The City of Coburg was a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

about north of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, the state capital of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1859 until 1994.

History

Initial efforts at local government saw the

Sydney Road Sydney Road (in its northernmost part also known as the Hume Highway) is a major urban arterial in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Geography Sydney Road starts at the northern end of Royal Parade at the boundary of Par ...

Trust set up in 1840, which boasted

John Fawkner John Pascoe Fawkner (20 October 1792 – 4 September 1869) was an early Australian pioneer, businessman and politician of Melbourne, Australia. In 1835 he financed a party of free settlers from Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), to sail ...

as a founding member, but the first incorporation in the area was the Pentridge District Road Board in 1859, which was renamed Coburg on 21 January 1869, after a Royal visit from Prince Alfred, Duke of

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ( ), was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to ...

. It became a shire on 24 December 1874, before increasing urbanisation in the late 19th century led to it being reclassified a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

in January 1905. Coburg then became a town on 18 September 1912, and was proclaimed a city on 29 March 1922. Accessed at

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in th ...

, La Trobe Reading Room. Between 1947 and 1981, the percentage of overseas-born residents of the City of Coburg increased from 9% to 34%, with significant proportions being of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origins. On 22 June 1994, the City of Coburg was abolished, and along with the

City of Brunswick The City of Brunswick was a local government area in the inner-northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprised the suburbs of Brunswick, Brunswick East and Brunswick West. It ceased to exist on 22 June 1994, when its council ...

, was merged into the newly created City of Moreland (now

City of Merri-bek The City of Merri-bek () is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne central business district, Melb ...

). A tiny strip on the eastern boundary was transferred to the newly created

City of Darebin The City of Darebin () is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston. ...

, which incorporated the Cities of Preston and Northcote. Council meetings were held at the Coburg City Hall, on Bell Street, Coburg. The hall is still used for this purpose by the City of Merri-bek.

Wards

The City of Coburg was divided into four wards, each electing three councillors: * East Ward * West Ward * North Ward * Central Ward

Suburbs

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

* * Coburg North *

Pascoe Vale Pascoe Vale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Merri-bek local government area. Pascoe Vale recorded a population of 18,171 at the 2021 census. History Pa ...

(shared with the

City of Broadmeadows The City of Broadmeadows was a local government area about north of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1857 until 1994. History Broadmeadows was first incorporated as a road d ...

) *

Pascoe Vale South Pascoe Vale South is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek local government area. Pascoe Vale South recorded a population of 10,534 at the 2021 ...

* Council seat.

Population

* Estimate in the 1958 Victorian Year Book.

References

External links

*
Victorian Places - Coburg and Coburg City
{{Coord, -37.738, 144.982, format=dms, type:adm2nd_region:AU-VIC, display=title

City of Merri-bek 1856 establishments in Australia 1994 disestablishments in Australia