Darebin

Darebin is the Aboriginal word for swallows (birds).  An alternative spelling is darabin. 

Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, sent Robert Hoddle down to the new colony at Port Phillip to survey the new land.   He instructed Hoddle to use the local Aboriginal place names whereever possible. 

Hoddle and his assisted Thomas Henry Nutt were surveying the Yarra River and Merri Creek in early 1837, Nutt completing the Merri Creek by April of that year. 

By the end of 1839 Darebin Creek was appearing on maps of the area and by 1841 we start getting the first births listed along the Darebin Creek.   At this stage there were very few towns or villages and the creeks were the only way of describing the locality.  Amongst those births in 1841 were Carolina Armstrong, Elizabeth Egan and Hector, Janet and Lily MacDonald (triplets).

On 26 August 1870 a number of Local Road Boards were amalgamated to form the Shire of Darebin.    This huge shire stretched from Northcote, to Merriang, Whittlesea and Woodstock.   With few roads, and with horse and carriage the only forms of transport the amount and time required for travelling for the Councillors was prohibitive.  It was no surpise that just over a year later the Shire of Darebin was broken up.   Whittlesea retained the Shire of Darebin whilst Northcote and Preston became the Shire of Jika Jika. 

In 1994 the cities of Northcote and Preston amalgamated to become the City of Darebin.

Sources

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1851 – 1890. (1981). Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press.

Birrarung database.  Compiled by Mick Woiwod (2012). Melbourne, Vic: Tarcoola Press

Carroll, Brian & Rule, Ian (1985). Preston: an Illustrated History. Preston: City of Preston.

Historical Records of Victoria: Foundation Series: Surveyors Problems and Achievements 1836-1839. (1988). Melbourne, Vic. Victorian Government Printing Office. 

Victorian Pioneers Index: 1837 – 1888 [CD-ROM]. (1991). Melbourne, Australia: R.M.I.T.