Above: Braybrook as seen on Churchill Avenue.
Situated between Sunshine and Footscray, Braybrook features many similarities to both of its neighbouring suburbs. Originally a heavily industrialized suburb, Braybrook has recently undergone significant gentrification, albeit at a noticeably slower rate than Footscray. The suburb has a significant refugee and immigrant population, mainly from East Africa and Vietnam – roughly one third of its 6940 people were born overseas. This high percentage could be attributed to the location of the main campus of WELS (Western English Language Centre) on South Street. Braybrook has several other schools, which cover both Primary and Secondary education for its residents.
Braybrook has many, well-intentioned, community-minded organizations and facilites. The Braybrook Community Centre is located at 107-139 Churchill Avenue and offers a large variety of educational and social programs for the Braybrook residents; these include children’s facilites, crafts, English as a Second Language (ESL), occasional care, computer and Internet facilities, playgroups, health and well-being classes and financial counselling. The centre also houses the Western Region Community Health Centre which offers physiotherapy, podiatry, social work, occupational therapists, general practitioners, speech pathology for children, pharmaceutical program and a women’s and children’s health nurse. A not-for-profit Tool Library is also a section within the centre where residents can use a workshop with the assistance of volunteers. These wood-work facilities, and other rooms and halls are available for hire. A community garden, where we have decided to focus both our research and outcomes on, is located at the rear of the centre and offers residents an opportunity to enjoy gardening with other residents. Unfortunately this garden is plagued with a variety of problems, notably inaccessibility, mismanagement and a poor sense of ownership.
Braybrook also features The Community Hub, which is located at 19 Hargreaves Crescent. This hub is a base for the Neighbourhood Renewal team and the Braybrook and Maidstone Neighbourhood Association who collaborate with local residents to initate positive change within the community. The Braidstone Bulletin, the local community newsletter, is published from this centre. Our enquiry into this hub yielded few results, suggesting that the Community Hub is no longer in operation or at least, is currently abeyant.
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