Lalor, Victoria

History

Lalor was a part of Thomastown. In 1945, Leo Purcell, while a patient at a military hospital on the Atherton Tableland, worked out a scheme to provide low-cost homes, that in February 1947 became known as "Peter Lalor Co-operative Family Scheme" and with a group of ex-servicemen formed the Peter Lalor Home Building Co-operative Society. The scheme was sponsored by the ex-servicemen's committee of the central executive of the Victorian Labour Party. They chose two hundred and fifty-eight acres east of today's Lalor railway station to be the site of the new developments and the town planner Saxil Tuxen was hired to design a garden suburb.

Lalor Post Office was opened on 1 August 1949.

Although the Co-operative succeeded in beginning a program of house building, under-capitalisation resulted in the venture being taken over by the War Service Homes Commission in 1954.

Originally built as the Mentone Fire station on the corner of Brindisi Street and Mentone Parade, Mentone in 1906, the building was relocated to 24 Vasey Street, Lalor in 1957 to become the Lalor Fire Station. The Station was opened 30 January 1958 and was closed in 1997 and now served by the Epping Fire Station.

In 2010, Stockade Park was redeveloped. This site, enclosed by Paschke Crescent and leading to Rochdale Square, marks the location of the Peter Lalor home building co-operative's Stockade—an area that housed the tools and materials for the workers of the Co-operative that built Lalor.

Street names

Many Streets in Lalor were named by the Peter Lalor Home Building Co-operative Society after prominent civilian and military figures.

Streets named after Australian Victoria Cross recipients are: Howell Street, Kenna Drive, Mackey Street, Maxwell Street, Middleton Street, Newton Crescent, Partridge Street, Ruthven Crescent, French Street, Derrick Street, Gratwick Street, Chowne Street, Edmondson Street.

Education

In 1954, Lalor Primary School was opened, reaching an enrolment of 1,000 by 1971, when a further three primary schools were founded. Lalor North Primary School was established in 1971. Lalor East Primary School was established in 1972. Lalor West Primary was opened in 1973 and merged with Lalor Park Primary School in 2011 to form LalorGardens Primary School.

Lalor Primary School was built on land owned by the Evans family and held its 50th anniversary in 2004. Several of the surrounding streets are named after members of the Evans family (Evans Street, Ruth Street).

Lalor has two Catholic primary schools: St. Luke's Primary School Lalor established 1961 and St Catherines Primary School established in 1983.

Lalor also has three public secondary schools: Lalor Secondary College previously known as Lalor High School, established in 1963, Peter Lalor College previously Lalor Technical School, established in 1968, closed in 2011 after a failed merger and Lalor North Secondary College previously known as Lalor North High School, established in 1978.

Shopping

The Lalor Shopping Centre is located between Station Street and May Road, which parallel High Street—the main thoroughfare through Lalor—on the opposite side of the railway line. The land was previously owned by the Mann family. David Mann and his wife May (née Thomas, of Thomastown) who purchased it in 1920 and carried on a dairy farming until it was sold in 1954. Retailers consist of many small specialty shops as well as Coles and Woolworths supermarkets.

The Mann farmhouse Bella Vista, stood just north of the Lalor Library in May Road.

Lalor Plaza in Mckimmies Rd and Lalor Hub in Kingsway Drive are small enclosed shopping malls located respectively in the eastern and western residential areas of the suburb.

There are also a number of small shopping strips, including Rochdale Square Shops (named in commemoration of Rochdale the first town built on co-operative principles) located near the Lalor railway station.

Culture

Lalor is an ethnically diverse community. In 2006, 63.9% of the population spoke a non-English language at home compared to 32.3% who spoke English only. The dominant language, other than English, was Macedonian, with 13.0% of the population, or 2,532 people using this language. Other languages spoken include Italian (12.1%), Greek (9.6%), Arabic (8.3%), Vietnamese (4.9%), Turkish (2.5%), Punjabi (1.2%), Maltese (1.1%), Samoan (1.0%), Cantonese (1.0%).

The Whittlesea Community Festival, celebrated since 1998, is held on the third Sunday in March in Lalor at the Whittlesea Public Gardens on Barry Rd, regularly attracting more than 15,000 people.

St Lukes Church holds La Festa di San Donato (The Festival of San Donato) annually in August.

Recreation and leisure

The main public spaces for active recreation include City of Whittlesea Gardens which provides access to Craigieburn Bypass Trail, Huskisson Avenue Reserve a favourite spot for picnicers, V.R.Michael Reserve, Partridge Street Reserve, Lalor Reserve and W.A.Smith/Sycamore Reserves along the Darebin Creek that provides a number of recreational facilities.

Sport

Lalor has three local Australian Rules Football teams competing in the Northern Football League:

Lalor has two tennis clubs:

The Lalor Bowling Club was established in 1962 and is located on the corner of Sydney Crescent & Gordon Street.

The Lalor Stars Cricket Club was established in 1979 and is located at the W.A Smith Reserve in Darebin Drive.

Golfers play at the course of the Lalor Golf Club on Gillwell Road.

Lalor has a parkrun:

parkrun organise free, weekly, 5km timed runs around the world. They are open to everyone, free, and are safe and easy to take part in. These events take place in pleasant parkland surroundings and we encourage people of every ability to take part; from walkers or those taking their first steps in running to Olympians; from juniors to those with more experience; we welcome you all.

Transport

Lalor railway station and buses serve the suburb.

The Craigieburn Bypass Trail following the Hume Freeway runs to the west of the suburb providing facilities for recreational and commuting cyclists.