This personal essay explores the author's experiences growing up in Melbourne's west during the 1980s and 1990s, highlighting the social stigma and lack of recognition faced by those from the area.
When I landed at Monash University in 1983, I was, as far as I knew, one of only two kids from Melbourne ’s west in first year arts. As I sat on the lawn outside the Ming Wing trying to fit in with the other first years it soon became apparent that I hadn’t gone to a school that anyone else knew, nor did I come from a suburb anyone had heard of (St Albans). The blank stares and turning of heads made it abundantly clear that where I came from was not on anyone’s radar, nor was it likely to be.
In year 9 my family had moved from Sunshine to St Albans. My friends at school (in Braybrook) left me in no doubt that, by moving to Mini Malta, I was taking a downward step on the social ladder. St Albans, right next door to Kealba, was not considered a nice place to live, even by other Westies. I had always lived in the west. After my family migrated to Australia in 1978 our home was in a section of the housing commission estate off Ballarat Road in Braybrook that was reserved for migrants. The words “Wog Flats” spray-painted on the side of our building told us in no uncertain terms that this was not a nice place to live. In year 11, our maths teacher came back furious from an in-service day with other maths teachers. They had questioned why he was “wasting” his time teaching pure and applied maths to kids from the west. Everyone I knew back then, knew that the west was not a nice place to live. It was barren in many ways, deprived of utilities, transport, places to go, things to do. Those of us who lived there in the ’80s and ’90s could have warned you that the neglect of this large swathe of Melbourne would lead to infrastructure shortfalls in the years to come. As much as the west was misunderstood, in many ways it never even existed. To outsiders, maybe the west seemed like one great homogeneous smear, but just as there was no single “east” of Melbourne, so was there no “west”. We weren’t a tea
Melbourne West Social Stigma Perception Identity
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