Maribyrnong 3032 Maribyrnong 3032

Maribyrnong is a residential and industrial suburb enclosed on three sides by the Maribyrnong River, 6 km. north-west of Melbourne. The southern side is adjacent to Maidstone. Maribyrnong city and the Maribyrnong River valley are discussed at the end of this entry.

Maribyrnong was spelled "Marriburnong"in a map dated 1840. The name is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning saltwater river.

The main road through Maribyrnong is Raleigh Road, which joins Maribyrnong Road on the east side of the river. To the west its name changes to Cordite Avenue. "Raleigh"and "Cordite"explain much of Maribyrnong's origins.

Joseph Raleigh operated a punt near the present Raleigh Street bridge, and he established a boiling-down works for the production of tallow when the livestock market collapsed in 1843, the year of Raleigh's arrival in Port Phillip. He went on to establish a meat preserving works on the river bank, overlooked by a castle-like structure evidently meant for accommodation of shepherds and workers. The present-day location of these buildings is the Pipemakers Park, which is overlooked by the basalt hill which goes back toward Highpoint Shopping Centre. The Anglers Hotel (c.1870) was opened near the bridge.

The meat works employed upwards of 250 workers, resulting in some residing in the district and a need for a school for their children. In the other (north-western) part of Maribyrnong a horse stud was established in the 1860s, later becoming the Maribyrnong racecourse, after an unsuccessful land sale (the Maribyrnong Park Estate), in 1888.

Soon after federation the Commonwealth Government acquired land occupied by the former racecourse for an explosives (cordite) factory. Until then private firms owned the explosives factory at Footscray and the blasting powder factory at Deer Park. A cordite factory, remount depot and barracks were established (1910-12). The increasing local population led to the opening of a Methodist church (1911) and a primary school. A tram service along Maribyrnong Road to the bridge opened in 1906.

In 1920 an ordnance factory was added to the cordite factory, which together provided about 400 jobs. Nine years earlier, the former meat works site was acquired by Hume Brothers for a concrete pipe works, taking advantage of the supply of bluestone which had not been fully quarried and the proximity of the river for transporting pipes by barge. Maribyrnong was a mixture of industrial households with backyard gardens and dairies, river excursionists and swimming carnivals. Hicks motorized launches carried visitors to Hicks Tea Gardens near the Canning Street bridge.

At the outbreak of the second world war the explosive and ordnance factories' production facilities were rapidly upgraded, and round-the-clock production introduced. Tramline extensions from Ascot Vale and Footscray to the factory gates were opened in 1940 and 1941. The peak employment figures of 4,445 female and 4,360 male workers were reached in 1942.

After the war two notable additions came to Maribyrnong: the nearby migrant hostel resulted in European migrants settling in Maribyrnong, and Tracey's Speedway was opened on the Maribyrnong Reserve (1946). The reserve later became the home of the Polonia Soccer Club.

Old quarry sites were filled in. The high school was built on one such site in 1958, and a larger one became the site of the Highpoint Shopping Centre (1975), one of Melbourne's two super-regional centres. Its gross lettable area (103,000 sq. metres), includes a department store, two discount department stores, 280 other shops, cinemas and a gambling area. The Homemaker Centre (1990) has 21,300 sq. metres.

Part of the Ordnance Factory site is destined for housing development, postdating the decision to close the primary school in 1993. The housing site shares an elevated site with Highpoint, unlike the older housing on the once flood-prone alluvial terraces in the bend of the river.

Pipemakers Park and the Living Museum of the West are on the river bank, overlooked by Highpoint.

Maribyrnong had census populations of 697 (1921) and 2,088 (1947).

Maribyrnong city is a municipality formed on 15 December, 1994, comprising the former Footscray city and the parts of Sunshine city known as Braybrook, Maidstone and Maribyrnong. Its 1996 census population was 59,029 persons. Forty percent of its population spoke a non-English language at home, compared with 24% for metropolitan Melbourne. The median personal weekly income of residents was $201, the lowest for all municipalities in metropolitan Melbourne. The metropolitan median was $311.

The Maribyrnong River's headwaters are about 7 km. south-west of Kilmore. It is joined by Deep Creek at Darraweit Guim and Jacksons Creek at Keilor North. Jackson's Creek drains from the Macedon ranges. The Maribyrnong River discharges into the Yarra River about two kilometres north of the Yarra's entry into Port Phillip Bay. It passes through shale and sandstone landscape until Bulla, where it meets land which is mostly basaltic. The so-called valley or gorges are particularly noticeable from here, notably the horseshoe bend at Keilor and the valley seen from Avondale Heights. Further south the river bed falls to near tidal level, permitting sea water upstream for about 16 km. to a ford at Canning Street, Maribyrnong. Until 1916 the River was known as the Saltwater.

The river is used for irrigation waters, and its reputation as a sewer for industrial pollution from Flemington and Footscray has been changed as noxious industries have been lessened or brought under control.

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