Fairfield is a suburb in

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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, located within the Cities of

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 ...

and Yarra

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

s. Fairfield recorded a population of 6,535 at the 2021 census. Fairfield is bounded by Grange Road to the east, the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stre ...

to the south, Darebin Road to the north and Northcote to the west. Yarra Bend is a locality in Fairfield.

History

Fairfield gets its name from "Fairfield Park", an estate that was subdivided from large tracts of land that was brought by Charles Henry James, a land speculator. The name was alleged to have come from

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Fairfield Post Office opened on 21 February 1887. It has since relocated. In 1962, Fairfield was part of the former City of Heidelberg. In that year, the suburb, along with Alphington, became part of the

City of Northcote The City of Northcote was a local government area about northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1883 until 1994. History Prior to the 1880s land boom, Northcote had bee ...

, which in 1994, became part of the

City of 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 ...

Commerce and culture

Fairfield is predominantly residential, with a small north-eastern pocket remaining a light industrial area. A three-storey hotel, the Grandview Hotel, was completed in 1888, with its licence was granted by the Licensing Court on 15 August in that year. It has been known for hosting live music, and in the 1970s the

Aboriginal country music Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush ballad ...

band, the

Country Outcasts Harry "Buck" Williams (16 August 1927 – 1991) and Wilga Munro (born 1940 or 1943), known as Harry and Wilga Williams, were Aboriginal Australian musicians who performed professionally between the 1960s and 1980s, playing Aboriginal country musi ...

, featuring Harry & Wilga Williams, had a residency there. The Station Street shopping district currently has 89 businesses operating within it, with 23 cafes/bars/restaurants and 17 food and wine specialists. Fairfield has significant

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

communities, with 10.9% and 10.5% of residents being of those ancestries respectively. There are also strong numbers of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

residents in the suburb. Adjacent to the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, facing north-east, is the

Fairfield Industrial Dog Object The ''Fairfield Industrial Dog Object'' (''FIDO'') is a huge sculpture in hardwood of a canine in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Fairfield, Victoria, Australia. It was part of the Darebin City Council's Public Art Program, and is loca ...

, a tall

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

wooden dog.

Education

* Fairfield Primary School * St Anthony's Primary School *

Melbourne Polytechnic Melbourne Polytechnic, formerly NMIT, is an institute of higher education and vocational education (TAFE) located in Melbourne, Australia that has been operating since around 1910. In October 2014, the institute was renamed to Melbourne Polyt ...

has a campus on the site of the former

Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, originally known as Queens Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital, operated from 1904 to its closure in 1996. Perched high on the banks of the Yarra River at Yarra Bend in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fai ...

, specialising in visual arts, music, horticulture, and jewellery manufacture.

Sporting clubs

* Fairfield Bowling Club plays

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

at Gillies St. * Fairfield Cricket Club *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

teams Fitzroy City and Yarra Jets play home matches at Fairfield Park. * Golfers play at the course of th
Yarra Bend Golf Club
on Yarra Bend Road. * Fairfield is home to the

Darebin International Sports Centre The Darebin International Sports Centre (DISC) is an athletic facility in Thornbury, Victoria, Australia. DISC is the home of the State Lawn Bowls Centre, the State Cycling Centre and the State Football Centre. DISSC has four International Sta ...

, which played host to events during the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Transport

Bus

Six

bus routes A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

service Fairfield: * :

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city lai ...

( Queen Street) –

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

( Bundoora Campus). Operated by

Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 531 buses on 43 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev Me ...

. * : Alphington station –

Moonee Ponds Junction Moonee Ponds Junction is a bus and tram interchange on the junction of Ascot Vale Road / Pascoe Vale Road and Mount Alexander Road in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne (Puckle Street / Dean Street also meets at the same point). It is located approximately ...

via Northcote and Brunswick. Operated by

Dysons Dysons is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. History Dysons was founded in June 1952 when Laurie Dyson purchased the business of Ned Gastin with route 46A Regent station to Janefield Hospital. Over the years a number of route ...

. * :

Essendon station Essendon railway station is located on the Craigieburn line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Essendon, and it opened on 1 November 1860.

–

Ivanhoe station Ivanhoe or Ivanhoe Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located just north of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Founded in 1893 by the Durack brothers, station is presently owned by the Consolidated Pastoral C ...

via

Brunswick West Brunswick West is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business district, located within the City of Merri-bek Local Government Areas of ...

, Moreland station, Thornbury and Fairfield. Operated by

Moreland Buslines Moreland Buslines is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia. It operates two routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria. History In 1955, Clarrie Wright began operating a Reo bus on routes 510 Melville Road to High Street and 511 Ess ...

. * : Heidelberg station –

Queen Victoria Market The Queen Victoria Market (also known colloquially as Vic Market or Queen Vic) is a major landmark in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Covering over , it is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemi ...

via Clifton Hill,

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. Operated by Dysons. * : Northcote – Regent station via

Northland Shopping Centre Northland Shopping Centre is a major shopping centre in Preston, approximately 11 km north of the Melbourne Central Business District in Victoria. It is the largest predominantly single-level shopping centre in Melbourne. It has more than 33 ...

. Operated by Dysons. * : Hawthorn station – Fairfield via

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

. Operated by Dysons.

Train

Fairfield is serviced by Fairfield station, which is on the Hurstbridge line.

Gallery

Image:Fairfield boathouse.jpg, Fairfield Boathouse File:Fairfield Pipe Bridge 2009.JPG, Fairfield Pipe Bridge in

Yarra Park Yarra Park (35.469 hectares) is part of the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct, the premier sporting precinct of Victoria, Australia. Located in Yarra Park is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and numerous sporting fields and ovals, in ...

Image:Fairfield dog.jpg,

, Station Street, Fairfield File:St Joseph's Melkite Catholic Church.JPG, St Joseph's Melkite Catholic Church, Fairfield

References

External links

{{Authority control Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Yarra Suburbs of the City of Darebin