Preston
Multicultural Preston is a lively mix of new and long term residents buying produce at Preston Market and soaking up the arts, cafes and offerings.
Multicultural Preston is a lively mix of new and long term residents buying produce at Preston Market and soaking up the arts, cafes and multicultural vibes. Preston is 9km north from Melbourne's CBD and in 2022, had a population of approximately 34,000.
The suburb is bordered to the east by the Darebin Creek, a small tributary to the Yarra River and consisting largely of flat terrain, ideal initially for farming, but later for industrial and residential development.
Preston is named after a place in Sussex, England and was first surveyed for sub-division by Robert Hoddle in 1837.
What's happening in Preston
Find out the latest news and developments going on in your neighbourhood from park upgrades to major planning developments. Keep informed and get involved!
- Junction Urban Master Plan - Works to rejuvenate High Street Preston, between Dundas and Bell Streets are underway. These improvements were one of the key projects identified during consultation with the local community for the development of the Junction Urban Master Plan (JUMP). It is a key project that will enliven, refresh and beautify the Junction Precinct.
Getting around
Preston is well connected by public transport, you can catch a train, bus or tram to get around to Preston Market or Northland Shopping Centre quite easily.
Train: Bell & Preston Station [South Morang line] Parkiteer bike cage at Preston Station
Tram: Route 86 & Route 11
Bus: Route 552, Route 553, Route 527, Route 526, Route 903, Route 555
Walking and Cycling: St Georges Road shared path, Oakover Road shared path, Cramer/Gower Streets, Raglan Street, Darebin Creek Trail, and Victoria Street bike lanes
Parking maps
For parking restrictions and conditions see: gis.darebin.vic.gov.au
For more information
Collect a Darebin TravelSmart map from any of our Libraries or Customer Service Centres.
Places of interest
Have you visited the top places of interest in Preston? From the shopping hubs of Preston Market and Northland Shopping Centre, to delicious food wonders on High Street, to watching a footy match on Preston Oval.
Preston, Preston East and Preston South Play Maps
Play is so important for children’s health, wellbeing, learning and development. These maps are a celebration of simple, inexpensive ideas to get all children playing, while exploring all the wonderful places and spaces Darebin has to offer!
We reached out to the children and families in playgroups, child care centres, kindergartens and Primary Schools across Darebin to ask them what THEY enjoyed when and where they play. These consultations formed the backbone to creating the Darebin Play Maps.
The Play Maps are designed to be used by children and families to stimulate ideas, give prompts and mark out the local spaces that children love to play in. While every effort has been made to make sure the play suggestions are appropriate, families need to use their own common sense and boundaries to ensure that their children are safe.
View the Preston area Play Maps
- Preston Market
- Northland Shopping Centre
- High Street, Preston
- NMIT (Northern Melbourne Institute of Tafe)
- Darebin Arts Centre
- 3KND Radio Station
See maps
Darebin guide: gis.darebin.vic.gov.au
Stolen Generation Marker
Outside Municipal Offices, 274 Gower Street, Preston
Initiated by Darebin's Aboriginal Advisory Committee the marker gives recognition to members of the Aboriginal community whose lives have been affected by the assimilationist policies of previous governments when Aboriginal children were taken away from their families and fostered to White Australian families.
The impact of such policies has been devastating and still felt down the generations of today. The importance of this marker is very significant. The marker is due to be launched on Sorry Day 2015.
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Mural
In 2017 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear (ICAN) Weapons for advancing a global nuclear weapons ban. To celebrate Darebin's Nobel Peace Prize Winners, Darebin City Council commissioned this mural on the outside of the Preston Library to acknowledge the extraordinary achievements of local residents and co-founders, Dimity Hawkins and Dave Sweeney.
Opened in April 2019, the mural was painted by Hayden Dewar a local artist who was inspired by a Jessie Boylan photo. In the left panel, nuclear weapons are being cut out of the environment by the hands of next generations, removing the threat and revealing the land safe underneath. In the centre panel the mural pays tribute to the land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people, the place where ICAN began. Creation ancestor Bunjil looks out over us, flying above a flowing Merri creek. The branch of a local Manna gum stretches out, marking the start of a story of another place, the land of the Yankunytjatjara people of the Western Desert in South Australia. Ngintaka, the Perentie lizard, the creation ancestor for the Yankunytjatjara people watches out from the desert sands. On the front panel we meet Aboriginal Elder and activist, Yankunytjatjara man Yami Lester. Yami was directly impacted by nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and his work to bring justice to the country and people affected by these tests highlighted the human costs of the nuclear threat.
For more information about this project see the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Mural Fact Sheet(PDF, 292KB) .
Preston community
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History
Preston is full of great history. Did you know that Preston was the original home of the pork industry in Australia? It was often referred to as Porktown. Oink!
- The Preston Cricket Club can trace its history directly to a 1901 meeting at the Preston Shire Hall. At that meeting it was resolved once and for all to form a cricket club to represent the district.
- From 1891 to 1893 an Ice Skating Rink operated on the west side of Plenty Road on or near the corner of Seymour Street. In 1894 the Preston Public Hall was built on the site.
- Preston Railway Station - The railway from Clifton Hill to Whittlesea was built in 1889 for a grand total of £97,819. A total of 16 trains ran per day, the route meandering through Northcote, North Carlton, Royal Park, North Melbourne and eventually to Spencer Street Station.
- The acquisition of former Housing Commission land by the Myer Emporium led to the opening of the Northland Shopping Centre in 1966.
Find out more at Darebin Heritage.