City of Darebin is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston.
Dar ...