Spotswood is an inner-city 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 me ...

, Victoria, Australia, south-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 " cit ...

, located within the

City of Hobsons Bay The City of Hobsons Bay is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the south-western suburbs between 6 and 20 km from the Melbourne city centre. It was founded on 22 June 1994 during the amalgamation of lo ...

local government area. Spotswood recorded a population of 2,820 at the . The suburb is bounded by the Newport–Sunshine freight railway line in the west, the

West Gate Freeway The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong (via the Princes Freeway) and Melbourne's western suburbs to ...

in the north, 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 ...

in the east and by Burleigh Street in the south. Spotswood was named after John Stewart Spottiswoode (shortened to Spotswood), one of the first farmers who owned much of the area in the 1840s.Victorian Heritage Database
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History

Spottiswoode Post Office opened on 1 February 1882 and was renamed Spottiswood around 1903 and Spotswood around 1906.

Locality

Spotswood is known for the Victorian Science Museum, known as Scienceworks. Scienceworks is near the old sewage pumping station of Spotswood, constructed in 1897. This location was also used as the police headquarters in '' Mad Max'' and for the Academy Award-winning short film '' Harvie Krumpet''.

Film

Spotswood was the setting of the eponymous Australian film, '' Spotswood'', made in 1990–1991, released in 1992, starring Anthony Hopkins, Toni Collette, Bruno Lawrence and Russell Crowe, as a minor character. Most of the scenes in Spotswood were shot in the suburb, but the Moccasin factory is fictional and doesn't exist in Spotswood; the factory scenes in the movie were shot in the old sewage pumping station. Moccasins are a

derogatory A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...

for the western suburbs of Melbourne; implying a lack of class, culture and sophistication even though they are commonly used elsewhere in Australia. The suburb was the main location in the clay animation short-film '' Harvie Krumpet''.

Transport

Spotswood railway station Spotswood railway station is located on the Werribee and Williamstown lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the western Melbourne suburb of Spotswood, and opened on 1 December 1878 as Edom. It was renamed Bayswater on 1 September 1881, r ...

is served by train services on the Werribee and Williamstown lines. Several bus routes also traverse 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 ...

football team 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 ...

. The Spotswood Cricket Club also plays at McLean Reserve and competes in the Victorian Sub District Cricket Association. Golfers play at the course of the Westgate Golf Club on Creek Street.

References