Yarraville is an inner-city
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center 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 wit ...
, located within the
City of Maribyrnong 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 ...
. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the .
Yarraville is bordered on the east by the junction of the
Maribyrnong and the
Yarra Rivers, and its southern boundary is 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 2020, Yarraville was named Australia's best suburb and fifth in the world. The suburb lies immediately north of the
West Gate Bridge
The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the Melbourn ...
, and immediately west of its namesake, the Yarra River. Features of Yarraville include C.J. Cruickshank Park, Yarraville Oval, Beaton Reserve, Yarraville Gardens, and
Stony Creek.
History
Yarraville was named due to its proximity to the Yarra River. It was subdivided in 1859, and the residential development of the area commenced. In 1859 a
railway line
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...
from
Footscray to
Williamstown was opened, which prompted land sales in the area. A large party to announce the subdivision was thrown, however the railway line operators declined to build a station at Yarraville. During the decade of 1870, a railway stop and post office were opened, Methodists established the area's first church, and a new primary school commenced operating. By 1880, Yarraville was developing into a hub for factories due to the ease of movement of goods via the nearby rail and Yarra River. Yarraville is situated on basaltic land, and bluestone was extracted for ballast for boats on the Yarra River and
Port Phillip Bay
Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is comple ...
.
Throughout the 1880s, the area attracted engineers, iron founders, and rope-makers. Roads linking Yarraville with greater Melbourne were poor, however as railway and water connections improved, Yarraville became an attractive industrial location.
In the 1950s, a sustained period of migration to Yarraville assisted in rapid development of the area. Many people of
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 ...
origin were part of this migration trend. Commencing in the 1990s, the demographics of Yarraville started to change, resulting in what is now described as a "gentrified, trendy and hip area".
Yarraville Village
Located near
Yarraville railway station on Anderson and Ballarat Streets, Yarraville is renowned in Melbourne for its unique character, architecture and quality of village life. Anderson and Ballarat Streets, in the heart of the Yarraville Village, are lined with refurbished 19th century buildings and dotted with neighbourhood cafés, restaurants and boutique shops.
This village atmosphere is anchored by the restored
Sun Theatre and the adjacent Sun Bookshop, a prominent landmark in the Yarraville community with its unique
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
architecture and its 6 cinemas. Notable examples of
Edwardian
In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
and
Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...
can be found in Yarraville.
The Yarraville Village is home to many award-winning restaurants and cafes. A reflection of Melbourne's multicultural nature, Yarraville offers an array of world cuisine styles including
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Modern Asian,
Indian,
Polish, Mexican,
Thai,
Chinese and Modern Australian.
Shops in the village include book stores, the work of a local artist, clothing and jewellery, wines, gourmet foods, chairs and a
record shop
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of t ...
.
Administration
Local government
The administration of Yarraville is managed by the
City of Maribyrnong. The suburb is spread across 3 Wards: Wattle, Sheoak, and Saltwater.
Transportation
Public transport
Yarraville railway station is a suburban railway station located in the centre of the village area, 20 minutes from the Melbourne CBD. The station is serviced by all trains on the
Williamstown line, and
Laverton bound trains on the
Werribee line. The station is located near Anderson Street in Yarraville Village, access via Birmingham Street to the North (for trains heading towards the city), and Woods Street on the South (heading away from the city). Yarraville station is within the Zone 1 region of
Melbourne's public transport ticketing system.
Several
bus routes also service the suburb:
*223 Yarraville –
Highpoint Shopping Centre via
Seddon,
Footscray station (every day). Operated by
Kinetic Melbourne.
*409 Highpoint SC – Yarraville via
Victoria University Footscray, Footscray station (every day). Operated by
CDC Melbourne.
*411
Footscray –
Laverton via
Geelong Road, Altona Gate SC,
Altona,
Altona Meadows (every day). Operated by CDC Melbourne.
*412 Footscray – Laverton via Geelong Road, Altona Gate SC, Altona, Altona Meadows (every day). Operated by CDC Melbourne.
*414 Footscray – Aircraft via Geelong Road,
Laverton North (Monday to Saturday). Operated by CDC Melbourne.
*432 Yarraville –
Newport via Altona Gate SC (every day). Operated by
Transit Systems
Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group.
History
...
.
*431 Yarraville –
Kingsville (Monday to Saturday). Operated by Transit Systems.
*472
Moonee Ponds Junction –
Williamstown via
Ascot Vale,
Flemington Racecourse
Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200-metre horse race. The race ...
, Footscray,
North Williamstown station (every day). Operated by Transit Systems.
*944 City –
Werribee via
Spotswood, Newport,
Hoppers Crossing
Hoppers Crossing is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, central business district, located within the City of Wyndham Local government areas of Victoria, local government ar ...
(Saturday and Sunday mornings).
NightRider service, 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 ...
.
Places of worship
There are many religious organisations and places of worship in Yarraville, including
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 ...
, Buddhist, Catholic,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
,
Orthodox and
Uniting Church.
Yarraville also houses the Victorian International
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
College and Greek
Orthodox Language school.
Community
Arts and culture
The area possesses a few musical collectives including the Footscray – Yarraville City Band and the Yarraville
Mouth Organ
A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.
Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, ...
Band. The main film society in the area is the
Sun Theatre, located in Yarraville Village. There is also the Yarraville Community Centre which provides a range of resources, classes, activities and services for all ages and abilities.
Yarraville Markets is held on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. The market is held in the Masonic Hall (Corner of Willis Street and Canterbury Street Yarraville) from 10 am till 3 pm. Everything sold at the market is handmade and/or Australian Made.
Festivals
The annual Yarraville Festival is held in Yarraville Village and continues to be a major cultural event in the community. The festival caters for more than 25,000 people and is professionally operated by a team of dedicated volunteers that reside in Yarraville. Street performers, carnival amusements, art exhibitions, teddy bear picnics, fashion parades, poetry readings, market stalls and performances across many stages, provide an array of entertainment for all.
Since 2016 the annual Albanian Australian Community Festival has been held at Yarraville Gardens after relocating from Footscray park in 2015.
Parks
There are two public major parks in Yarraville, the Yarraville Gardens and Beaton Reserve. Both contain pristine flowerbeds with areas for leisure and relaxation.
Other parks include:
* Angliss Reserve
* Bellairs Park
* Cruickshank Park
* Fels Park
* Frederick Street Reserve
* Fyans Morven Reserve
* Goods Yard
* Hanmer Reserve
* Hyde Street Reserve
* Love Street Reserve
* McIvor Reserve
* McNish Reserve
* Sandford Grove Reserve
* Sinking Village
* Stony Creek Reserve
Sport
Swimming facilities for Yarraville residents are at the Yarraville Swim Centre, 3 Roberts Street
West Footscray and at the Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre,
Maribyrnong, located next to
Highpoint Shopping Centre. The aquatic centre also provides yoga, gym facilities and other recreational activities.
There are many sporting clubs located in Yarraville such as:
* Yarraville Glory Football Club (soccer), established in 1966 and with a rich Greek and local heritage.
* Footscray Baseball Club
* Yarraville Cricket Club
* Seddon Cricket Club
* With its neighbouring suburb Yarraville 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
football team, Yarraville-Seddon Eagles, competing in the
Western Region Football League.
They are located at
Yarraville Oval)
* Footscray Hockey Club
* Footscray
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
Club
* South Park Rangers Soccer Club
* Yarraville Tennis Club
* Yarraville
Trugo Club
* Footscray Angliss Cricket Club – formerly Footscray ANA CC
Cyclists in Yarraville are represented by MazzaBUG, the Maribyrnong
Bicycle User Group.
Media
Yarraville was the backdrop of the 1999 feature film ''
The Wog Boy'', and was mentioned in the 1992 Australian film ''
Spotswood''. Yarraville was also the location for the Network Ten TV series '
The Wrong Girl'. It was chosen for its unique village and inner city location.
Two free, weekly suburban newspapers are distributed in Yarraville. The ''Maribyrnong Leader'' is part of the
News Corporation
The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
-owned Leader Newspapers group and ''The Mail'' is part of the
Fairfax Community Newspapers Victoria. Both are distributed every Wednesday.
Education
Primary schools in the immediate Yarraville area are:
* St. Augustine's Primary School (Previously known as
St. Augustine's College, Yarraville)
Kingsville Primary School* Wembley Primary School
*
Yarraville West Primary School
Notable people
*
Rebecca Barnard
Rebecca Chirnside Barnard is an Australian singer, songwriter, Record producer, producer, and musician. She was the lead singer of the band Rebecca's Empire from 1993 to 2000 and has forged a solo career since her debut album, ''Fortified'', wa ...
– singer, songwriter, choir leader
*
Gordon Binns –
ornithologist
Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
, born in Yarraville.
*
Josh Giddey- Basketballer
*
Ross Hannaford – Australian rock guitarist with
Daddy Cool,
The Pink Finks and
The Mighty Kong
*
Adam Hills
Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...
– comedian and host of
Spicks and Specks lives in Yarraville.
*
Ron Hutchinson, jockey
*
Ali McGregor – opera singer, actress and cabaret performer
*
Luke Mathews – Australian Olympic athlete
*
Dave O'Neil – comedian, radio personality and former cub scout
*
Liam Picken – Australian Rules Football Player (Western Bulldogs)
*
Nicola Roxon – Former Attorney-General of Australia, Minister for Health and Member of Parliament for Gellibrand
*
Albert Tucker- artist, was born in Yarraville in 1919.
*
John A. Tully – author and historian at
Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia
Environmental issues
Air pollution
An easy way for
freight trucks to access Melbourne's city center and
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at th ...
is to go through Yarraville's Somerville and Williamstown roads. As a consequence, these residential areas suffer from
ultra fine particle pollution and community groups like Save Willy Road and Maribyrnong Trucking Action Group have been created to campaign against this issue.
Dust pollution
In March 2023, several pollution reports were received by
EPA Victoria for the former Bradmill site on Francis Street, Yarraville. The Winslow Group was preparing the site for future development and did some earthmoving activities which produced dust pollution and tracking dirt onto Francis Street. EPA issued several notices to improve dust controls, manage risks and create an air quality management plan.
The site was previously inspected for a similar dust problem in 2022.
See also
*
City of Footscray – Yarraville was previously within this former local government area.
*
City of Maribyrnong – Yarraville is located within this local government area.
Gallery
File:Sun theatre Yarraville - 6107104667.jpg, link=, The Sun Theatre cinema in Yarraville
File:Interlocking Railway Crossing Gates.jpg, Interlocking Railway Crossing Gates at Yarraville station
File:Yarraville railway station, Melbourne.jpg, Yarraville railway station
File:Bellairs Avenue Playground Yarraville.jpg, link=, Bellairs Avenue Playground in Yarraville
File:Birmingham Street Park Yarraville.jpg, link=, Birmingham Street Park in Yarraville
References
External links
Yarraville Suburb ProfileSave Willy Road
{{City of Maribyrnong suburbs
Suburbs of Melbourne
Suburbs of the City of Maribyrnong