VICPlanned settlement
Coburg
A village that renamed itself to escape its own gaol.
1840Pentridge village reserve surveyed
WHAT STARTED IT
Surveyors cut the land between the Merri and Moonee Ponds creeks into farm lots with water access in 1840, setting aside a village reserve called Pentridge beside the road north from Melbourne. Sydney Road became its spine.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Part of the village was taken for a penal stockade in 1850, and the surrounding farms gave way to bluestone quarrying. In 1869 residents won a change of name from Pentridge to Coburg, and land-boom subdivisions followed the railway and the Sydney Road tram in the 1880s.
TURNING POINTS
1840Farm allotments and the Pentridge village reserve are surveyed beside the Merri Creek.
1850A penal stockade opens on part of the village reserve.
1869A deputation wins the Minister’s approval to rename the Pentridge Road Board as Coburg.
1888Coburg railway station is built; the Sydney Road horse tram follows in 1889.
1922Coburg is proclaimed a city.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A busy inner-northern suburb built along Sydney Road, known for its mix of European and Middle Eastern shops. The former gaol is now housing.