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Westgarth

(3070, 5 km NE, Darebin City)

Westgarth Street was named when Northcote Township was subdivided in the mid 1850s after politician and merchant William Westgarth, who had purchased land on the Brunswick side of Merri Creek in 1845. The street gave its name to an area also known as South Northcote. In 1908 the local railway station was named Westgarth; by World War I a retail shopping strip had developed at the south end of High Street. The first films screened at the Westgarth Picture Theatre in 1921. Westgarth's predominantly weatherboard Edwardian houses were in great demand in the 1990s as the area became increasingly middle class.

Andrew May