City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 224Nicholls became involved in the growing Aboriginal social justice movement, firstly in theAustralian Aborigines League, and later with the Aborigines Advancement League (Lemon,1983:270-1), and was thus influential in Northcote becoming a centre of Aboriginal activismin the 1950s (see section Aboriginal Self Determination, in Chapter 6 for the story of the AAL).By then Aboriginal people had begun moving out from Fitzroy, some to the new HousingCommission estates in Preston and Reservoir (Broome, 2005:299) and Darebin became hometo one of the largest Aboriginal communities in Victoria. In 2007, one in 25 Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Victorians lives in Darebin. (www.darebin.vic.gov.au).Nicholls was knighted in 1972 and appointed Governor of South Australia in 1976-77. Ontheir retirement, Sir Doug and Lady Nicholls returned to live in Northcote.A number of community initiatives have been established by and for Aboriginal people,including the Aboriginal Health Service in High Street Northcote. They providedBrother/sister service for issues of mental health and family health, in Nicholson St, Fitzroy.Ngala, a sobering up service in Separation Street, was also an off-shoot of the AboriginalHealth Service. Maya Healing Centre in Rossmoyne Street Thornbury was initiated by RegBlow around 2002. The Centre’s functions include a drop-in centre, facilities, lunches,women’s centre. This is a stand-alone initiative for those who need to reconnect with theircommunity.Another expression of local Aboriginal community is the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in StGeorge's Road Thornbury. The Ministry was inspired by Pope Paul VI's visit to Australia in1970. Indigenous Radio Station 3KND was established in Plenty Road Preston, later movedto Merri Street.Post Second World War immigrantsAt the end of the Second World War, the population of Darebin was, apart from the smallgroups noted above, almost entirely of British or Irish origin. This was to change dramaticallyas Australia embarked on its massive post-war immigration program. In 2007, over 35% ofDarebin’s residents were born overseas (www.darebin.vic.gov.au) and together with theirAustralian-born children they have made Darebin a suburb of rich cultural diversity.From 1952 to 1971, the Department of Immigration ran a migrant hostel in Nissen huts onthe present site of Northland Shopping Centre. Many of the residents moved out to settle inthe study area. Northcote’s factories and cheap housing attracted immigrants first. Preston,being further out and less developed, took a little longer to attract immigrants, however thepublic housing provided by the Housing Commission of Victoria became a major drawcardfor newly arrived immigrants.By 1981, more than one quarter of Preston’s population and almost one third of Northcote’spopulation were born overseas in places other than Britain and Ireland. The largest ethnicgroups represented were the Italians followed by the Greeks, many of whom moved out fromthe inner suburbs, where they stayed after arriving in Australia. Achille and Rosa DiGuglielmo purchased their first house in Abbotsford in 1956. Rosa found work at EnsignDrycleaners in Croxton. In 1959, they moved into a newly built brick veneer house inMerrilands. It was the second house in their street (www.decc.org.au). Reservoir now has oneof the largest Italian communities in Australia.They changed the landscape of the Merrilands estate with concrete, brick veneer homes and minifarms in their backyards with chooks, fruit and vegetable gardens, homemade vino, salsa, pasta esalsicce. They recycled everything before it was fashionable. The agrarian foods they ate and stillprepare today are now part of our gourmet food culture (www.decc.org.au).The changes these groups brought to Darebin were also manifested in the area’s shops,restaurants, churches and other community institutions. The Little Sisters of the Poorbuildings in St George’s Road became a Greek Orthodox monastery. The Northcote Theatrebecame the Italia Hall reception centre in the 1960s and the Westgarth Theatre beganshowing Greek films in the 1970s.
VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYDarebin also has a significant Macedonian population, a group with a strong cultural identity,coming mostly from northern Greece and Vardar Macedonia in the former Yugoslavia (thearea now known as the Macedonian Republic). One of the founders of Darebin’s Macedoniancommunity was Risto Altin, who came to Australia in 1937 and settled in East Preston in1949, where he ran a fish and chip shop and various other businesses. Macedonians beganmigrating to Australia in large numbers in the 1950s and 60s and many settled in Melbourne’snorthern suburbs. The presence of a strong Macedonian community in Darebin isdemonstrated in a number of churches, including the Macedonian - Bulgarian EasternOrthodox Church in Northcote; the Preston Makedonia Soccer Club (now Preston Lions),the Macedonian Student Association founded at La Trobe University in the 1970s and theMakedonia Social Club, opened in Broadhurst Avenue Reservoir in 1980. The Macedonianlanguage is the sixth most spoken language in Darebin. In the 1980s Reservoir High Schoolbegan teaching the Macedonian language (Jupp, 1988:688-90; www.decc.org.au).Darebin has a significant Muslim population, mostly immigrant families from the MiddleEast. In 2001 Reservoir had Melbourne’s second largest Muslim population and Preston alsohas a strong Muslim presence. Each of these areas has a mosque. Amongst the most recentMuslim immigrants from the Middle East are a group of Kurdish refugees from Iraq, whohave set up the Iraqi Kurdish Association in Preston. (Encyclopedia of Melbourne: 369, 372-2)Amongst the immigrants from the Middle East are Assyrians who, since the 1960s, have lefttheir homelands of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to escape the civil and religious unrest. TheAssyrians are a distinct group from the Arabs, and are mostly Christian. Their presence inDarebin is demonstrated by the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church in BroadhurstAvenue Reservoir (Jupp, 1988:275-6).Since the 1980s, a strong community of newly arrived Chinese immigrants, many of themprofessional people, has been established in Darebin, particularly at the Northcote end. In1995, they formed the Darebin Subcommittee of the North Eastern Melbourne ChineseAssociation (NEMCA) which had formed at Mill Park in 1994. The Association providescultural activities for the Chinese community in the North East region, which includes theCities of Darebin and Whittlesea and promotes Chinese culture in the community. Some ofthe Association’s activities are held in the Preston Neighbourhood House.Other recently arrived groups are from Sri Lanka, India, Egypt and the Philippines. TheNorthern Migrant Resource Centre opened its main office at 251 High Street Preston to assistnewly arrived immigrants, particularly refugees (www.mrcne.org.au).Figure 6The celebration of Id El Fitr atPreston Mosque, 1987[State Library of Victoria, ANH92.250/1338, INb34712 ]25
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3.14.1: Building to suit Australian
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CRITERION E:VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVI
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