Moreland is now Merri-bek

The City of Moreland has been the City of Merri-bek since September 2022. It's only taken me four years to follow up on my last post. Better late than never, I suppose.

Merri-bek, means ‘rocky country’ in Woi-wurrung language. 

Whether you're from out of town or a local, you might like to explore our local area using the Love Merri-bek trail maps.

But this blog is all about the past, so here is one significant change that has taken place in my home suburb of Brunswick since I last posted.

One of the most exciting changes of recent times is the redevelopment of the old Siteworks precinct in Saxon Street. It's now called Balam Balam Place and it's a vibrant community space that still has some echoes of its past.

Reko Rennie's mural 'Always' is in the foreground of this image from the Merri-bek Council website. The house beside it is the former 'Sherwood', originally home of pottery works owner Alfred Cornwell. Behind that is a new community space, simply called 'South'. 

I took a photo of the house (now called 'House') on the day of the 2018 Sydney Road Street party.

Today it's hard to imagine this house sitting alongside a busy and messy pottery works in Phoenix Street (now the Woolworths site), but this is what it looked like in the 1860s or 1870s:

From the Merri-bek Libraries collection.

And in the early years of the 20th century, the pottery was still going strong:

This image can be found on page 39 of Pictorial Brunswick.

Today it's hard to imagine a streetscape as flat as the one seen in the images of the pottery works where the highest structure is the kiln directly behind the workshed. It's also hard to imagine the noise and the dust in summer and mud in winter. The 1901 photograph seems highly sophisticated in comparison!