How housing, hope and, yes, even horses have shaped this suburb

When most Victorians think of Flemington, horse racing is almost inevitably what first comes to mind. The suburb is, of course, home to Australia’s most famous racecourse.

Talk to the locals in this pocket of Melbourne’s inner north-west, however, and you’ll find most do not go to the spring carnival. Usually, they avoid driving on race days and tuck into a spot of people-watching as well-heeled visitors pour into the suburb in luxury cars.

But that is not the story of Flemington. You need only stroll along Racecourse Road and Pin Oak Crescent – Flemington’s two key commercial strips – to understand how diverse this community is.

Yes, there is the cult favourite Laksa King, widely regarded as serving Melbourne’s best Malaysian laksa. But on Racecourse Road, you could eat a different cuisine every night of the week: Somalian, Ethiopian, Turkish, Chinese, Yemeni, Japanese, Vietnamese.

‘Flemington is my life, it’s the place I know. If I don’t know someone’s name, I know their face.’

Halima Abdi, shop owner

And the tree-lined Pin Oak Crescent, just off the main drag, is where residents catch up for a morning coffee or knock-off wine.

Simon Peterson is something of a local legend. He bought the cafe Pepper in 2008, tripled the business’s traffic and helped transform the crescent into a buzzy meeting spot. Every day of the week, locals fill the outdoor tables of the cafes and neighbourhood wine bar that line the strip.

“It used to be a bit daggy,” Peterson says. “My biggest-ticket item was getting the parklets through. About 70 per cent of the traffic that comes down Pin Oak is on foot, so we’ve given them a reason to stop.”

Peterson sold the business last year, but his life is still in Flemington. He owns a home and his five-year-old daughter, Rosie, goes to a local kinder. He has watched the suburb gentrify as more young couples and families have moved in. In 2021, Flemington’s median age was 34.

“We’re seeing a lot more babies and young mums and dads,” Peterson says.

Just last week, Flemington was named the most affordable liveable suburb, with a lifestyle rating that rivals the likes of Fitzroy North and Hawthorn, but with a much lower median house price.

It has a lot going for it: under 20 minutes to the city via train, tram or bike, several schools, quaint streets with Victorian-era cottages and plenty of restaurants and shops.

“What don’t we have that other suburbs have? Probably nothing,” Peterson says.

“Years ago, people were moving here for four or five-year stints then moving elsewhere. But now all our services are so high quality, we’re a real destination. Once people get here, they don’t want to move. They immerse themselves and enjoy it.”

At the most recent census, the most common birth countries of residents, other than Australia, were Vietnam, Ethiopia, Somalia and England.

Halima Abdi, owner of the shop Falmatuu at 281 Racecourse Road.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Halima Abdi, 55, has lived in Flemington for 30 years in the public housing towers at the eastern end of Racecourse Road. Abdi came to Melbourne as a single mother and refugee, and is from Ethiopia’s Oromo community.

Today she owns a shop on Racecourse Road called Falmatuu, selling dresses, headscarves and hair oils. Many of her customers are local women who, like her, migrated for a safer life.

“Flemington is my life, it’s the place I know. If I don’t know someone’s name, I know their face,” Abdi says.

The state government has been gradually moving tenants out of the 360 flats in the Flemington public housing high-rises. It wants to demolish the buildings and replace them with community and affordable housing – but no public housing – within six years.

The Flemington towers stand behind new Homes Victoria housing built on Victoria Street.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Abdi says she hasn’t been asked to leave yet, but she’s certain she doesn’t want to go.

“My building is good. I don’t know why they want to [redevelop it],” she says. “It’s my home; it’s my everything. I’m getting old here.”

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Moonee Valley councillor Rose Iser, whose ward includes Flemington, has lived in the area since 2003. She is one of the many regulars at the dog park in Travancore – Melbourne’s third-tiniest suburb and something of an extension of Flemington. Her mini-husky, Shadow, is featured in the community-driven Travancore dog park calendar raising funds for the Lost Dogs Home.

Credit: Matt Golding

As we sit on Pin Oak Crescent, two women stop to chat about Iser’s recent work directing the Flemington Theatre Company’s latest show.

Iser says the suburb is highly community-focused and residents are eager to bridge any socioeconomic and cultural divides.

There is a hugely popular multicultural street festival held each year by the Flemington Traders Association, as well as Eid celebrations and easter egg hunts.

Iser throws back to 2020, when the public housing towers were suddenly put under a strict COVID-19 lockdown.

“I was getting messages from friends in the towers asking for baby formula and nappies and other essential items,” she says. “We set up a message tree with shopping lists … and people were going to the supermarket and delivering.”

Moonee Valley councillor Rose Iser (left) with Mayor Ava Adams and Iser’s dog, Shadow, at the Travancore dog park.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Moonee Valley City Council covers distinct areas. The northern parts, including Essendon and Airport West, are more suburban and car-dependent, while the municipality’s southern tip, Flemington, is inner city and residents usually travel on foot, bike or by public transport.

Iser says this means there is a strong desire locally for safer cycling and walking infrastructure, and the council is exploring ways to create this. It also resolved last week to investigate the possibility of trialling 30km/h speed limits in parts of Flemington.

Racecourse Road has a somewhat seductive, grungy appeal, but Iser says there is wide recognition that the road is not the best it can be. It has conflicting purposes: it’s a major east-west state-managed arterial road that heaves with traffic at peak times and links up to the CityLink toll road. It’s also an important strip for residents who live either side of the road, in Flemington and Kensington.

Melbourne and Moonee Valley councils recently published a Racecourse Road improvement plan that will involve greening, enlivening and cleaning up the road. They also plan to advocate safer pedestrian crossings, accessible tram stops, better cycle lanes and reduced street parking.

Shopping along Racecourse Road.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“The traders have been really excellent,” Iser says. “What they feel at the moment is that they’re just part of a thoroughfare, a freeway … [Yet] about 60 per cent of people visiting Racecourse Road walk.”

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The area’s traditional owners are the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people, and the land between the Maribyrnong River and Moonee Ponds Creek was once lush with red gum woodland and native grasses. These waterways, which run along Flemington’s eastern and western boundaries, were relied on for fishing and transport.

Not long after European settlement, a boom in wool production polluted the river and the creek, making the water undrinkable. Then meatworks industries turned the waterways into drainage systems. In the early 1870s, nearly 2.5 million litres of blood flowed into the Maribyrnong River.

John Dickie, who was heritage chair of the Flemington Association, says the establishment of the Newmarket saleyards and nearby meatworks in the 19th century, as well as the racecourse, ultimately led to the suburb’s growth. Before that, it was a small pitstop on the way to the goldfields.

There are reminders of this history throughout Flemington. Newmarket Plaza, where the Woolworths is, was formerly a saleyard, and old stock pens have been preserved across Racecourse Road in Kensington for locals to visit.

Dickie says there are also stables dotted through Flemington, as the racecourse did not have its own until the 1960s. You can find some at the Crown Street Stables and Mama Bear Cafe.

“People would keep their horses here and walk them down to the racecourse,” he says.

Flemington exploded in the 1880s and Racecourse Road became its heart. The small cottages throughout Flemington were often occupied by workers employed nearby, along with their families. These two-bedroom homes, which are now highly sought after, once housed a dozen people, Dickie says.

A view of Racecourse Road.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

He says racing, for better or worse, was fundamental in the early days.

“Everyone knows Flemington because of the racecourse,” Dickie says, adding that most current residents, like him, do not go to the races – despite the racecourse’s 127 hectares making up almost half the postcode. He recalls walking on the grounds when they were opened up to the public during pandemic lockdowns: “It feels foreign.”

But if the Victoria Racing Club’s vision is realised, it may not always feel so foreign.

Chief executive Kylie Rogers says the club is committed to building relationships with the local community: the club has stuck to opening its gates for the public since 2020, and its masterplan will look at ways to allow people to use more of its facilities day to day, including permanent restaurants and bars.

Victoria Racing Club CEO Kylie Rogers at Flemington Racecourse.Credit: Victoria Racing Club

Local residents are also given free tickets to the four days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

“Since the first race meeting was held at Flemington Racecourse in 1840, the site has been a gathering point for people from far and wide,” Rogers says. “We want the local community to make the most of the amazing grounds and gardens, which include part of the world’s largest elm tree collection and the largest rose garden in the southern hemisphere.

“Whether it be walking the dog, going for a run, having a picnic or even hosting an event of their own, the gates are open for this to remain a place of social connection and celebration.”

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For Janine Forbes-Rolfe, living in Flemington is like being in a village in the inner city.

“Everyone is out walking in the street, everyone knows their neighbours … and it’s easy to get anywhere [by public transport].”

Forbes-Rolfe loves the buzz that comes with having events at the racecourse and the nearby Melbourne Showgrounds, from music festivals to conventions.

“There’s life and people celebrating. I moved here because it has all this energy,” she says. “Sometimes we can hear music from our porch, but it’s cool. Parking is only affected for short periods of time.”

Forbes-Rolfe came to Flemington 25 years ago, followed by the families of her sister and her husband’s siblings, meaning there are eight cousins living within strolling distance of each other and most of them are even schooling together.

Janine Forbes-Rolfe outside her home with children Felix, 15, and Fleur, 13.Credit: Chris Hopkins

When her children – Felix, 15, and Fleur, 13 – were younger, Forbes-Rolfe was anxious about what the secondary years would bring. The only local high school is Mount Alexander College and there was a time when it did not have the strongest reputation locally.

Things turned around when the school rebranded in 2012: its name changed from Debney Park Secondary College and a compulsory uniform was introduced. The school swung from being one that catered mostly for students with English as a second language to one drawing in a wider group. It then moved to a “vertical curriculum”, giving students the flexibility to choose subject levels according to their interests and ability.

Principal Dani Angelico says the shift has been a huge success: the number of students has almost doubled to 820 in six years and the college is climbing the rankings, with a median VCE score of 30 last year. The school also recently had a $26.3 million upgrade.

Angelico says more parents with the financial means to choose a private school are instead opting for Mount Alexander College, which she puts down to its curriculum model. Most students live in Flemington, Kensington and Ascot Vale, she says.

“Parents want their kid to go to a good local school. The patterns of families in the area have changed. We’re in Wellington Street, where there are multi-million dollar houses.”

Leafy Wellington Street.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

At the primary level, there are three schools in Flemington and they each broadly have different demographics. Debney Meadows Primary School, for example, abuts the Flemington public housing towers and has a higher rate of students with migrant backgrounds. Mount Alexander College has become something of a unifier, bringing together different communities in a gentrified area.

Angelico says while the school is less diverse than it used to be, it is still richly multicultural, including children with Australian, European and African backgrounds.

“It’s reflecting the local community,” she says.

Forbes-Rolfe, who is now part of the school’s Parents and Friends Association, says the college has been a perfect choice. Felix is in year 10 but doing year 11 history, while Fleur is in year 8 doing year 9 maths and year 10 music.

Most residents share similar sentiments about Flemington. To them, it has all the perks of other inner suburbs, but not quite the same level of grit of Brunswick, or the pizzazz of Richmond or the diversity of Footscray. It’s more discreet.

“It is just such a lovely place to live,” Forbes-Rolfe says.

There are more high-rise apartments on the way, but this isn’t much of a concern here, where denser living is already normal.

In what is a sure sign that gentrification has well and truly hit Flemington, the suburb’s two pubs – the Doutta Galla Hotel and the Quiet Man – have separately been closed for refurbishing under new owners.

Forbes-Rolfe is among those nervously waiting to see the results: “I’m hoping both pubs sort themselves out.”

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