Footscray

Once a working-class bastion of Melbourne, the suburb – named after the Kent village Foots Cray – is slowly but surely joining the ranks of the city’s gentrified inner west as urban renewal, relocation of industry and rocketing property prices –today’s median is more than $600,000 – have brought change to the area in recent years. And while its rejuvenation, proximity to the city and relatively large well-priced blocks have caught the buying interest of young professionals, it hasn’t been an easy transition for a suburb proud of its blue-collar roots – a history often held up by the fluctuating fortunes of the local AFL club, affectionately known as “the doggies”.

Footscray, though, has always been going through one kind of upheaval or another, riding our economic booms and busts, or waves of new arrivals – immigrants from Europe in the 1940s and ’50s and refugees, many from Vietnam, in the 1980s and ’90s, and most recently from east Africa. This has led to the neighbourhood’s rich multicultural mix of cafes, restaurants and shops as well as community festivals. Still perhaps a little rough round the edges, the suburb nevertheless is moving up, both figuratively and literally, experiencing high-density residential and commercial development.