Investigation
Life in the ’burbs
The Age asked Melburnians to write about their suburb, whether the cliches about it are true and how life there has changed in recent years.
- Opinion
- Opinion
Can you guess Melbourne’s smallest, poshest or smelliest suburbs? Explore our interactive map
The Age has developed a new map where you can explore Melbourne’s suburbs, through the eyes of Melburnians who live there.
- Damien Nowicki
- Opinion
- Opinion
I loved my childhood suburb so much, I bought a house around the corner from where I grew up
Playing tennis on the street, picking figs from my dad’s pride-and-joy veggie patch and watching Rocky movies at the drive-in: it felt like an idyllic childhood.
- Orietta Guerrera
- Opinion
- Opinion
My suburb has beaches, space, fresh air – and the slight smell of chicken nuggets
We never thought we’d match our NSW lifestyle, but found relaxed authenticity and everything we need within walking distance.
- Jim Klages
- Opinion
Moving to my suburb was a no-brainer – but first someone had to die
The industrial smells have been drifting away from the place fondly known as WeFo. Now we’re luring the giants of the digital future.
- Ross Cayley
- Opinion
My suburb is a hidden gem. It has just one cafe and no shops
My suburb is only a train ride from Flinders Street, but we live among the birds and gumtrees.
- Charlotte Chidell
- Opinion
My suburb has an island, purgatory, and 2000 wardens to catch you doing anything sneaky
My resort-style suburb confuses both outsiders and residents. But its true delight is in the quirky, unexpected pleasures that come with life here.
- Marg Perry
- Opinion
My suburb is quiet, green and close to dumplings - it beats its better-known cousin hands down
There’s much to be said for living near a bustling neighbourhood rather than in it.
- Avery Poole
- Opinion
My suburb is an overlooked island. People keep pushing for us to ‘sex up’ its name
Our most famous resident said we could boost house prices by $20-$30,000 if we adopted the name of the local “Bunnings of dildos”. Luckily, residents have stood firm against change.
- John Tait
- Opinion
My suburb often makes headlines for the wrong reasons, but our Coles is the best in Melbourne
A period of trouble several years ago cast a shadow on my suburb’s reputation, but it doesn’t define us.
- Giridhar Vemulapalli
- Opinion
My suburb has its own unofficial suburb – with a completely different vibe
Those residents prefer to think of themselves as living in a separate suburb that doesn’t officially exist.
- Jess Burke
- Opinion
My suburb changed its name decades ago, but everyone’s still confused
It was recognised as its own suburb in the 1990s – three decades on, people still call us by three different names.
- Elspeth De Fanti
- Opinion
My village suburb makes some people nervous, but the hoons brought me here
You’ve probably never heard of this place. And what’s with locals calling it a village? But you have to admit it has charm.
- Jason Doyle
- Opinion
My suburb is mocked relentlessly. But people can’t stop talking about it
It seems everyone has an opinion on my neighbourhood, where there’s a lingering characterisation that we’re the heart of Melbourne’s boring suburbia.
- Matthew Etty-Leal
- Opinion
My suburb wanted to beat Chadstone. So it banned traffic
But the game-changer arrived in 2008, bringing evening crowds and turning our suburb’s heart into a dining precinct and community meeting place.
- Victoria Kyriakopoulos
- Opinion
My quiet suburb has no bars and one cafe. But that’s not why we speak in whispers
Some residents claim to live in a different bayside suburb, while neighbours think they live here. The truth is anyone’s guess.
- Henry Herzog
- Opinion
I bet you know my historic suburb, but I doubt you know anyone who lives here
You probably see my suburb as a place to whizz through on your way somewhere else. But it has a hidden beauty worth sticking around for.
- Kathy Watty
- Opinion
My suburb’s name is a mystery, but it’s how you say our main drag that reveals if you’re a local
Some refer to my suburb as “Tradie Town”, but while there are heaps of utes and Pete Murray covers played at the local pub, those who live here affectionately call it something else.
- Samantha Allemann
- Opinion
In my suburb a woman put a cigarette out on my head. It’s that kind of place
Perhaps because it’s neat and small, my suburb absorbs the energy of the neighbourhoods that so tightly surround it.
- Ronnie Scott
- Opinion
My bayside suburb has no shopping strip, cafe, or even a milk bar. That’s how we like it
It is not far from the CBD, but my suburb is the antithesis of inner-city hustle, a place where the snapper bite at dawn, pelicans drift overhead, and footpaths wind alongside the creek.
- Kat Lodder
- Opinion
We moved to a suburb with a bad rep. Then we forgot to lock the house and car
My suburb is well known, but not for the right reasons. YouTubers and TikTokers often visit to film content with titles like: “Inside Melbourne’s most dangerous suburb”.
- Lee Crossley
- Opinion
My suburb’s so small, our primary school was cut in half
Welcome to the highlights of this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it slice of urban tranquillity, typified by relative anonymity and an unusual community gathering spot.
- John Dodson
- Opinion
I live in a suburb of the dead and dying. Even our train station is inside a graveyard
Weekends bring the familiar sound of another deceased estate being auctioned off – before it later gives birth to a subdivision of three townhouses.
- David Ryding
- Opinion
I cringe when people ask where I live. But my suburb ended up proving me wrong
I barely noticed the fleeting lights as I drove through. And as I walked back to this dark, cold place, I never would’ve guessed that it would be my future home of 45 years.
- Kate Feher
- Opinion
My suburb may be home to gangsters, students and rats, but its food can heal a broken heart
Friends asked why I’d chosen my suburb over cooler ones like Fitzroy, Collingwood, or Brunswick to start my new single life. Until I introduced them to “Tom”.
- Nina Culley
- Opinion
My suburb’s confusing road feature separates the visitors from the locals
You’re a real local when you can confidently approach this traffic feature under the eye of the local police. It certainly took me long enough.
- Linda Skinner
- Opinion
My wife lured me to our new suburb after years of inner-city living. It was a trick
I was convinced that all the good bits of inner-city living (mainly decent coffee, cafes) were still available. Then night fell.
- Paul Dover
- Opinion
My mansion-lined suburb’s a little bit posh – but we also have a notorious underbelly
Despite a disreputable side, my tiny neighbourhood is surely the happiest suburb in Melbourne, even if no one knows where we are.
- Denis Harvey
- Opinion
My uncool suburb is so under-the-radar, even the criminals avoid us
Although my neighbourhood shares a border with an apparently world-famous suburb, it’s one of those places that might as well be in Narnia.
- John Bailey
- Opinion
My suburb was promised a train station, but all we’re getting is a ‘trackless tram’
When I first moved here, nobody had any idea where it was. Now this bucolic suburb is packed full of million-dollar mansions.
- Nick Brennan
- Opinion
My suburb isn’t flashy like South Yarra or grungy like Windsor, it’s the Goldilocks of Chapel Street
Many of our local institutions are technically in other suburbs. But for all its quirks and scruffiness, it’s never boring.
- Andrew Dye
- Opinion
My suburb felt eerie when I first came here. Now, it’s difficult to leave
During my visit 15 years ago, there were no shops, few homes and no roundabouts, while a central arterial road literally came to a gravelly stop next to the local oval.
- Peter Waterhouse
- Opinion
My suburb is the unglamorous sibling of a seaside gem. But we’re still better
I can’t imagine growing up in a fabulous house by the postcard-pretty beach. Instead, there was something freeing in our quiet spaciousness.
- Gareth Morgan
- Opinion
My suburb is the South Yarra of the north. But good luck trying to find it
With quirky art, a hidden shopping strip and century-old gums, my suburb is the closest thing to a country town this side of the green wedge.
- Belinda Johnston
- Opinion
I was warned about our suburb. Then we accidentally moved here
While inspecting a house, we stared out at the suburb, so taken aback by one feature that we forgot to look at the rest of the house properly.
- Tammy Wong Hulbert
- Opinion
No one knew where my suburb was. Then one store changed everything
We were hidden away between a river and two freeways until a local man’s hustle and yellow handwritten signs catapulted us to fame.
- Margaret Raffle
- Opinion
My suburb’s so daggy, our local shops are known as the ‘Square of Despair’
With a retro, neglected vibe and horrific public toilet, our shopping centre almost feels like it shouldn’t count.
- Sian Campbell
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