Life in the ’burbs
Opinion
Opinion
My suburb fought so hard to stay off the radar that Melburnians can’t even get its name right
It’s nice to live in a suburb that is just somewhere people are happy to live. We’ve got one cafe, one convenience store and two churches – and the only residential tower is a retirement village.
- by Ben Ruse
Latest
Opinion
Opinion
Once beautiful but neglected: My ‘Cinderella’ suburb is Melbourne’s mid-century belle
My parents’ first date in the 1950s was at a party in my now home suburb. The area was popular at the time with creative types such as writers, artists, actors, fashion designers.
- by Fiona Austin
Opinion
Flemington
If Carlton North and Footscray had a love child, it would look like my suburb
The contrasts of my suburb are never more evident than at spring carnival time, when hordes of the well-heeled gatecrash the neighbourhood.
- by Noel Newell
Opinion
Opinion
My suburb is so defiantly untrendy, it feels like even the Bunnings is trying to escape
There’s no ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ around here – people quietly go about living their lives in a landscape of benign suburban sameness.
- by Marisa Mowszowski
Opinion
Middle Park
Grandma said my suburb was for ‘poor people’. Now it’s one of Melbourne’s most expensive
When we moved here, Grandma couldn’t understand why my parents wouldn’t buy somewhere nice, like Glen Waverley.
- by Isabel Robinson
Opinion
For subscribers
I moved from the trendy inner north to a boring suburb – and it was worth the trade-offs
Now, when I visit suburbs with cachet, I leave feeling that being burdened with that much cultural capital looks exhausting.
- by Justin Buckley
Opinion
West Melbourne
My little-known suburb was an inner-city swamp known as ‘Worst Smelbourne’
These days, you can look out over a valley of curved metal for the best industrial sunset view in Melbourne.
- by Kylie Northover
Opinion
Essendon
There’s much more to my suburb than gangsters and footballer’s wives
My neighbourhood is considered one of the posher western suburbs – but an element of the underworld makes it an interesting proposition.
- by Kerrie O'Brien
Opinion
Opinion
A fight over a mural has put a frog in my suburb’s throat
My suburb has witnessed school closures and division over elevating the train station. It’s now united but conscious of over-development and a nearby shopping centre’s sprawl.
- by Mary-Jane Boughen
Opinion
Opinion
A monstrosity looms over my suburb. Yet, it’s hard to beat as the place to live
In some suburbs, you’d find irritated locals fighting tooth and nail to have this monstrosity removed. In my suburb, many fought to have it heritage listed.
- by Lawrie Bradly
Opinion
Fitzroy North
My suburb is a woke, lefty haven. It may also be Melbourne’s whitest
When Peter Dutton takes aim at “woke inner-city elites”, he means people in my suburb, where all children (or wokelings) are fluent in Welcome To Country.
- by Tom Ormonde
Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/life-in-the--burbs-6g0e