Footscray, Victoria

Footscray is a suburb 5 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Footscray had a population of 11,401.

Footscray is characterised by a very diverse, multicultural central shopping area, which reflects the successive waves of immigration experienced by Melbourne, and by Footscray in particular. Once a centre for Italian and former Yugoslavian migrants, it is now a hub for Vietnamese, and increasingly, East African immigrants in Melbourne.

Footscray is named after Foots Cray, a locality south-east of London on the River Cray in Kent.

History
The Post Office first opened on 12 October 1857.

People
The inner western suburbs of Melbourne were traditionally undesirable as residential areas due to the presence of heavy industry, however this has changed dramatically as nearly all of the factories have gone over the last decades, and their products now imported. From the 1950s till 1990s the affordability of housing and availability of employment opportunities in these areas have made them attractive to migrants for many years. Greek, Italian, Macedonian, and Croatian migrants arrived in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by Vietnamese in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in recent years there has been rapid gentrification as younger people seek affordable period housing close to Melbourne city centre. This is also due to the newly approved "Footscray Superstation" and successful results from crime prevention schemes.

Politics
Footscray falls within the federal electorate of Gellibrand (currently held by the ALP's Nicola Roxon) and the state electorate of Footscray (currently held by the ALP's Marsha Thomson), and the City of Maribyrnong at local level. The suburb's historical voting patterns have been fairly typical of a working-class suburb with a high migrant population and it remains a very safe area for the ALP.

At the Federal Election of 2007, the suburb contained the polling booths of Footscray, Footscray East, Footscray South, Maidstone, and Western Hospital. The ALP generally won a majority of the primary (first-preference) vote at each booth, with: 61.64% at Footscray (compared to 18.01% for the Liberals and 12.17% for the Greens); 64.98% at Footscray East (compared to 17.82% for the Liberals and 9.78% for the Greens); 56.53% at Footscray South (compared to 19.78% for the Liberals and 15.01% for the Greens); 64.94% at Maidstone (compared to 22.43% for the Liberals and 6.40% for the Greens); 65.74% at Western Hospital (compared to 21.12% for the Liberals and 6.37% for the Greens).

Unsurprisingly for an inner-city suburb, the Greens have become a growing presence.

Food
The Footscray Market is a fresh produce and seafood market, catering particularly to the various ethnicities and local restaurants. Another large market in Footscray is Little Saigon, which opened in 1992 to cater to the growing Asian population, but now has customers from all backgrounds. Little Saigon is noisy and crowded, with a wide array of tropical fruits and Asian produce. The little saigon building is not built for a market, but has steadily grown in popularity compared to the footscray market, due to free parking available nearby.

Restaurants in Footscray are mostly Vietnamese or Chinese, however there are many African restaurants, including several Ethiopian cafes and restaurants, and also Indian restaurants. There also exists several pubs that serves contemporary Australian food.

Culture


Footscray has been the setting of several Australian movies, the most notable being Romper Stomper which was filmed in and around Footscray in 1992. It deals with a fictional gang of neo-Nazi skinheads and their battle against Vietnamese immigrants. Not all scenes were filmed locally. The "Footscray Railway Station" featured in the movie has a pedestrian underpass, while the real station has an overpass for foot traffic; the station used for filming was Richmond station. The film Metal Skin (1994) was also set in and around Footscray.

The Australian Croatian Association's headquarters are located in Footscray, serving the large Croatian community in the area. Other support and social groups include Macedonian, African, Albanian, Chinese, Filipino, Greek, Bosnian, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Latin American and Vietnamese.

The Footscray-Yarraville City Band rehearses weekly and performs throughout the year locally, nationally and internationally. They conduct an annual Carols by Candlelight event each December, held in the Yarraville Gardens.

The Tết Lunar Year Festival is held each year in Footscray. It is a vibrant, colourful and amazing festival, featuring dancing dragons, live music, food stalls, theme park rides and fireworks in the late evening.

The Footscray Club is a social club that has been part of Footscray since 1894. This was the original Footscray Cycle Club when cycling became quite popular in Australia in the 19th century. By 1909 the club had build a permanent site on Paisley street where it still stands today. Early in the last century the club evolved into a purely local social club where members of the local community meet and socialize to this day.

The Footscray Historical Society works on a number of local fronts to record and preserve the history of the area. The Society has an active membership who take part in a range of activities to assist this endeavour. Records such as rare books, business records and correspondence are held at the Society's headquarters at Ercildoune, built in 1876 as a branch of the National Bank of Australasia. The Society owns this historic building and has had the interior and exterior restored. Tours, forums and discussions are held regularly.

Footscray is at the centre of the Kariwara Scout district of Scouts Australia. Started in 1909, the 1st Footscray Scout hall is a historic building next to the Footscray police station in Hyde St. 3rd Footscray is the hall seen from the railway line and no longer has youth programs but is home to adult training. The 2nd Footscray Scout hall has a modern brick hall after the first hall burnt down in 1982. The group has programs for children aged 7 to 26 and meets at Guadion park in Barkly St. The 10th Footscray Scout group is in Essex St next to the YMCA and has programs for 7 to 15 year olds. The 5th Footscray group is opposite Seddon station and has programs for 6 to 15 year olds. All are part of Scouts Australia.

Arts, Music, Big West Festival
Located on the bank of the Maribyrnong River, Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCAC) is a centre for contemporary arts and community engagement and cultural development and multicultural arts. Since its establishment in 1974, it is estimated that over 2 million community members have visited FCAC or directly participated in one or more of its many events, initiatives, projects, workshops and programs. Footscray Community Arts Centre's projects have toured nationally and internationally. FCAC aims to contribute to the transformation of contemporary Australian culture and the ongoing, dynamic debate about the place of 'art' in society.

The Snuff Puppets are Footscray based performance group of oversized puppets. Their perfornces combine puppetry, live music, visual and physical theatre. Snuff Puppets have toured over sixteen countries, including Indonesia, Japan, China, Brazil, Western and Eastern Europe. The Snuff Puppets have been in Footscray since 1992.

The Dog Theatre opened September 2008. It is the west's first independent theatre space. The Trocadero Art Space is located on Hopkins Street, in Footscray's heart. It comprises both interior and outdoor (street-exposed) exhibition spaces.

Bands
Footscray has a rich history of music and brass bands, currently being home to the Footscray-Yarraville City Band FYCB and the Hyde Street Youth Band. These bands go back a long time with Hyde Street being established in 1928. It contributed  to the history of the region as the band played the official theme song for the Footscray Football Club (now Western Bulldogs) while they were playing at the Whitten Oval. The FYCB is one of five A-Grade Brass bands in Victoria and has been successful in the National Championships.

Big West Festival
The Big West Festival is a community arts event held every two years in Footscray and surrounding suburbs.

Town Planning
In 2008 the Victorian Government designated Footscray as one of six new Central Activities Districts. It is planned that CADs will be become mini CBDs, with european style higher density living, more apartments above ground floor businesses and hight restrictions raised up to 11 stories in some areas of central footscray.

Footscray's streets are filled with thousands of heavy trucks, Buckley St in central Footscray is carring almost 3000 trucks a day in 2010, and the numbers are increasing. After years of lobbying the local Major, Cr Janet Rice, helped get heavy trucks banned from Hopkins St, Barkly Sts and Irving St and Nicholson st in central Footscray. The current state government has no commitment to move more Freight onto rail.

WestLink is a major road planned for Melbourne's west. It includes a road tunnel under Footscray, linking Dynon Road and Footscray Road in the Port of Melbourne with Geelong Road and Sunshine Road in West Footscray. If it receives federal or private funding building could begin in 2017 or 2020.

The $4.3 billion Regional Rail Link connecting Werribee to the CBD resulted in 26 homes and 84 businesses being acquired along the line in Footscray.

Community initiatives
Grasslands Organic Grocery is a non-profit community initiative, established in March 1997, offering disounts in the store for concession card holders.

Aussie Rules Football
Footscray is home of the Western Bulldogs, an Australian rules football team which plays in the Australian Football League. The team was known as the Footscray Football Club until 1996, and played its home games at the Whitten Ovalon Barkly Street on the edge of Footscray, which is now used only as the club's training ground.

Footscray also has some WRFL clubs, they are the West Footscray Roosters, the North Footscray Devils and the Parkside Magpies.

Horse Racing
Flemington Racecourse, the home of the Melbourne Cup, is across the Maribyrnong River to the northeast in the neighbouring suburb of Flemington, immediately opposite Footscray Park, the second largest botanical garden in Victoria.

Cycling
The Footscray Cycling Club promotes road racing and criterium racing, whilst cyclists are represented by the MazzaBUG, the Maribyrnong Bicycle User Group.

Nearby bike paths include the Maribyrnong River Trail and the Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail.

Football/Soccer
The football club Melbourne Croatia was founded in Leeds Street, Footscray in 1953, and now bears the name Melbourne Knights FC.

Cricket
The Footscray Cricket Club was founded in 1883 and for the first 113 years of its existence was also situated at the Western Oval (now Whitten Oval) until 1996 when combined pressure exerted by the Footscray Football Club and state-government-appointed commissioners to the City of Maribyrnong saw the club relocated to the Mervyn G. Hughes Oval.

Until the test cricket debut of the Melbourne Cricket Club's Brad Hodge in December 2005, the Footscray Cricket Club had produced the most Test players of any Melbourne based district cricket club. Footscray's Test representatives in order of debut are Ron Gaunt, Les Joslin, Ken Eastwood, Alan Hurst, Ray Bright, Merv Hughes, Tony Dodemaide and Colin Miller.

The club won its only District First Eleven premiership under the captaincy of Lindsay James in 1979/80

Industry


The headquarters of Lonely Planet Publications are located in eastern Footscray on the banks of the Maribyrnong River, adjacent to the Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail.

The eastern portion of Footscray, in the fork between the Yarra River and Maribyrnong River, contains railway yards, the Melbourne Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market, and Appleton and Swanson Docks which were the site of the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute in Melbourne. In 2005, the State Government announced the closure of the Melbourne Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market to make way for an extensive redevelopment of the Port of Melbourne and the construction of new freight rail links to the area.

While many factories and warehouses are still to be found in and around the suburb of Footscray, many former industrial sites are being transformed into modern housing estates. Perhaps the largest of these is the former Footscray Ammunition Factory in a prime elevated position overlooking the banks of the Maribyrnong River with views across to Flemington Racecourse and Melbourne city centre.

Identities
Many Melbourne identities proudly associate themselves with the suburb of Footscray. These include the late footballer and TV personality Ted Whitten. Former TV presenter and radio compare Ernie Sigley is associated strongly with Footscray and Maidstone.

Other personalities include Merv Hughes (former cricketer), cartoonist Michael Leunig, Victorian state government Greens' MP Colleen Hartland, Ray Borner (former basketballer), comedians Russell Gilbert and Doug Chappel. Australian dramatic actor William McInnes (e.g. 'Nick' in Blue Heelers and 'Max' in also lives west of Footscray. Another prominent local is youth worker Les Twentyman.

A local furniture store owner (and TV personality of sorts) Franco Cozzo, a migrant from Italy, was made famous by his TV commercials in which he pronounced Footscray as "Foot-s Crai". This has had a pervasive influence and in the 2000s many Melbourne residents recall and repeat this pronunciation, wittingly or otherwise.

Footscrayzy Sign
Another well known mispronunciation is the infamous "Footscrayzy" sign at the intersection between Waverley Street and Orford in Maribyrnong. The sign was originally placed at the intersection with the correct spelling, but later graffitied (with silver spray paint) to add "zy" on the end. Although this may have been intended as a slur at the time, traffic was reasonably heavy at this intersection during peak times. The sign was replaced, on taller legs, to avoid further "modification" (or vandalism). However the new sign was quickly modified once again.

In 2009 an exhibition entitled 'Footscary Footscrazy Footscray' was held as part of the Big West Festival. It included works by Footscray artists Heather Horrocks, Karenne Rees and Sylvie Leber. The sign's popularity is evidenced by the 'Footscrayzy Sign Society' group on Facebook with its photos and 6000+ members.

Educational institutions
Some schools in the immediate Footscray area are:
 * Footscray Primary School (previously known as Geelong Road Primary School, Footscray Primary School offers the Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate, as well as a Vietnamese Bilingual Programme)
 * Footscray North Primary School mistaken for being in the suburb of Maidstone but technically in Footscray.
 * Footscray City Primary School (also known as Hyde Street, which offers a state curriculum and a smaller Steiner stream).
 * St Monica's Primary School
 * St John's School
 * St John's Primary School
 * Footscray City College (secondary school, previously known as Footscray Technical College).
 * Gilmore Girls College (secondary school, previously known as Footscray Girls Secondary College).


 * Austwide institute of management, footscray. Offering different light vehicles courses and now certified by the government to provide free courses to public.

There are also two campuses in Footscray of Victoria University.

Public library
The Footscray public library is operated by the Maribyrnong City Council. Services include 'story time' for pre-schoolers, orientation tours, reference and information services to assist with research needs, internet classes, and services for those unable to visit the library. Facilities include public internet, word processing, photocopiers, study carrels, local studies/family history room, conference and discussion rooms, a baby change room and community notice boards. The library is open 7 days (closed public holidays).

Health
The health needs of Footscray and surrounding residents are served by the Western General Hospital. The Western General is a large teaching and research hospital responsible for providing a comprehensive range of inpatient and outpatient acute health services. The hospital currently conducts research in gastroenterology, colorectal cancer, emergency care, oncology, respiratory medicine, sleep disorders, and vascular surgery.

Key services at the Western Hospital include acute medical and surgical services, intensive and coronary care, emergency services, renal services, specialist drug and alcohol services, aged care and palliative care.

The Western Region Health Centre was established in 1964. Services include an African community worker, refugee health nurse, women’s health nurse, dieticians, youth health nurse, diabetic educator, podiatrist, counsellors and physiotherapists. Visiting specialists include a general surgeon and paediatrician. Pathology services and Dental services are co-located on site.

Places of worship
There are many religious organisations and places of worship in Footscray, including Anglican, Buddhist, Catholic, Church of Christ, Evangelical Christian, Lutheran, Muslim, Orthodox, Pentecostal and Uniting Church.

Media
Three free, weekly suburban newspapers are distributed in Footscray. The Western Times is part of the News Corporation-owned Leader Newspapers group; The Footscray Mail is part of the Fairfax Community Newspapers Victoria and the Star which is produced by the Star News Group (covering Footscray, Yarraville & Braybrook). They are distributed every Wednesday.

The Western times is now known as the Maribyrnong Leader and now carries very little local content.

Fairfax runs the Mail, also known as the Footscray mail, it is published out of the Airport west office but carries a lot more local content that the 'Leader' brand.

Star News Group runs the footscray star, this is one of 8 papers they run in the north west. these papers started around the year 2000. The star brand itself is over 100 years old and is well known for its content on Community Groups.