Brunswick, Victoria
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Brunswick is an inner-city suburb in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, Victoria,
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, north of Melbourne's
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, located within the
City of Merri-bek The City of Merri-bek () is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne central business district, Melb ...
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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
. Brunswick recorded a population of 24,896 at the 2021 census. Traditionally a
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
area noted for its large
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and
Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...
communities, Brunswick is currently known for its
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culture and strong arts and live music scenes. It is also home to a large student population owing to its proximity to the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
and
RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...
, the latter of which has a campus in the suburb. Brunswick's major thoroughfare is Sydney Road, one of Melbourne's major commercial and nightlife strips. It also encompasses the northern section of
Lygon Street Lygon Street is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, running through the inner northern suburbs of Carlton, Carlton North, Princes Hill and Brunswick East. Lygon Street is synonymous with the Italian community of Melbourne, form ...
, synonymous with the Italian community of Melbourne, which forms its border with Brunswick East. Brunswick takes its name from
George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...
and the city of
Brunswick, Germany Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and ...
, which lay within his ancestral
Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...
. It is bordered to the south by the suburbs of Princes Hill and Parkville, to the east by Brunswick East, to the north by
Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...
and to the west by Brunswick West.


History


Early history

The
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Aboriginal peoples, Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language, Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the traditional owners of the Yarra River Valley, covering much of the present location of ...
people were the first people to live in the area of Brunswick. In
Woiwurrung language The Woiwurrung, also spelt Woi-wurrung, Woi Wurrung, Woiwurrong, Woiworung, and Wuywurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin people, Kulin alliance. The Woiwurrung people's territory in Central ...
, they called the area Bulleke-bek, which comes from bullek meaning 'flat country' and bek meaning ground. White settlement began in the 1830s, with Assistant Surveyor Darke surveying the area under the instruction of
Robert Hoddle Robert Hoddle (21 April 1794 – 24 October 1881) was a surveyor and artist. He was the first Surveyor-General of Victoria from 1851 to 1853. He was previously the Surveyor-in-Charge of the Port Phillip District from 1837 to 1851. He became ...
. North and south boundaries were drawn up, running in an east–west direction between Moonee Ponds Creek and
Merri Creek Merri Creek is a waterway in southern parts of Victoria, Australia, which flows through the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It begins near Wallan and flows south for 70 km until joining the Yarra River at Dights Falls. The area where th ...
. These boundaries would become Moreland Road and Park Street, respectively. A narrow road was surveyed down the centre to service what were intended to be agricultural properties, which would eventually become the major thoroughfare of Sydney Road. Ten allotments were drawn up on each side of this road, with each block of land running all the way to either Moonee Ponds Creek or Merri Creek. These wide strips of land are still reflected in the current street layout. The land was sold at auction in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and attracted speculators, many of whom would never see the land they purchased. Only one original buyer, James Simpson, settled on his land. Simpson subdivided his land and marked out two streets, Carmarthon Street (later Albert Street) and Landillo Street (later Victoria Street). Because the land was too marshy he left the area in 1859 with much of the land unsold. In 1841 two friends, Thomas Wilkinson and
Edward Stone Parker Edward Stone Parker (1802–1865) was a Methodist preacher and assistant Protector of Aborigines in the Aboriginal Protectorate established in the Port Phillip District of colonial New South Wales under George Augustus Robinson in 1838. He est ...
, bought land from one of the original buyers. Parker soon left but Wilkinson stayed on and subdivided his land for sale or rent. He marked two roads which would eventually become extensions of the roads marked out by Simpson. Wilkinson named the streets Victoria Street (after
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
) and Albert Street (after her husband
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). Wilkinson's office opened in 1846, taking on the name of Wilkinson's estate and thus establishing the name of the whole area. In October 1842, Miss Amelia Shaw became the licensee of the first hotel in the area, the Retreat Inn. The hotel also had a weighbridge so bullock drivers could refresh themselves whilst their wagons were weighed. The establishment was rebuilt in 1892 and renamed the Retreat Hotel; it still stands today. Also in 1842, work began on a new road along the central surveyors' division. The road was originally known as Pentridge Road; it led to the bluestone quarries of Pentridge (now
Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...
). In 1843, William Lobb established a cattle farm on his allotment and the area became known as Lobb's Hill. A laneway down the side of his property, originally called Lobb's Lane, would later be named Stewart Street. In 1849, one of the original land purchasers, Michael Dawson, completed work on an ivy-covered mansion on his property called Phoenix Park. The property was named after
Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...
near
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Dawson cited his address not as Brunswick but as Philiptown, after a town in Ireland which has since reverted to its original name of
Daingean Daingean (; or ), formerly Philipstown, named after King Philip II of Spain (then King of Ireland by ), is a small town in east County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated midway between the towns of Tullamore and Edenderry on the R402 regiona ...
. Philiptown eventually grew into a village along the track which led from Phoenix Park to Sydney Road. This track was later named Union Street.


Goldrush era

Henry Search opened a butcher's shop in 1850, on the south-west corner of Albert Street and Sydney Road. This was the first retail establishment in Brunswick. By 1851, gold diggers began making their way through the area, on their journey from the populous suburbs of Fitzroy and Collingwood. Brunswick provided a convenient place for lunch, before the diggers reached the beginnings of the roads to the goldfields, near present-day
Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...
. A small village sprang up to meet the needs of the travellers, near the present day Cumberland Arms Hotel. The village included a tent market, described as being like a bazaar, where miners could buy goods needed for the goldfields. Brunswick Post Office opened on 1 January 1854. In 1859, Wilkinson established the area's first newspaper, ''The Brunswick Record'', which changed its name in 1858 to ''The Brunswick & Pentridge Press''. By 1857, the local population was estimated at 5000. The Brunswick Municipal Council was established in that year at the Cornish Arms Hotel, which still stands. The first municipal chambers were established in 1859 on Sydney Road at Lobb's Hill, between Stewart and Albion Streets. The present Brunswick Town Hall is an imposing Victorian edifice built in 1876 on the corner of Dawson Street and Sydney Road, near the centre of Brunswick. In the 1850s, quarries and a large brickworks established in Brunswick, using the local clay and bluestone, quickly became the largest industry in the area. In 1884 the first Brunswick railway line opened, running from
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...
to Brunswick and
Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...
. The line ran directly into the Hoffmans Brickworks, reflecting the importance of the brick-making industry to the local community. Prior to
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Brunswick was the "brickyard capital of Victoria". Remnants of the brickyards are still visible in some parts of Brunswick but most of the yards have long been converted to residential housing or parks. A few years later – in 1887 – a cable tram line was laid along Sydney Road.


Post-goldrush era

In 1908, Brunswick officially became a city. Textiles became a large industry in the area in the early decades of the 20th century, while quarrying declined with the depletion of reserves. In the latter half of the 1920s, thousands of Brunswick residents worked in the textile and rope manufacturing industries. By 1930, there were 300 factories in Brunswick employing over 6,000 workers. "Free Speech" campaigns occurred in Brunswick during 1933, as protestors countered the actions of police who sought to prevent "street meetings" of communists. On 19 May 1933, two incidents occurred on Sydney Road. Large numbers of police officers were in the area to prevent expected street meetings and, when Reginald Patullo was spotted addressing a crowd from the roof of a tram, the police gave chase. As Patullo attempted to evade capture, one of the pursuing officers tripped and shot Patullo in the thigh. On the same night, a "well-dressed young man" appeared in a cage on the back of a lorry. He used a megaphone to address the crowd and the cage itself bore slogans such as "We want free speech". Police dispersed the crowd and the young man was eventually freed and then arrested. By June 1933, Brunswick residents and local council members were criticising the police action, and Councillor Wylie stated: "Without any discretion, mounted troopers drove men, women, and children off the footpaths in Sydney road into the path of traffic on Friday nights."


Post-World War II era

In the post-
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
era, Brunswick became the home of a large number of migrants from southern Europe, particularly from
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
and
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
. More recently, migrants from
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
,
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
and other countries have arrived. The brickworks and much of the textile industry also began to close as
gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
accelerated in the 1990s. Many old buildings were renovated and new residential developments begun during this period. In 2004, Brunswick and nearby Carlton were the location of several murders in what has been widely reported in Melbourne's media as an " underworld war".


Commerce

Commercial activity is mainly centred on Sydney Road and
Lygon Street Lygon Street is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, running through the inner northern suburbs of Carlton, Carlton North, Princes Hill and Brunswick East. Lygon Street is synonymous with the Italian community of Melbourne, form ...
in neighbouring Brunswick East. While separated from the tourist strip in Carlton, northern Lygon Street has a substantial number of restaurants. Barkly Square, extensively renovated in 2014, is Brunswick's major covered shopping centre, located on the east side of Sydney Road, close to
Jewell railway station Jewell railway station is a commuter railway station on the Upfield line, part of the Railways in Melbourne, Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Brunswick, Victoria, Brunswick in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Jewell st ...
, although there is a wide variety of supermarkets to be found all along the Sydney Road strip.


Demographics

In the , there were 24,896 people in Brunswick. * The most common ancestries were English 31.1%, Australian 25.2%, Irish 15.5%, Scottish 10.8% and Italian 10.4%. * 66.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 3.6%, New Zealand 3.0%, Italy 2.6%, Greece 2.5% and United States of America 1.3%. * 72.9% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Greek 4.5%, Italian 3.9%, Mandarin 1.8%, Arabic 1.8% and Spanish 1.4%. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 61.2%, Catholic 13.8%, Eastern Orthodox 5.6%, Not stated 4.8% and Islam 2.9%.


Politics

During the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
in 1933, Brunswick was the site of free speech meetings by members of the Unemployed Workers Movement, who were harassed and suppressed by the police. The young artist Noel Counihan played a significant part in this campaign. A Free Speech memorial was built in 1994 outside the
Mechanics' Institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...
on the corner of Sydney and Glenlyon Roads to commemorate the free speech fights. Counihan's work as an artist and local resident is also commemorated by the Counihan Gallery in the Brunswick Town Hall, at the corner of Sydney Road and Dawson Street, run by the
City of Merri-bek The City of Merri-bek () is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne central business district, Melb ...
. Brunswick has long been a stronghold of left-wing politics in Melbourne, with the federal and state parliamentary seats held by the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
with very comfortable margins. In the 21st century these margins have been encroached upon by the increasingly popular
Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...
, who at the
2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday, 2 July 2016, to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign p ...
polled a majority of the two-party-preferred vote against the Australian Labor Party in every booth in Brunswick. However, as well as the "mainstream" left, Brunswick and nearby suburbs have for many years been a holdout of other left-wing parties, radical socialists, and anarchists. In
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
the Victorian state
electoral district of Brunswick The electoral district of Brunswick is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It covers an area of in inner northern Melbourne, and includes the suburbs of Brunswick, Victoria, Brunswick, Brunswick East, Victoria, Brunswick East, ...
elected a Greens member, Tim Read, for the first time. He was re-elected in
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
with an increased margin of 13.5%, making Brunswick a safe seat for the Greens. Brunswick falls into the local City of Merri-bek's South Ward; at the 2020 election, the South Ward elected two Greens (James Conlan and Mark Riley) and one Labor councillor (Lambros Tapinos). James Conlan would later leave the Greens in February 2023. The Brunswick Progress Association, formed in 1905, has had an active role in representing residents, particularly on local issues to Merri-bek Council, but also at the state and federal levels.


Culture

In the 1980s, Brunswick's major nightspot was the Bombay Rock, a notoriously dangerous venue that saw considerable violence between ethnic groups. It was featured in the 1991 movie ''
Death In Brunswick ''Death in Brunswick'' is a 1990 Australian black comedy/romance starring Sam Neill, Zoe Carides, and John Clarke. It is based on the 1987 comic novel of the same name by Boyd Oxlade. At the APRA Music Awards of 1991, "Death in Brunswick" won ...
'' and destroyed by a fire in the mid-1990s. The Sarah Sands Hotel has hosted tours from a number of local and international acts, mostly punk, skinhead, goth or alternative in nature. By 2017, it was again for sale. Brunswick was the location of the "Brunswick Massive" art collective, which was run by local youths involved in
Australian Hip Hop Australian hip-hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and was initially largely inspired by hip-hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of musi ...
and Electronic Music events. The Sydney Road Street Party, held annually in late February, is a major event in the suburb, during which a large proportion of Sydney Road is closed to all traffic. The festival is a prelude to the Brunswick Music Festival, held in March, featuring
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
,
roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...
, and
world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
.


Sport

Brunswick has two soccer clubs, Brunswick Juventus and Brunswick City, but Moreland United, Moreland City and Essendon Royals also have strong links to the suburb. There are two cricket clubs
Brunswick Cricket Club
an
Royal Park
. The Brunswick Cricket Club, located at Gillon Oval, has a long history dating back to the 1860s and for the last 80 years has been part of th
Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association
There is a tennis club (West Brunswick, which is actually located at Raeburn Reserve) and three Australian Rules football clubs. The main sites for sporting activity in Brunswick are focused around Clifton and Gilpin Park and the Gillon Oval, though there are many other ovals and pitches around the suburb. A hockey ground is located at
Brunswick Secondary College Brunswick Secondary College is a public high school located in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. The school caters for students from Year 7 to Year 12. Curriculum Brunswick Secondary offers a comprehensive curriculum fro ...
. The hockey ground is owned by Brunswick Hockey Club. The Brunswick Velodrome is in Brunswick East. Brunswick Athletic Club has been operating since 1953, competes in the North West Region of Athletics Victoria and has produced athletes who have represented Victoria and Australia. West Brunswick Football Club, North Old Boys Football Club and North Brunswick compete in the
VAFA The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. Founded in 1892, it consists of six senior divisions, ranging from Premier to Division 3 in the men's competit ...
. Brunswick Netball Club is for all ages. The Brunswick Junior Football Club is based at Gillion Oval, West Brunswick. The North Brunswick Junior Football Club is based at Allard Park, East Brunswick. Both of these teams play in the
Yarra Junior Football League The Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) is the largest junior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The league has a total of 30 clubs, who are based around northern, eastern and north-eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne. There is ...
. The Brunswick Netball Club is also based at Gillion Oval. The Brunswick Bowling Club is located in East Brunswick at 104-106 Victoria Street. The Brunswick Trugo Club is in Temple Park, at 29 Hodgson Street. Established in 1994
The Brunswick Lacrosse Club
(established as Moreland Lacrosse) is based at Fleming Park, with new clubrooms built in 2023 to support its multiple junior and senior teams.


Facilities and services

Among the most notable, popular and long-standing of Brunswick's community facilities is the Brunswick City Baths in Dawson Street, opening in 1914. After protracted and expensive renovations from 2012, it reopened in 2014 with remodelled change rooms, indoor and outdoor heated pools and children's indoor play pool, fitness program rooms, steam room and sauna, spa and gymnasium. It is owned by Merri-bek Council and managed by the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
. The Counihan Gallery is in the Brunswick Town Hall building which also housed the Brunswick Library, part of Merri-bek City Libraries, during the library's renovation in 2013–14. Certain municipal administrative functions still operate from the Brunswick Town Hall, while the former council offices are now used by community organisations. While several of Brunswick's schools were sold off by the Kennett Government in the 1990s for private housing, the former
Brunswick Secondary College Brunswick Secondary College is a public high school located in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. The school caters for students from Year 7 to Year 12. Curriculum Brunswick Secondary offers a comprehensive curriculum fro ...
building on Victoria Street was saved and has found a new use as the Brunswick Business Incubator, run by the economic development unit of Merri-bek Council. Brunswick has a large number of social service agencies, from large Commonwealth corporate providers such as
Centrelink The Centrelink Master Program, or more commonly known as Centrelink, is a Services Australia master program of the Australian Government. It delivers a range of government payments and services for retirees, the unemployed, families, carer ...
, local government services and community-based organisations. Among the most notable are the two services for
asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...
and
refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
, the Asylum Seeker Welcome Centre and Foundation House.


Education

The first state-run kindergarten opened in Brunswick in 1907 by
Emmeline Pye Emmeline Pye (13 December 1861 – 20 April 1949) was an Australian educationalist, teacher and lecturer. She was one of the first Australians trained in kindergarten ideas and she opened the first one, run by the state of Victoria, in 1907 in Bru ...
who worked at the Central Brunswick Training School. Brunswick North Primary School in Albion Street is the only government primary school within the boundaries of Brunswick, residents of the suburb have access to four additional primary schools in the vicinity:
Brunswick South Primary School Brunswick South Primary School (BSPS) is a government primary school located in Brunswick East, Victoria, Brunswick East, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia. The school was ear-marked by the Jef ...
, Brunswick East PS (in Brunswick East), Brunswick South West PS and Brunswick North West PS, as well as two Catholic primary schools. There are two government secondary schools (
Brunswick Secondary College Brunswick Secondary College is a public high school located in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. The school caters for students from Year 7 to Year 12. Curriculum Brunswick Secondary offers a comprehensive curriculum fro ...
and the
Sydney Road Community School The Sydney Road Community School is a small government school located on Sydney Road in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. It has approximately 100 students from Year 7 to Year 12. Established in 1972 at the height of the alternative educatio ...
), a Catholic secondary school and a Maronite Catholic college. There is a campus of
RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...
focusing on Textiles and Printing in Dawson Street. Brunswick East High School, which had been located on Albert Street, was closed permanently due to low student enrolments in 1992 and demolished and replaced by Rendazzo Park and townhouses. It had initially opened as Brunswick Domestic Arts School for Girls in the 1920s.


Public open space

The main areas of open space in Brunswick are on its western edge, comprising several recreational areas that almost combine into a single space: the Alex Gillon Oval, Raeburn Reserve, Brunswick Park, Clifton Park and Gilpin Park. These areas are separated by Victoria and Albert Street. The remaining open spaces within Brunswick are small to tiny 'pocket parks' and reserves. The most notable are Temple Park, Warr Park and Randazzo Park, the latter having won awards for its contemporary landscape design. The southern edge of Brunswick faces directly onto Royal Park and Princes Park, which are large areas of regionally-significant open space in the suburbs of Parkville and Carlton North. Though not actually within Brunswick, there is good access to the Merri and
Moonee Ponds Moonee Ponds is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley Local government ar ...
Creeks, which are linear open spaces with bike paths along them, in Brunswick East and Brunswick West respectively.


Places of worship

Brunswick's diverse religious communities have many places of worship. Various Christian denominations have prominent churches, including
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
,
Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...
(located in Brunswick East),
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
,
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
,
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
, and
Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost a ...
. Other Christian groups with places of worship are the Church of the Latter Rain and
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
. There are also two mosques and a Buddhist centre. Most of these places of worship are located along Sydney Road or its immediate hinterland.


Transport

The area is among the best-served by public transport in Melbourne.


Bus

Seven
bus routes A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in ...
service Brunswick: * : Essendon stationBrunswick East via Albion Street. Operated by
Dysons Dyson Group of Companies, operating as Dysons, is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. The oldest of its subsidiary companies is L.C. Dysons Bus Services, which was founded in June 1952 and is based in Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora ...
. * :
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 approximate ...
Clifton Hill station via East Brunswick. Operated by
Dysons Dyson Group of Companies, operating as Dysons, is a bus and coach operator in Victoria, Australia. The oldest of its subsidiary companies is L.C. Dysons Bus Services, which was founded in June 1952 and is based in Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora ...
. * : Moonee Ponds Junction – Westgarth station via Brunswick. Operated by Dysons. * : Alphington station – Moonee Ponds Junction via Northcote and Brunswick. Operated by Dysons. * : Brunswick West – Barkly Square Shopping Centre via Hope Street and Sydney Road. Operated by Dysons. * : Essendon station –
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, Northcote and Thornbury. Operated by
Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 602 buses on 45 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev Me ...
. *
Night Bus Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, is a mode of public transport service operated during the night hours. As an intermediate approach – between providing full service around the clock and stopping services altogether – it p ...
: Brunswick station
Glenroy station Glenroy Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is situated approximately north of Fitzroy Crossing and east of Derby in the Kimberley region. History The property was established in the ear ...
via West Coburg (operates Saturday and Sunday mornings only). Operated by
Ventura Bus Lines Ventura Bus Lines is a large bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, operating a fleet of more than 950 buses on 141 bus routes. History Early history Ventura was founded in December 1924 by Henry Cornwall. The name and co ...
.


Cycling

Brunswick itself is relatively flat and is ideal for cycling. Brunswick East is bounded by the
Merri Creek Trail __NOTOC__ The Merri Creek Trail is a shared use path for cycling, cyclists and pedestrians that follows the Merri Creek through the northern Suburb, suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. History The first section of the Trail was opened in 1985 by ...
, and Brunswick West by the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail, though neither of these can be described as flat. The Upfield Bike Path follows the Upfield railway line from
Fawkner Fawkner is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of City of Hume, Hume and City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek ...
, through
Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...
and Brunswick, joining the
Capital City Trail __NOTOC__ The Capital City Trail is a shared use path in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, which circles the Melbourne city centre, city centre and some inner eastern and northern suburbs. It is 29 km in length, and mo ...
at Park Street. Streets in Brunswick vary, from too narrow for two cars to pass, to reasonably wide. Not all of the wider streets have cycle lanes, though even riding in lanes in the narrower street often means riding close to parked cars, presenting a significant hazard to cyclists from opening car doors.


Train

Three
railway stations A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such a ...
service Brunswick: Jewell, Brunswick and Anstey stations, all located on the
Upfield line The Upfield line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fifth-shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street station in centra ...
.


Tram

Five tram routes service Brunswick: * , which travels along Sydney Road,
Royal Parade Royal Parade may refer to: * Royal Parade – street in Melbourne * Royal Parade (patience), an old English patience game {{Disambiguation ...
and Elizabeth Street to
Flinders Street railway station Flinders Street railway station is a major railway station located on the corner of Flinders Street, Melbourne, Flinders and Swanston Street, Swanston streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the busiest railway station in Victoria, se ...
, past
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
campuses, hospitals and the Queen Victoria Market. * , to Albert Park, Victoria, South Melbourne Beach, and to Glen Iris, Victoria, Glen Iris, travelling along
Lygon Street Lygon Street is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, running through the inner northern suburbs of Carlton, Carlton North, Princes Hill and Brunswick East. Lygon Street is synonymous with the Italian community of Melbourne, form ...
. * , which travels through Royal Park and to the city from nearby Brunswick West. * , traveling down Nicholson Street in nearby Brunswick East past Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament House and Southern Cross railway station.


Landmarks and notable places

The most prominent structures in Brunswick are the Cultural heritage, heritage listed chimneys of Hoffmann's brickworks on Dawson Street. At their base, one of the brick kilns has been preserved, though the remainder of this site has been redeveloped as medium-density attached housing and low-rise apartment blocks. Other landmark buildings are the many churches along Sydney Road like Brunswick Baptist Church, the Brunswick Tram Depot, and the large bluestone warehouses in Colebrook Street. Of the newer structures, the four new buildings at the
RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...
campus on Dawson Street are of notable contemporary character, each having its own unique architectural style, with two buildings by noted Melbourne architect John Wardle (architect), John Wardle. The Brunswick Community Health Centre, on Glenlyon Road, completed in the late 1980s, presents a collection of eclectic, differently coloured forms juxtaposed on a small site. It was designed by Melbourne architecture firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall, who have since become internationally prominent. Being one of Melbourne's oldest suburbs, Brunswick has a large number of places of Cultural heritage, heritage significance, in the form of individual buildings as well as urban conservation precincts covering entire streets or substantial parts of them.


Notable people


Sister cities

* Solarino,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
* Sparti (municipality), Sparta,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
Brunswick has more Greeks of Laconia, Laconian origin than anywhere else in Australia. The president of the Greek Community first suggested a sister city connection between Sparta and Brunswick in 1970. The sistership protocols were signed in 1987. A party comprising the Mayor of Sparta and eight dignitaries came to Brunswick for the official function in 1988, at which Talbot Street, (off Sydney Road, one City block, block north of Victoria Street) was pedestrianised and renamed Sparta Place in recognition of the political and cultural link between the two places. In 2005, Sparta Place was significantly remodelled.


See also

* City of Brunswick – Brunswick was previously within this former local government area. * ''Death in Brunswick'' – a 1991 film set in Brunswick, starring Sam Neill, Zoe Carides and John Clarke (satirist), John Clarke. * ''Janis and Saint Christopher'' – a 2013 urban fantasy e-novel set in Brunswick that features Janis Joplin. * ''Kick (TV series)'' – a 2007 SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS series set in Brunswick. * Downs & Son – an early 20th century rope manufacturing factory in Brunswick, which remains the most intact rope works in the suburb.


References

Note: Moreland Council demographic data – look for the page numbers in the text of the document (centre, bottom etc.) as these are out of sync with the pdf page-numbering.


Further reading

* Barnes, Les (Ed)(1987) It Happened in Brunswick: 1837–1987, Brunswick: Brunswick Community History Group () * Brunswick Community History Group (2005) Brunswick Green: Historic Parks in Moreland, Brunswick: Brunswick Community History Group with Moreland City Council * Brunswick Community History Group (1993) A Walk Along The Upfield Line, Brunswick: Brunswick Community History Group (No ISBN) * Cunningham, L. and Burchell, L. (4th ed, 1999) Brunswick's Hotels, Brunswick: Brunswick Community History Group (No ISBN) * Eckersall, K. (2006) The Pillars of Our Land: Brunswick Citizen Pioneers, Brunswick: Brunswick Community History Group () * Folk-Scolaro, F. (Ed)(2002) Faith of Our Fathers: Churches of Sydney Road, Brunswick, Brunswick: Brunswick Community History Group () * Himbury, A (2000) "As long as you could see the Hoffman's Chimneys you wasn't lost": Saving Brunswick's Brickworks, Brunswick: Save the Brickworks () * Penrose, H (Ed)(1994) Brunswick: One History – Many Voices, Melbourne: Victoria Press () * – An account of a women's hydrotherapy group at the Brunswick Baths.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunswick, Victoria Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Merri-bek