Opinion
My mansion-lined suburb’s a little bit posh – but we also have a notorious underbelly
Denis Harvey
ContributorA regular conversation with anyone more than five kilometres from my suburb usually starts with the following questions: “Aber...?” “Do you mean Aberfield?” “Where is this place?”
The answers to those questions are: “Keep going”, “No”, and “It’s just nine kilometres from the CBD, just west of Moonee Ponds and Essendon”.
At just 1.6 square kilometres, and with a meagre 3900 residents, I see how many could miss it. But Aberfeldie is far from Melbourne’s smallest suburb. (That title belongs, by a margin, to Gardenvale.)
But we are tucked away between the Maribyrnong River and Buckley Street, small enough to be largely overlooked. And most Aberfeldians like it that way.
If Finland and Denmark are the happiest countries in the world, then Aberfeldie surely must be the happiest suburb in Melbourne. Perhaps it is because so many people are living the dream in their own homes here. Seventy-seven per cent of properties here are owner-occupied, which is considerably above the Australian average. But I’m sure that the green space and low crime rate (let’s keep it that way, please) are part of it as well.
We came to Aberfeldie about 10 years ago, admittedly not by choice (we were among those people above who said, “Aber what?”), but after looking to buy in the Essendon area, where we soon discovered that you needed to be a direct descendant of Gina Rinehart or Twiggy Forrest to get in there.
Aberfeldie got its name from a chap called James Robertson, who bought Crown land in 1845 and named his property Aberfeldie, after the town of Aberfeldy in Scotland. And of course, the street was named Aberfeldie as well.
Over the years, a number of other landmarks in the area were named after the property, and eventually, in 1998, Aberfeldie was officially split off from Essendon and gazetted as its own suburb, in a move that was popular as it made us locals feel a bit more special.
The people who do know Aberfeldie often think of it as a bit upper class, primarily because many super homes adorn the shore of the Maribyrnong along The Boulevard. But there is a socioeconomic mix here, including families who have lived here for generations and a young set who have taken up close access to schools, sporting and childcare facilities.
For its size, Aberfeldie packs a fair bit in. We are blessed with great playgrounds and parks around the Maribyrnong River – the highlight being Riverside Park, which has a huge wooden pirate ship. We aren’t talking a little dinky boat here, think more like Jack Sparrow and Pirates of the Caribbean.
The pirate ship had its moment of fame during the river floods of October 2022, when it looked like it was actually at sea after the river broke its banks and water lapped at its sides. Flooding of the Maribyrnong occurs every 10 to 20 years on average, and residents here were grateful that the 2022 floods that damaged hundreds of homes in Maribyrnong, Avondale Heights, Kensington and Ascot Vale mostly only affected parks and green space in Aberfeldie.
The downside of having a top playground and picnic area is that everyone wants to come. Whether it is family gatherings or birthdays, if the weather is fine, cars will clog the streets and parking will be extremely limited.
Moonee Valley Council has a 2040 vision in which everyone will miraculously walk everywhere and vehicles will be secondary, but I feel we are a long way away from this era when people load the car with kids, food and prams to hit the playground.
Parks and ovals are important in Aberfeldie. Clifton Park, home of the Aberfeldie Sports Club, encompasses football, netball, cricket, tennis and bowls. Aberfeldie Park hosts women’s teams in Aussie rules and cricket, along with juniors’ activities, as well as being a dog off-lead area. Now, those are some well-utilised ovals.
And the largesse of all things sporting is finished off with Moonee Valley Athletics Centre, a top-class athletics track that is crazy busy every Saturday morning.
A trip to Aberfeldie should always include a visit to the best nursery in the world, Poyntons, which must be the only one in Melbourne where you can work up an appetite browsing the plants, then hang out up top at a cafe with expansive views over the Maribyrnong River.
Just over the border in Essendon West is the Afton Street Conservation Reserve. It is a flora and fauna reserve with a looped walk taking you up to majestic city views, and links in with the Maribyrnong River Trail that runs to the CBD and out to Brimbank Park and beyond. This is the place to be when it comes to watching city fireworks on New Year’s Eve, with great views out to the west as well. Just try to look past the contaminated 127-hectare Department of Defence site in Maribyrnong that has sat vacant since 2002. But that is a story for another day.
Aberfeldie is not stacked with restaurants and shops like its neighbours – its busiest strip is on Buckley Street, where there are chemists, an IGA and a mix of fine and casual dining, as well as the legendary Tony’s Pies shop.
My suburb has a notorious side too. Underworld tours swing by here to stop at the home where gangland figure Mark Moran, of the Moran dynasty, lived until he was shot dead out the front of his luxurious home on Combermere Street in 2000.
It also has a more virtuous connection. The Polish church in Alma Street was consecrated in 1973 by cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who went on to become Pope John Paul II.
The famous buildings don’t end there. Aberfeldie has two heritage-listed buildings, Clydebank and The Incinerator (yes, really). The Clydebank mansion was built in 1888 for lay preacher and land agent John Ramsay, whose overachieving family included one son who founded the Kiwi boot polish company, another who was knighted after becoming a leading surgeon in Tasmania, and a third who was a renowned artist before dying of tuberculosis at just 29. The mansion is now home to Ave Maria College.
The Incinerator complex was designed by famed American architect Walter Burley Griffin, famed for designing Canberra and parts of Mount Eliza and Eaglemont. It operated from 1929 until 1942, when someone probably realised it wasn’t such a great way of disposing of waste. Today, it has the goal of “igniting creativity” as an arts complex.
Annie Folk and her brothers Dougal Ramsay (left) and Fergus Ramsay, grandchildren of William Ramsay, who founded Kiwi shoe polish with Hamilton McKellan in 1906. Pictured outside Clydebank, the former Ramsay mansion in Essendon.Credit: Penny Stephens
Life by the river here is something special, whether you live on a blue-chip street like The Boulevard, have views from Afton Street or Vida Street, or among the grand homes on St Kinnord and Aberfeldie streets. Maybe it is the tranquillity of being near the water, and the scenery with swans, herons and cormorants and, of course, the local rowers.
If you haven’t experienced Aberfeldie, come out for a drive, or jump on the circuitous 57 tram to Maribyrnong Road. Join us for a walk along the river and imbibe in the surroundings and happiness. Mind the cyclists and the faster runners, though.
Denis Harvey is a jack of all trades but most importantly a bona fide passionate Aberfeldie resident.
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