Sunshine, Victoria

Sunshine is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, lying 11 to 13 km west of the CBD. Its local government area is the City of Brimbank. At the, Sunshine had a population of 8,838.

History
The township of Sunshine was earlier known as Braybrook Junction.

The Braybrook Junction Post Office opened on 25 August 1890.

In 1904 H. V. McKay bought the Braybrook Implement Works. In 1906 McKay moved his agricultural machinery manufacturing business from Ballarat to Braybrook Junction. This established the Sunshine Harvester Works which became the largest manufacturing plant in Australia. McKay had also secured 400 acre of land at Braybrook Junction with the aim of establishing housing to encourage his workers to settle in the area.

In 1907 the locality was renamed Sunshine, after residents had petitioned to change the name in honour of the Sunshine Harvester Works. The name "Sunshine" is assumed to have been given by McKay to his harvester works after he attended a lecture by the American evangelist Reverend Thomas De Witt Talmage who visited Victoria in 1894.

Also in 1907 an industrial dispute between owner H. V. McKay and his workers at the Sunshine Harvester Works led to the Harvester Judgement, the benchmark industrial decision which led to the creation of a minimum living wage for Australian workers.

H. V. McKay's concept for Sunshine, the Sunshine Estate, was for a community developed according to the ideals of the Garden city movement, an influential town planning movement of the early 20th century. Infrastructure and amenities established by McKay included electric lighting, parks and sporting grounds, public buildings, schools and a library and the town became regarded as a model industry-centred community. Housing for the Sunshine Harvester Works' employees had swelled the local population and the town of Sunshine was touted as the "Birmingham of Australia".

The Sunshine train disaster on 20 April 1908 killed 44 people at Sunshine station.

In 1909 H. V. McKay Sunshine Harvester Works Pipe Band was formed. This is one of Australia's oldest continuously functioning pipe bands and still exists as the Williamstown R.S.L. Pipe Band.

Sunshine was not immune when many Australian-based manufacturing industries started winding down during and after the 1970s. In 1992 the Massey Ferguson factory, formerly the Sunshine Harvester Works, was demolished to make way for the development of the Sunshine Marketplace.

Today
Sunshine is now both a low-density residential suburb and one of Melbourne's principal places of employment outside of the CBD. Many heavy and light industrial companies are situated in and around the area and it is an important centre in Melbourne's west for retail. In addition to Sunshine's street shopping strips there are two shopping centres, the Sunshine Plaza and the Sunshine Marketplace; the Sunshine Marketplace includes the Sunshine Village Cinemas.

Amenity and navigability through Sunshine was reduced in 1961 with the replacement of the Hampshire Rd railway level crossing with a grade separation of the intersection in the form of a flyover bridge. Pedestrian traffic was diverted under the railway with a pedestrian underpass, effectively splitting Sunshine into two halves geographically and continues to do so till this day with calls for the removal of the flyover bridge and transformation of the station area as part of an urban renewal project for Sunshine.

Educational institutions in Sunshine include Victoria University's campus for its business, trade and retail studies programs, Sunshine College and Harvester Technical College.

Demographics
Sunshine is a highly multicultural suburb, with many residents coming from all over Europe in the first few decades of the post-WWII period. It is the main centre for Melbourne's Maltese community: indeed, Oceania's only branch of Malta's Bank of Valletta is situated on Watt St, Sunshine. From the late 1970s, many Vietnamese refugees settled in Sunshine and surrounding areas and have opened small businesses such as groceries and restaurants on Hampshire Road. More recently, immigrants moving to Sunshine have come from Sudan, Burma and India.

In 2011 Sunshine had a population of 8,838. The most common ancestries were Australian 14.0%, English 12.9%, Vietnamese 10.5%, Chinese 5.8% and Irish 5.3%.

In Sunshine, 44.7% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were Vietnam 11.2%, India 6.7%, Burma (Republic of the Union of Myanmar) 2.8%, Italy 1.9% and Philippines 1.6%.

Transport
Sunshine train station is classed as a Premium Station and is in the PTV zones 1+2 overlap.

Sunshine Station is situated right where the Ballarat and Bendigo regional railway lines meet. When the Regional Rail Link is built (scheduled for completion in 2016) trains between Geelong services will also pass through Sunshine Station: this will mean Sunshine Station will be at the junction of all three western regional railway lines.

The NSW TrainLink XPT passenger service to Sydney also passes through Sunshine Station on its way towards Seymour via the Albion–Jacana railway line.

Cyclists in Sunshine are represented by BrimBUG, the Brimbank Bicycle User Group.

Sport and leisure
The heritage-listed H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens on Anderson Road, established in 1909 by H.V. McKay as Sunshine Gardens, is one of two remaining 'industrial gardens' in Australia. However, as of April 2012, local residents are campaigning to preserve the original state of the public space.

The Kororoit Creek runs through Sunshine, along which runs the Kororoit Creek Trail.

The Sunshine Football Club, the Sunshine Kangaroos, are the local Australian Rules football team. They compete in the Western Region Football League.

The Sunshine Cricket Club is based at Dempster Park in North Sunshine.

The Sunshine Park Tennis Club is based at Parsons Reserve Sunshine.

The Sunshine George Cross Football Club, the Sunshine Georgies, are the local Victorian Premier League soccer team. Their home ground is Chaplin Reserve on Anderson Road.

The Sunshine Baseball Club have their baseball field in Barclay Reserve on Talmage Street.

Golfers play at the course of the Sunshine Golf Club on Mt Derrimut Road, Derrimut. It relocated from the Fitzgerald Road course in November 2007. For those seeking some fun, the huge Fun City Entertainment Centre with Formula E Go Karts as well as the Intencity Gaming Complex at Sunshine Marketplace are popular amusement centres located in central Sunshine. There is also the Sunshine Rollerskating Centre.

The Sunshine Leisure Centre contains a swimming pool, gym and other facilities. There is also the Sunshine World Gym and the Platinum Health & Pilates centre.



Attractions

 * Fun City Family Entertainment Centre next to Harvey Norman on Ballarat Road, and includes Formula E Go Karts.

In popular culture

 * In the film The Castle, the Kerrigans' daughter Tracey obtained her hairdressing qualification from Sunshine TAFE.
 * In the television series Kath & Kim, Kath Day Knight has obtained numerous qualifications from Sunshine TAFE.
 * Sunshine is the setting of the film Noise.

Notable residents

 * Leigh Bowery, London-based avant-garde artist and designer
 * Reverend John Flynn, the Presbyterian minister and aviator who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service and who is featured on the current Australian 20 dollar note
 * Charles Greenwood, pastor who revived the Assemblies of God church in Australia
 * John Kelly, internationally renowned artist who grew up in Sunshine.
 * Lydia Lassila, 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist who grew up and went to school in Sunshine
 * Hugh Victor McKay, leading Australian industrialist of the early 20th century; founder of the Sunshine Harvester Works
 * Keith Miller, Australian test cricketer of the 1940s and 50s
 * Craig Parry, one of Australia's premier golfers. Born in Sunshine.
 * Walter "Wally" Peeler, WWI soldier, Victoria Cross and British Empire Medal winner and first custodian of the Shrine of Remembrance
 * Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who lived briefly at the Derrimut Hotel in 1945.
 * Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC who lived in Sunshine as a child.
 * Stelarc, Cyprus-born, Sunshine-raised performance artist.
 * Richard Tyler, born 1947, fashion designer in New York and Hollywood.
 * Cal Wilson, stand-up comedienne and radio and television personality.