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Life in the ’burbs

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The 109 tram passes the Palace Cinemas Balwyn on Whitehorse Rd.

My suburb is mocked relentlessly. But people can’t stop talking about it

It seems everyone has an opinion on my neighbourhood, where there’s a lingering characterisation that we’re the heart of Melbourne’s boring suburbia.

  • Matthew Etty-Leal

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Life in Oakleigh’s Eaton Mall.

My suburb wanted to beat Chadstone. So it banned traffic

But the game-changer arrived in 2008, bringing evening crowds and turning our suburb’s heart into a dining precinct and community meeting place.

  • Victoria Kyriakopoulos
A train crosses over Inkerman Road in East St Kilda.

My quiet suburb has no bars and one cafe. But that’s not why we speak in whispers

Some residents claim to live in a different bayside suburb, while neighbours think they live here. The truth is anyone’s guess.

  • Henry Herzog
The Macrobertson Bridge, Burnley

I bet you know my historic suburb, but I doubt you know anyone who lives here

You probably see my suburb as a place to whizz through on your way somewhere else. But it has a hidden beauty worth sticking around for.

  • Kathy Watty
Ask how Diamond Creek got its name and no one can really tell you.

My suburb’s name is a mystery, but it’s how you say our main drag that reveals if you’re a local

Some refer to my suburb as “Tradie Town”, but while there are heaps of utes and Pete Murray covers played at the local pub, those who live here affectionately call it something else.

  • Samantha Allemann
The Sites of Significance sculpture on Smith Street.

In my suburb a woman put a cigarette out on my head. It’s that kind of place

Perhaps because it’s neat and small, my suburb absorbs the energy of the neighbourhoods that so tightly surround it.

  • Ronnie Scott
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Burns Reserve dog beach.

My bayside suburb has no shopping strip, cafe, or even a milk bar. That’s how we like it

It is not far from the CBD, but my suburb is the antithesis of inner-city hustle, a place where the snapper bite at dawn, pelicans drift overhead, and footpaths wind alongside the creek.

  • Kat Lodder
Homes on Benjamin Street, Sunshine.

We moved to a suburb with a bad rep. Then we forgot to lock the house and car

My suburb is well known, but not for the right reasons. YouTubers and TikTokers often visit to film content with titles like: “Inside Melbourne’s most dangerous suburb”.

  • Lee Crossley
Glen Huntly

My suburb’s so small, our primary school was cut in half

Welcome to the highlights of this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it slice of urban tranquillity, typified by relative anonymity and an unusual community gathering spot.

  • John Dodson
Family mausoleums at Fawkner Memorial Park.

I live in a suburb of the dead and dying. Even our train station is inside a graveyard

Weekends bring the familiar sound of another deceased estate being auctioned off – before it later gives birth to a subdivision of three townhouses.

  • David Ryding

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/life-in-the--burbs-6g0e