Coburg

Coburg is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km north of Melbourne's central business district.

Coburg is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km north of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Moreland, although a handful of properties on Coburg's eastern boundary are located in the City of Darebin. At the 2016 Census, Coburg had a population of 26,185.

Coburg's boundaries are Gaffney Street and Murray Road in the north, Elizabeth Street and Merri Creek in the east, Moreland Road in the South and Melville Road, Devon Avenue, Sussex Street and West Street in the west. Coburg is designated one of 26 Principal Activity Centres in the Melbourne 2030 Metropolitan Strategy.

Prior to European settlement, the area around Coburg and Merri Creek was occupied by the Woiwurrung speaking Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. The Wurundjeri had a religious relationship to their land, participating in corroborees and sacred ceremonies on Merri Creek.

Coburg was first surveyed by Robert Hoddle in 1837 – 1838, and he recorded that a Mr Hyatt had a sheep station and hut on the east bank of the Merri Creek, near present Outlook Road. Hoddle marked out a 327-acre (1.3 km²) village reserve with two roads for the district: Bell Street West and Pentridge Road, later called Sydney Road. In 1840 the place was named Pentridge by a surveyor called Henry Foot who lived and worked near Merri Creek. It was named after the birthplace of Foot's wife: Pentridge, Dorset, England.Dr Farquhar McCrae, a wealthy surgeon, purchased 600 acres (2.4 km²) in the area which he called Moreland. In 1841 he also bought land called 'La Rose' in what is now known as Pascoe Vale South. The house he built in 1842 or 1843 is now known as Wentworth House, and is the oldest known private dwelling in Victoria still standing on its original site and the fifth oldest building in Victoria.In 1842 the first inn, The Golden Fleece, was built on Sydney Road just north of Page Street. Twenty one farms were in the area by 1849. With the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s the population of the area grew rapidly. In 1858 water mains from Yan Yean were connected and the first local paper, the Brunswick and Pentridge Press, was started. In 1859 the Pentridge District Road Board was formed to get roads built in the area, the start of local government for the area.Quarrying of bluestone began in the area 1850s, and by 1875 there were 41 quarries in Coburg. In December 1850 16 prisoners were moved from an overcrowded Melbourne Gaol to a stockade at Pentridge. Prisoners at what came to be called HM Prison Pentridge were immediately put on "hard labour" by breaking up bluestone for road surfaces. In 1867 a public meeting was called to change the name of the district, as residents were stigmatised and embarrassed at living in a suburb principally known for its gaol, Pentridge Prison. Robert Mailer of Glencairn suggested that the suburb name be changed to Coburg, inspired by the impending visit to the colony of the Duke of Edinburgh, who was a member of the royal house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The government agreed with the proposal and the change was made in March 1870.The Post Office opened on 1 August 1853 and the district was renamed Coburg in January 1870.Sydney Road attracted numerous hotels and commercial premises in the 1860s. Friendly societies soon formed: Manchester Unity (1863), Druids (1867), Rechabites (1868) and a St. Patrick's Society in (1870). Coburg later became a Shire in 1875.

The Upfield railway line opened in 1884, and the Coburg railway station was built in 1888. In February 1889 the horse tram service began along Sydney Road. Electric trams started in service in 1916.By 1899 there were 6000 people in the district. Coburg was gazetted as a borough in 1905 with Thomas Greenwood becoming Coburg's first mayor. The Public Hall built in 1869 was extended in 1909, but was still inadequate for the growing city. The new Town Hall was built and opened in 1923, with further extensions in 1928.Lake Reserve is a popular picnic spot on the Merri Creek. The land was purchased in 1912 and a weir was constructed in 1915 to form a lake contained by basaltic outcroppings. The reserve was immensely popular, with diving boards, wading pools, kiosk and gardens, and continues to be a favourite picnic spot, also accessed by the Merri Creek Trail.After World War I there was significant development east of Sydney Road, with the former East Coburg Primary School opening in 1926, and a Coburg East Post Office opening in 1929 (closing in 1975).

A Coburg West Post Office opened in 1936 and closed in 1979.The Coburg Magistrates' Court closed on 1 February 1985.Coburg High School was closed in 1996 by Jeff Kennett, then Premier of Victoria. The site has been sold numerous times yet still sits empty. After considerable community activity, initially opposed by the Brack's Labor Government, in 2012 the then Liberal State Government reopened Coburg High School on the site of the previously closed Moreland High. It is now a thriving 7-12 High School.

In June 1994 the 72-year-old City of Coburg ceased to exist when it merged with the City of Brunswick to become the new City of Moreland.