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Local history

The City of Merri-bek is one of the most populous municipalities in Melbourne. It stretches from 4 to 14 kilometres to the north of central Melbourne and is bordered by the Moonee Ponds Creek to the west, Merri Creek to the east, Park Street to the south and the Western Ring Road to the north.

The local history of Merri-bek is one of social struggle and political organisation, diversity and community-building.

Merri-bek City Council was formerly known as Moreland City Council. To find out more information about the history of the name "Moreland" and local Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung history, explore Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung history in Merri-bek and visit our Conversations Merri-bek website.

Getting started

You can find out about the history of local people, places, buildings and organisations in many ways. Many different libraries, universities, museums, archives and other organisations hold a wide variety of books, photographs, newspapers, maps, plans, records, videos and more. While some of these resources are available online, you may need to visit in person to access an institution’s full collection.

The topics and resources outlined below will help you get started whether you are looking for a general overview of an area or want to take a deep dive into historical archives or specific history of your neighbourhood. We also have specific recommendations if you are researching the history of your house. Additionally, some resources for people researching family history may also help.

Historic societies and local history groups

Historic societies and local history groups may hold information about some local families and places. Select the heading below for a list with links to these organisations.

Historic societies and groups

  • Brunswick Community History Group aims to explore the history of the area covered by the former City of Brunswick. It incorporates the suburbs of Brunswick, Brunswick East, Brunswick West and a few streets in North Fitzroy.
  • Coburg Historical Society is dedicated to protecting, promoting and preserving the history of Coburg.
  • Broadmeadows Historical Society is based in Hume Council, but some of their collection overlaps with parts of Merri-bek.
  • The Italian Historical Society has an extensive collection which can be relevant for local Italian people, business, factories and families mainly in the Brunswick area.
  • Prahran Mechanics Institute keeps and indexes newsletters of all Victorian local history societies.
  • Royal Historical Society of Victoria is a community organisation committed to collecting, researching and sharing the history of Victoria.
  • Wikinorthia includes articles about people and places in Merri-bek as well as other northern suburbs. 

Historic photographs

There are many places to search online for historic photographs of Merri-bek. You can also find images in local history books, newsletters and newspapers. Many local, state and national institutions also have photographs of the local area that haven't been digitised or put online. To access physical collections, contact the holding library or organisation.

Churches or other local community organisations might also have private archives of photographs. You can contact these organisations to search their local files if you can't find images online.

Select the following heading for links to photographic collections.

Digital photographic collections

  • Merri-bek Libraries digitised a collection of glass slides relating to Brunswick before 1938 and our library catalogue includes these images as well as other historic images of local suburbs, people, plans and more. To limit your search to local history items, click on the “All resources” dropdown and choose “local history”.
  • Victorian Collections is a portal site to the collections of local museums and historical societies across Victoria.  
  • The Picture Victoria website hosts about 3000 historic images of Merri-bek’s suburbs held by Merri-bek Libraries and the Coburg Historical Society. Many images are taken before 1955 and are out of copyright. To limit searches to local content, choose Advanced Search function and select ‘Moreland City Libraries’ from the drop-down menu.
  • Pictorial Brunswick is a photographic album put together by Brunswick Historical Society to celebrate the centenary in 1939. 
  • The Victorian heritage database includes images of historic buildings in Merri-bek. It can be searched by municipality.
  • The Broadmeadows Historical Society has an online gallery of photographs. There is also a Museum of Broadmeadows, which is located in the Broadmeadows Town Park opposite to the Shopping Centre on Pearcedale Parade.
  • Public Record Office Victoria has a number of photographic collectionsincluding the 1956 Olympics, public transport and school buildings.
  • Royal Historical Society of Victoria has over 30,000 images of Melbourne that date back to 1850s, including portraits, street scenes etc. Only a small selection of images held by the Society are online.
  • State Library Victoria has an extensive collection of digital images you can access by searching their online catalogue. They also have a Digital Image Pool that includes 170,000 historic images you can search and download in high-resolution for free. All images in this pool are out of copyright and are not culturally sensitive.
  • Trove is a combined search site for collections of many state and national libraries and museums such as State Library Victoria, Museums Victoria and the Australian War Memorial. Trove includes a large collection of images.

Copying and reproducing photographs

Before copying or reproducing photographs, you must be aware of copyright restrictions. Most photographs taken before 1955 are now out of copyright in Australia and can be used without permission or moral rights requirements. 

For photos taken after 1955, you will need to get permission from the copyright holder (usually the photographer or their employer, social media platform, commercial provider etc), unless your purpose is covered by an exemption for fair use (such as private study/research).

For more information on copyright with relation to photographs, see the Australian Copyright Council's fact sheet on Photography and Copyright.

For high-resolution copies, contact the organisation that holds the copy of the photograph (for example, State Library Victoria or local library). Fees and other conditions can apply for high-resolution copies.  

If you want to use a photo from our library collection, please caption the reproduction with the photo's title, creator (if available) and 'supplied courtesy Merri-bek Libraries'.  This helps future researchers who may also want to access the original photograph.  

Published histories

You can find books and reports about local history, local people, buildings and organisations like sporting clubs, hotels, schools and churches by searching the Merri-bek library catalogue.

You can borrow many of the published local histories. Brunswick, Coburg and Glenroy libraries also have Local History collections of material that can only be used in the library. Some titles may also be available to buy at the library or from historic societies.

Significant published histories

Almost pretty: a history of Sydney Road by Laura Donati (2005)

Brunswick: stories and histories (1999)

Brunswick: One history, many voices, Helen Penrose, ed. (1994)

Brunswick's history: an annotated bibliography by Chris Johnston (1992)

It happened in Brunswick 1837 - 1987 by Les Barnes

Jubilee History of Brunswick (1907)

The streets of Brunswick by Cheryl Griffin (2023)

Coburg between two creeks by Richard Broome (1987, 2001)

Coburg chronicles by Laurie Burchell (1998)

Coburg memories by Laurie Burchell (1996)

Glenroy township: a local history as told by the old timers by Judy Archer (2023)

Broadmeadows:  a forgotten history by Andew Lemon (1982)

Victoria & its metropolis: past and present (1888)

Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1835 - 1852 (1888)

Thematic history of Merri-bek

Merri-bek Council’s heritage studies

You can also learn more about several extraordinary women of Merri-bek who have shaped local history with their intelligence, courage and unwavering spirit.

Manuscripts and oral histories

Manuscripts and oral histories provide a fascinating first-hand perspective on history. Libraries, universities and other cultural institutions often house some oral history recordings of local people, and manuscripts that include information about some local buildings and organisations.

  • The ReCollection Project by Memento Media (2017) showcased oral history based documentaries and a range of printed local historical material. The project also allowed locals to record their own oral histories, eight of which are available on the website.
  • Articles and personal stories added by community members of Melbourne's northern suburbs, including Friends of Merri Creek Oral History Project. Wikinorthia (2005—)
  • Coburg Oral History Project (1999): Around 100 cassettes and transcripts.  Contact Adult/Information Services Librarian at Coburg Library.  
  • Coburg Carers Project (1991): Video tapes, photos and transcripts. Contact Adult/Information Services Librarian at Coburg Library.
  • For a better life we came (1985): Interviews with Greek, Italian and Turkish migrants. Boxes of original photographs, tapes and transcripts available.  Contact Adult/Information Services Librarian, Brunswick.   
  • Talks on Brunswick/Talks on Merri-bek (1980s, 1990s). Around 300 taped presentations on topics of Brunswick's history.  Some summaries available. Contact Adult/Information Services Librarian, Brunswick.   
  • Les Barnes interview (c1980s). Five audio cassette tapes.  Contact Adult/Information Services Librarian, Brunswick.  

Historical tours

From guided walking tours to cemeteries and local parks, you can get out and about to discover local history in the real world. Both the Brunswick Community History Group and the Coburg Historical Society frequently hold history walking tours, check their websites to see what events they have coming up.  

People’s history of Brunswick

You can use your smartphone to explore the local history of Brunswick with the People’s History of Brunswick self-guided audio walking tours. These audio tours were created in partnership with 3CR Community Radio, Victorian History Week 2018 and the Australian Heritage Festival 2019.

Access the self-guided audio walking tours

There are two tours on offer that explore the rich history of social struggle and political organising in Brunswick:

Join historian and archivist Melinda Barrie as she takes you in the footsteps of Noel Counihan and the Brunswick free speech fight. From the theatres and soap-boxes; to riding atop street-cars and Counihan locking himself in a cage to escape arrest, Brunswick was a place of organising and dissent.

Join historian and author Iain McIntyre for Lock Out The Landlords, as he takes you on a tour of unemployed workers organising and anti-eviction resistance during the Depression – from urban communes to storming the Brunswick Town Hall and defending working-class families from eviction.

How to use the self-guided audio tours:

Download the Echoes app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. You can also visit Brunswick Library during opening hours for assistance.

A printed map and instructions are available for download (PDF, 810kb)

Cemetery tours

Historic parks videos

Explore some of Merri-bek's local parks through a historical lens with these videos.