The City Of Moreland covers an area of 51 square kilometres; the Merri Creek is the eastern boundary, the Moonee Ponds Creek being the western boundary. It is bounded by Park Street in the south and the Western ring road in the north. It consists of the suburbs of Brunswick, Brunswick East, Brunswick West, Coburg, Coburg North, Fawkner, Glenroy, Gowanbrae, Hadfield, Merlynston, Newlands, Oak Park, Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale South and Westbreen.
Name
The name Moreland dates from 1839 when land was first subdivided and sold in the area which was to become Brunswick, Coburg and Broadmeadows. Farquhar McCrae bought 600 acres of land west of Sydney Road. What later became the boundary of Brunswick and Coburg ran through his property, which was named Moreland after his grandfather¹s estate in Jamaica.
Population
The estimated resident population as at 30 June 1997 was 137,055 people in about 49,585 households. The population is ethnically and culturally diverse 35.7 per cent of residents were born overseas, and 45 per cent of residents (aged 5 years or more) speak a language other than English at home. The main language groups are Italian, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Maltese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Croatian and Polish. Recent migrant settlers have come more from Asian, Pacific and African countries.
The age profile shows 15.9 per cent aged 65+ years, 14.4 per cent aged 50-64 years, 38.8 per cent aged 25-49 years, 24.4 per cent aged 5-24 years and 6.5 per cent aged 0-4 years. Moreland has a high level of residents practising a faith 71 per cent have Christian religions (42 per cent are Catholic) and 6.2 per cent of residents are followers of the Islamic faith. In summary, Moreland has a diverse population with people from all over the world. It embodies a successful multicultural community whose diverse nature leads to an exciting array of shops, restaurants, community organizations and businesses. Over one thousand community organizations provide a range of social, cultural, recreational, health and other community services to Moreland.
Milestones
The City of Moreland was created in 1994, from the amalgamation of Brunswick and Coburg and the southern portion of Broadmeadows. For two years it was governed by three Commissioners: John Warburton, the Chief Commissioner, assisted by Dimity Reed and Graham Upton. The first permanent CEO (Chief Executive Officer) was Peter Johnstone. The local government of Moreland consisting of ten Councillors was democratically elected in March 1996. The first Mayor was Mike Hill. The old Coburg and Brunswick electricity authorities were sold for which the Moreland Council received $51 million. The former Coburg Town Hall and Municipal Offices were remodelled and extended to form the Moreland Civic Centre which opened in 1999.
In 1994 Coburg High School merged with Preston Secondary College. Two years later the merged school moved to the old RMIT campus and when Coburg East Primary School joined it there, changed its name to Moreland City College. In 1995 the government announced that the Upfield Line would remain open and so Coburg Railway Station, after a hundred-year wait, got its second platform. The closed Newlands High School was demolished in 1996 and Pentridge and the Metropolitan Reception Prisons including the high school site were sold for housing in 1999.
Industry and Employment
The largest industry sector is manufacturing. In Moreland other sectors such as education, health, community services, transport and storage and government administration and defence employ an above average share of workers. Most industries based in Moreland are small business employing less than five persons. Professionals are the largest occupational grouping, followed by clerical, sales and service workers. In December 1998 the unemployment rate was 9.1 per cent with youth unemployment at 25 per cent.
Sources
Compiled by Gillian Sansom and Revised by Laurie Burchell
Laurie Burchell, Coburg Chronicles, Coburg, 1998, pp. 3643
Moreland City Council website: Moreland City Profile, 7 February 1999
