St Albans 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, north-west 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

City of Brimbank The City of Brimbank is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the western suburbs between 10 and 20 km west and northwest from the Melbourne city centre. The City has ...

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 ...

. St Albans recorded a population of 38,042 at the 2021 census. St Albans' main commercial and shopping precinct is located on Main Road West, Main Road East, Alfrieda Street, 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 ...

and East Esplanade. It has become one of Melbourne's most

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

suburbs, with only 32.5% of residents being born in Australia and has a very high proportion of residents of a non-English speaking background. The postcode is 3021.

History

St Albans was first established as a township in 1887 and originally subdivided by the Cosmopolitan Land and Banking Company, who had acquired in the hope of a quick financial gain during that period's land boom. Manager Alfred Padley made an arrangement with

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

to build the railway station, which he insisted be named St Albans after his maternal ancestors' association with

St Albans Cathedral St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be ...

, England. Padley built and resided in Kieglo, which later became the Presbytery of the Sacred Heart . The company was later liquidated in 1903. St Albans was promoted as an attractive location for professionals, providing easy rail access to central Melbourne and adjoining suburbs. St Albans Post Office opened on 22 October 1888. St Albans became a small

dormitory suburb A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for growing industrial firms in Deer Park and Sunshine. Despite the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, development was steady and, by 1940, around 700 people lived in the town. In the years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the population rapidly increased with the arrival of displaced migrants, particularly from

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. This led to additional state schools and the 1953 establishment of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, as well as

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 ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

churches. St Albans remained geographically isolated from other suburbs by large areas of open land until the 1980s. It is now considered to be a middle-city suburb as the Melbourne Metropolitan area boundary now extends to over from the

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 ...

Demographics

St Albans' ethnic makeup is predominantly first and second generation immigrants. The ABS 2021 Census reported that 30% were of South-East Asian origin, with large

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

extraction. Since the 2001 Census, there has also been a rapid increase in the number of

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s from the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

settling in St Albans. In the 2021 census the population of St Albans was 38,042, approximately 50.3% female and 49.7% male. The median/average age of the people in St Albans is 36 years of age. 32.5% of people living in the suburb of St Albans were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were 21.5% Vietnam, 5.8% India, 3.0% Philippines, 2.7% Malta, 1.4% Iraq, 1.4% Croatia, 1.4% Pakistan, 1.3% North Macedonia. 21.6% of people living in St Albans speak English only. The other top languages spoken are 29.2% Vietnamese, 4.2% Punjabi, 2.7% Maltese, 2.4% Cantonese, 2.1% Arabic. The most common religions in St Albans are 25.6% Catholic, 19.7% No religion, 15.6% Buddhism, 5.9% Islam, 4.6% Eastern Orthodox.

Transport

Trains

St Albans has three train stations, all in PTV ticketing Zone 2 on the

Sunbury line The Sunbury Line (formerly known as Sunbury Subdivision) is a rail line owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Railway which in turn is owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. The line travels from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to Binghamton, New Yo ...

. These are Ginifer,

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

and

Keilor Plains Keilor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Hume local government areas. Keilor recorded a population of 5,906 at the 2021 census. ...

. The line was electrified as far as St Albans until 26 January 2002 when it was extended to

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

. The Sydenham line was electrified to Sunbury and renamed the Sunbury railway line, opening on 18 November 2012. The

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

at St Albans station was removed in 2016, with the station lowered and the level crossing replaced with a new overpass.

Buses

St Albans has numerous bus services that service St Albans itself and neighboring suburbs, most of which start and finish at St Albans railway station.

Cycling

Cyclists in St Albans are represented b
BrimBUG
the Brimbank

Bicycle User Group A Bicycle User Group (BUG or B.U.G.) is a group set up to promote cycling issues in, for example, a place of employment or a local government area. A BUG might be part of or affiliated with a bigger organization representing cyclists' interests at C ...

Flora and fauna

Great parks are located on the East and West borders of the suburb. These areas (particularly in the West) used to have large healthy populations of native reptiles, including Tiger snake,

Eastern blue-tongued lizard The ''Tiliqua scincoides scincoides,'' or eastern blue-tongued lizard, is native to Australia. It is unique due to its blue tongue, which can be used to warn off predators. In addition to flashing its blue tongue, the skink hisses and puffs up its ...

and

Eastern brown snake The eastern brown snake (''Pseudonaja textilis''), often referred to as the common brown snake, is a species of highly venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea. It was ...

. Unfortunately due to development these species are now rarely seen in the area. Due to development of the Cairnlea estate on the southern border of St Albans, native species of frogs have taken advantage and have taken up residence in the new wetlands and lakes. The Eastern Banjo Frog, common eastern froglet and even the now endangered

growling grass frog The growling grass frog (''Ranoidea raniformis''), also commonly known as the southern bell frog, warty swamp frog and erroneously as the green frog, is a species of ground-dwelling tree frog native to southeastern Australia, ranging from sout ...

have been seen and heard in the new wetlands and around

Kororoit Creek The Kororoit Creek is a watercourse of the Port Phillip catchment, rising in the outer north western suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features The Kororoit Creek rises below Mount Kororoit, northeast of ...

. *

Brimbank Park Brimbank Park is a metropolitan regional park managed by Parks Victoria situated in the north-western Melbourne suburb of Keilor East, Victoria, Australia. History About 40,000 years ago: first signs of possible human habitation along the Mar ...

Kororoit Creek Trail __NOTOC__ The Kororoit Creek Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows the Kororoit Creek in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The interrupted upper section is located in Burnside and De ...

Education

St Albans has a large number of schools including the following; *

Victoria University, Australia Victoria University (VU or Vic Uni) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of only six dual-sector universities in Australia, providing courses in both higher education and Technical and Further Educa ...

Victoria University Secondary College Victoria University Secondary College is a state government co-educational day school for years 7-12. The junior campus is located in Deer Park, Victoria, Australia. The senior campus is located in St. Albans, Victoria, Australia. The college ...

* Catholic Regional College St Albans * Holy Eucharist Primary School * St Albans Secondary College * St Albans Primary School (established 1889) * St Albans Heights Primary School * St Albans East Primary School * St Albans Meadows Primary School * University Park Primary School (formerly St Albans South Primary School) * St Albans North Primary School * Sacred Heart Primary School * Stevensville Primary School * Movelle Primary School * Copperfield College * Jackson School

Community facilities

The suburb and surrounding areas have a large Orthodox Christian community. The suburb is home to the Greek Orthodox Church of St Paraskevi, St Barbara and St John the Merciful, the Serbian Orthodox Church of St George, and also the Coptic Orthodox Church of St George. Thien Duc Temple, Dieu Am Temple and Bo De Temple, three Vietnamese Buddhist temples, are located in the suburb.

Sport

The suburb has an

Australian Rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

football team, St Albans Football Club, competing in the

Western Region Football League The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors. History The league was formed in 1931 as the "Footscray District Football L ...

, with the club actually based in neighbouring Kings Park. The club has been very successful particularly over recent years. The local

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 ...

team, the St Albans Saints is backed by the Croatian community, whilst the

Green Gully Cavaliers Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club ...

are backed by the Maltese community. Both currently compete in the

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

and both have significant support.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Albans Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Brimbank