Jacana, Victoria
Jacana Federal division(s) | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jacana (
Jacana is located north of the
History
The name Jacana was applied to an area between
The streets in the southern section of Jacana were laid out in 1923, when 861 lots were offered for sale on land which had formerly been owned by Duncan Kennedy, a farmer in the area from the mid-1840s. The Housing Commission retitled some of the streets (for instance, the jokingly named Emu Parade and Sunset Boulevard, as well as after prominent sports persons who competed in the 1956 Olympics)[2] and built most of the housing stock in this section of Jacana in the 1950s. Only a few houses in Jacana—notably those in Pascoe Vale Road—predate the Housing Commission's arrival in Broadmeadows. In the late 1950s, a picture of the 'daily needs' shopping centre in Emu Parade appeared in the Housing Commission's Annual Report of 1958–59, presumably because it represented the progressive and ever-expanding nature of HCV operations. As the population increased, Jacana Post Office opened on 15 May 1961.[3] The Commission later laid out and built the northern section of Jacana in the early 1970s, the southernmost section of its showcase Meadow Fair estate. A small portion of the southern section of Jacana came under threat in the mid-1960s, when a new branch line was proposed to extend from the Broadmeadows railway line close to the site of Jacana Station, to the new Melbourne Airport. This line was not built.
Construction of the newer area of Jacana took place in the
As is to be expected from a former Housing Commission development in this region, Jacana is a lower-middle or working class area which, because of its planned heritage, enjoys better amenities than many privately developed or unplanned suburbs. It contains the aforementioned shops and Sports Club (which includes a bowling green), small playgrounds, a school and extensive parkland. The north-eastern section of the suburb is the site of the Broadmeadows Community Health Centre, relocated from a site north of Broadmeadows Central to a space long reserved for a hospital.
Schools
Jacana boasted a successful primary school (Jacana Primary School – School Number: 4839 and Motto: "Through Knowledge Success"). The school functioned from 1959 until its demise in 2009, due to the amalgamation of Broadmeadows West, Jacana and Meadowfair North primary schools. Class sizes were large during its early years, but by its closure in 2009, attendance dropped to below 50 students.[citation needed]
The former school site is currently occupied by the Northern School for Autism (for primary and secondary aged students in the Northern Region of Melbourne, formerly the Preston Special Developmental School). The old school site is undergoing renovations, to the interior and exterior, expected to be completed in 2011.[4][5]
Jacana Progress Association
Community facilities in the wider Broadmeadows area were generally the outcome of community agitation through Progress Associations. The Jacana Progress Association was formed in 1959 and concentrated most of its energies on building a community hall. The Association requested that residents donate two shillings each towards this project, and along with a series of local carnivals, had raised $2 000 by 1968. As this was insufficient to construct a hall, the Association approached non-government bodies with aspirations to locate in the area. St. John's Ambulance was the successful 'bidder' for this and was given the money towards a hall on land which had been donated by the Housing Commission to the Association. It constructed the Hall in Pascoe Vale Road, for its own and the community's use. The Hall was demolished in 2012.
The Jacana Progress Association no longer exists, and little is known of the circumstances of its demise.
Demographics
ABS 2001 statistics for the Jacana reveal a suburb in which 60.4% of the population is Australian-born – the remainder from a variety of sources, only the United Kingdom (3.1%) and Italy (2.6%) exceeding 2%. In 2001 almost 10% of residents were unemployed, and 48.5% were not in the labour force (over 30% of the population is under 18 or over 65). Of those employed, almost a quarter worked in manufacturing, and just over 15% worked in retail.
The majority of Jacana housing, as stated above, was erected by the Housing Commission of Victoria either in the late 1950s, early 1960s or in the early 1970s. It is mainly of brick construction with pre-cast concrete elements as per the HCV method of the 1950s-60s. There are no flats. 91.3% of Jacana residents live in separate houses. 48.3% own their own home, and 26.2% are purchasing their home, a total of 74.5%. The average housing price in Jacana in 2001 was $131,750; today premium streets such as Langton Street and Freeland Grove command prices over $700,000 as a result of the housing boom earlier in the decade. While this is a major increase over a short period of time, prices in Jacana are still far below the average for Melbourne.
Transport
Bus
Five
- 484 : Broadmeadows station – Roxburgh Park station via Greenvale. Operated by CDC Melbourne.[6]
- 542 : Roxburgh Park station – Pascoe Vale station via Meadow Heights Shopping Centre, Broadmeadows station, Glenroy Shopping Centre (every day). Operated by Dysons.[7]
- SmartBus 901 : Frankston station – Melbourne Airport. Operated by Kinetic Melbourne.[8]
- Westfield Airport West. Operated by Kinetic Melbourne.[9]
- Night Bus 959 : Melbourne CBD (Queen Street) – Broadmeadows station via Niddrie and Airport West (Saturday and Sunday mornings only). Operated by Ventura Bus Lines.[10]
Cycling
The
Train
Jacana is served by
Sport
See also
- City of Broadmeadows – Jacana was previously within this former local government area.
References
- ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Jacana (Suburbs and Localities)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
- ^ a b c "Jacana", Victorian Places, Victorian Places, retrieved 26 July 2022
- ^ Phoenix Auctions History. "Post Office List". Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Welcome to Jacana Primary School". Jacana Primary School. Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "School Years". eSpectrum. Autism Victoria. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ "484 Broadmeadows - Roxburgh Park via Greenvale". Public Transport Victoria.
- ^ "542 Roxburgh Park - Pascoe Vale via Meadow Heights & Broadmeadows & Glenroy". Public Transport Victoria.
- ^ "901 Frankston - Melbourne Airport (SMARTBUS Service)". Public Transport Victoria.
- ^ "902 Chelsea - Airport West (SMARTBUS Service)". Public Transport Victoria.
- ^ 959 City - Broadmeadows Station via Niddrie and Airport West Public Transport Victoria
- ^ Full Points Footy. "Jacana". Retrieved 15 April 2009.
- City of Hume, Jacana Suburb Profile 2001
- Faulds, Judith (2002). Broadmeadows: Two Decades of Community Change. Broadmeadows: Broadmeadows Historical Society. (88 pages)
- Hamilton-Smith, E.; Balmer, C. Broadmeadows – A Growing City Vol. 1 Youth Services Planning Division, East Melbourne 1972
- Housing Commission of Victoria Annual Report 1958-9 Melbourne, 1959
- Lemon, Andrew (1999) [1982]. Broadmeadows: A forgotten history. Broadmeadows: City of Broadmeadows/Hargreen. ISBN 0-949905-10-0. (257 pages)
- Westland, Doug Factors Surrounding the Provision of Community Facilities in Somerton Ward, Broadmeadows Social Studies Report, Faculty of Architecture and Building, University of Melbourne, 1971