Westgarth (Victoria)

Westgarth is a locality in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the local government area of the City of Darebin. It is 4 or 5 km from Melbourne's central business district, just north of Clifton Hill, and a few hundred metres south of the main part of Northcote. Merri Creek forms its western border, and to the east lies Fairfield.

Westgarth is part of Northcote for administrative purposes, although it retains its own geographically distinct commercial centre.

Before European occupation, the area was home to the Wurundjeri people. Land c.2 km to the south, where Merri Creek meets the Yarra, was an early site of colonial contact, briefly home to the Native Police Corps in 1842, and a school for Aboriginal children until 1851. Land sales first occurred in the Northcote area in 1840, and land was purchased in the area then known as Northcote-by-the-Merri (now Westgarth) but not immediately developed. Three of the buyers later had streets named after them - Cunningham, Urquhart and Walker. As Northcote, Victoria developed in the mid-to-late 19th century, Northcote-by-the-Merri became known as Northcote South1. Land was gazetted for development in 1853, but development was relatively slow. All Saints Anglican church on High Street Westgarth dates to 1860 (present building, 1870), and the Bridge Hotel to 1864.

Westgarth's development accelerated - along with that of many other Melbourne suburbs - in the economic boom of the 1880s. As the children of the Gold Rush generation formed their own families, Melbourne's population swelled. The Victorian Parliament reacted by using railway lines to open up new housing areas. The railway line from Clifton Hill to Alphington was opened in 1884, and the railway station was linked to Melbourne via a western loop in 1888. A cable tram line down High Street to Clifton Hill was opened in 1886, faltered after the land market collapse of 1892, and opened and closed again until reopening permanently in 1901. Building continued through the Edwardian era and into the 1920s, and in 1925 the Northcote tram (now route 86) was connected right through to the city centre. The present commercial and shopping strip along High St. dates to the early 20th century, and Westgarth Primary School to 1925, when it opened as Westgarth Central School. The suburb won its present name between 1906 and 1910, with the decision to name the railway station after William Westgarth. The art nouveau Westgarth Theatre, the suburb's best-known landmark, opened in 1920.

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