Timeline

The land on which Broadmeadows, and the wider City of Hume, sits is the traditional land of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung peoples. The local clan are the Gunung-Willam-Balluk clan, who had administered the land for over 40,000 years.
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The Government Surveyor, Robert Hoddle surveyed the Port Phillip Area, 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.
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 Batman selected about 600,000 acres of land for pasture, which included the Broadmeadows area.
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John Pascoe Fawkner acquired a property in 1839 in the present day Pascoe Vale. 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.

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Rocky Water Holes (Kalkallo), twelve miles north-east of Broadmeadows, underwent a transformation. 

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A bluestone church designed by Charles Laing was built to replace the original timber Scots Church, which had been constructed in 1842.

(Image: Broadmeadows Historical Society Collection) 

The Broadmeadows Road District was set up, consisting 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.

On 28 April 1862, the Road District borders were adjusted to include the parishes of Jika Jika, Doutta Galla and Tullamarine, i.e., those areas now called Pascoe Vale, Strathmore, and Gladstone Park. The Southern border of the district was today’s Woodland’s Road. The Tullamarine section included, meant the border in that area was Deep Creek Road, today’s Bulla Road.

With the passing of the Local Government Act, the Broadmeadows Roads Board became the Shire of Broadmeadows.

The Road Board Office, on Ardlie Street, in the current Westmeadows, was built. The building still exists as a private residence across the road from the Westmeadows Tavern.

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. Broadmeadows retained the resultant form for the next forty years.

The Federal Government’s decision in 1938 to extend Essendon Aerodrome, led to the Shire of Broadmeadows losing control of Bulla Road, and 94 acres in North Essendon, which, with the additional land taken from the Shire of Keilor, brought the area of the Aerodrome to 450 acres.

The north and south sections of the Shire of Broadmeadows were separated. 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. 

(Image: Broadmeadows Historical Society Collection)

In 1958, further changes to the boundaries occurred; the area to the north of Westmeadows was transferred to the Shire of Bulla.

The Rowntree Hoadley factory opened on 12 May 1964, replacing the old schoolhouse which was demolished.

In 1979, the whole of Strathmore was transferred to the City of Essendon, the Tullamarine Freeway, having disconnected the suburb from the rest of the City of Broadmeadows, became the new southern boundary.

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.