Local History
First Australians
For 40,000 years, the area now called Broadmeadows, and the area covered by the City of Hume was settled by the people of the Woi-Wurrung, specifically the members of the Wurundjeri-Willam. The area, claimed by this clan, covered most of the Yarra River (Birrarung) valley and expanded as far north as Mount William near Lancefield (Wil-im-ee moor-ing). The Woi-Wurrung have been considered hunters and gatherers; new research indicates they also cultivated items of food.
The Woi-Wurrung led an ordered life, moving in regular patterns within the tribal territory. The Melbourne (Naarm) region offered a range of environments providing resources to the Aboriginal population. Gellibrand Hill Park, in Greenvale, was also made up of several different environmental zones, including the Moonee Ponds Creek System and timbered slopes.
Early Settlers
It was in the early 1800s that Europeans arrived in the area, attracted by the abundant pastures discovered by Hamilton Hume and William Hovell when they travelled through the area at the end of 1824. The Hume and Hovell Monument was unveiled in 1924, near their camping spot, on what is now Oaklands Road, near Moonee Ponds Creek on the edge of the Woodlands Historic Park.
John Batman, followed in 1835, selecting about 600,000 acres of land for pasture, which included the Broadmeadows area. He also ventured out to the then Sheoak Hill (later renamed as Jacksons Hill) to survey the land which is now Sunbury. Batman is credited with being the founder of the township of Bulla Bulla (now Bulla), and one of the founders of the City of Melbourne.
Robert Hoddle
The Government Surveyor, Robert Hoddle, arrived in Port Phillip in 1836, and started tracing the waterways of the region. He found that Squatters were marking out properties, which were unlicensed and not recognised by the New South Wales Colonial Government. It was not until the 1840s that squatters were given some protection and gained the first option to purchase up to 640 acres where they had established a homestead.
Hoddle surveyed the Port Phillip Area, known as the County of Bourke, which stretched as far north as Kilmore, just west of the Township of Ballan and east to Gruyere, into parishes of approximately 65 square kilometres each. The Parishes established by Hoddle around Broadmeadows, and district included Jika Jika, Doutta Galla, Will Will Rook, and Tullamarine, the names derived from an Aboriginal word list supplied by George Langhorne, an early missionary.
Hoddle made provision for townships at convenient points. They were not to be too far apart for travellers, considering the hardships of travel at that time on the muddy or dusty tracks that served as roads, and access to water, available for such travellers and their animals. Accordingly, Hoddle reserved an area for Broadmeadows township, on the route of the then Sydney Road, which comprised in part sections of Pascoe Vale Road, Johnstone Street, and Mickleham Road.
John Pascoe Fawkner
John Pascoe Fawkner, another of the founders of the City of Melbourne, arrived on the banks of the Yarra River later in 1835. Travelling with him were William Jackson and George Evans, and John Aitken. John Aitken went back to Launceston and returned to Port Phillip in 1836 aboard the Chilli with 600 sheep and established his station at Mt. Aitken.
Fawkner acquired a property in 1839 in the present day Pascoe Vale, Section 151 of the Jika Jika Parish, as one of a number of plots in the region. Fawkner called the property Belle Vue Park and was bounded approximately by the Moonee Ponds Creek, and the modern day Gaffney Street, Northumberland Road and the western prolongation of Boundary Road. The suburbs of Pascoe Vale and Fawkner were eventually named after him.
Campbellfield
Around the same time as Fawkner’s purchases in the area, Robert Campbell Jnr and Neil Campbell, apparently unrelated, purchased adjoining properties in the area to the west of Merri Creek. Neil Campbell’s land, a parcel of 1189 acres (Section XII), stretched from the Merri Creek to just west of the current western boundary of today’s Maygar Barracks, on the north side of the present day Camp Road and Mahoneys Road. Robert Campbell Jnr’s land, 855 acres (Section IV), was south of Mahoney’s Road next to the Merri Creek, covering what is now the suburb of Fawkner.
Neil Campbell gave part of his land to the Presbyterian Church for the establishment of Scots Church. A schoolhouse was also built on the same site as the church and can claim to be the first school in the Broadmeadows district; classes were run in Scott’s Church. In May 1847 the congregation put up a three-roomed slab hut, with plastered walls and a dirt floor. The schoolhouse was demolished in the early 1960s and replaced by the Rowntree Hoadley factory, which opened on 12 May 1964.
Another section of his land was provided by him for the Will Will Rook Pioneer Cemetery. The Campbell property was originally called the Argyle Estate, eventually it was called Campbellfield.
Kalkallo
In 1849, Rocky Water Holes (Kalkallo), twelve miles north-east of Broadmeadows, underwent a transformation:
This place is going ahead like wildfire. The number of small but flourishing farmers, dairymen, &c., also large sheep and cattle runs contiguous to the neighbourhood, has induced several respectable and spirited tradesmen to try their luck, and it is pleasing to observe their efforts have been crowned with success.
Broadmeadows Township
This growth followed at Broadmeadows when, in 1850, under pressure for further land sales, the New South Wales Colonial Government, had the Township of Broadmeadows surveyed into town blocks, generally half an acre, with some at the eastern end as large as three or four acres and put up for sale. The first sale took place on 16 May 1850, with four more sales between 1852 and 1855. Pascoe Fawkner purchased two plots in the Township, one of which was on Ardlee Street, the second on the corner of Wills and Black Streets. The streets were named after local land owners, including John Pascoe Fawkner.
Broadmeadows township’s first church was St Paul’s Church of England, on Raleigh Street between Wills and Pascoe Streets, originally built of bluestone, with a steep, shingled roof. Construction commenced in 1850 and was completed by Christmas of that year. Prior to this construction, a school was started in 1847. At the end of the 1850s, the Scottish-born population outnumbered the English and Australian-born with Presbyterians becoming the largest religious group in the township.
Broadmeadows Road District
Local government in the area was formalised in 1857 with the establishment of the Broadmeadows Roads Board, made up of three parishes, Will Will Rook, Yuroke and Mickleham. The Broadmeadows Road District was set up in 1857. It consisted of three land parishes: Will Will Rook, Yuroke, and Mickleham. The district was ten miles long and, due to its irregular shape, four to six miles wide. The population of the area was under two thousand, half of whom lived in the townships of Broadmeadows and Campbellfield.
Shire of Broadmeadows
With the continued growth of the area, the Shire of Broadmeadows was established in 1863, fifty-three years later the Shire almost doubled in size following its amalgamation with the Shire of Merriang in April 1915, the Shire of Merriang, to the north of Broadmeadows, was ordered by the Minister of Public Works to merge with the Shire of Broadmeadows. The merger more than doubled the Shire’s area, which now stretched as far north as the town of Wallan. The amalgamation took effect for 1 October 1916.
The Shire of Broadmeadows lost the former Merriang territory on the west side of Deep Creek Road to the Shire of Springfield and retained the resultant form for the next forty years.
City of Broadmeadows
In 1955, the separation of the north and south sections of the Shire of Broadmeadows occurred. The new northern boundary became Somerton Road. The areas of Greenvale, Yuroke and Mickleham were split between the Shires of Bulla, Kilmore, and Whittlesea. On 13 June 1956, the Governor of Victoria, Sir Reginald Alexander Dallas Brooks, declared Broadmeadows a city, and opened the new Town Hall.
City of Hume
In 1994, the State Government approved alterations to municipal councils in Melbourne, forming the City of Hume. Broadmeadows became a part of the new city, along with areas of the Shire of Bulla, the City of Whittlesea, and the City of Keilor.