Perhaps it’s the thieving, possibly it’s the rednecks, possibly it’s a town with a dreadful reputation, possibly it’s just the dreadful surrounds. Often, it’s a town where the real estate value is hugely cheap.
There’s a few contenders for worst suburb in Melbourne – which dreadful Melbourne suburb gets your vote as a poor locality, and why?
Note: keep it friendly – any racist posts will be deleted.
{ 127 comments… read them below or add one }
Definitely Narre Warren. I had the displeasure of living there for over a year. Never again. Hoonsville and nothing nice can be said about it!
Toorak! Followed closely by Brighton!
Dandenong. So dirty!
Gottabe Toorak – full of up-themseves ponces
Glen Iris. Just is.
Heidelberg West. Makes taxi drivers assess you carefully. Parks are for setting cars on fire. Waterways are for shopping trolleys. The high point – guy who spent the day outside the commission flats across the road. With a bullhorn to tell the world about his cheating ex. To this day his chant to passing cars stays with me, so when ever I think or hear Heidelberg West it is followed by “Nothing but the best.”
Broadmedows
Braybrook
Geelong.
Reservoir or Footscray
Either Dandenong or St Albans
Although not a suburb of Melboure, but a shitty township in Victoria.. Geelong… most definitely
Worst suburbs in Melb:
Roxburgh Park – full of bored young people
Craigieburn – same
North Fawkner
Thomastown
parts of Epping
West Heidelberg – all that prime real estate taken up by under-educated commish types
Noble Park – has gangs
Roxburgh Park
Broadmeadows
Coburg.
footscray, dandenong and yarra glen!
footscray is baaaaaaad.
the only thing good about it is the people and even thats bad. all they do is yell at you or give you evil looks. i got chased for drugs by people I DONT KNOW 5 times :S like seriously WTF
HAMPTON PARK MOST BORINGEST SUBURB JUST NOTHING TO DO DRUGS GANGS SHIT ALL TOGTHER
EPPPIINNGG
Definitely Broadmeadows. I left it as soon as I could & have been living in Sydney ever since. No regrets.
All the crummy westside suburbs
Sunshine is by far the worst, far worse than Footscray
Tullamarine has to be the worst
-drugs
-gangs
-weapons
-alcoholism
-drug dealers
Agreed tullamarine is one of the worst ive witnessed
Scumshine – where the police need horses to patrol the station lol! (-:
anything past the bridge really…
Definately St Albans- druggies, people can’t drive and almost everyone is angry all the time.
balwyn – too many lads at maccas
I’m disappointed, only one mention of Frankston – it has to be one of the worst – a guy got his ear bitten off and it was fed to a seagull. Lived there for 2 years and can say its filled with some of the worst scum in Victoria.
nah worst is broadie,absolute bogan scum
werribee/hoppers crossing is becoming just as bad as any of the other places mentioned
* Footscray (Absolute **** hole)
* Sunshine (Footscray 2.0. Even worse)
* Springvale (A feeble, dirtier and less interesting Glen Waverley more or less)
* Frankston (Doesn’t need any explanation…I mean, it’s Frankston)
* Werribee (Miles from anywehre, boring, strange smell to it as well)
* Noble Park (Too violent, gangs, constant commodore hoons, no thanks)
* Dandenong (Same problems as Noble Park but not as bad, has improved slightly but still around the bottom)
* Broadmeadows (Rarely been hear but has very bad reputation)
Thomastown
Lalor
Epping
Western Suburbs. Maiybrynong / Brimbank, Sydenham line. Footscray, Sunshine, St albans etc.
from Footscray right to Sydenham. by farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Ace summed it up real well. Westside by a long shot,
Anywhere there are commission houses, basically. The scum can’t survive in the private rental market and buying a house for them is ‘beyond the pale’.They bring down the values of real estate by their crassness and shittiness.
In the country, towns like Kyneton and Maryborough are worse than West Heidelberg.
I don’t think anyone here has mentioned Epping in the northern suburbs of Melbourne yet.
It’s full of wife beaters, bong smokers and bogans who live with their mothers.
A truly horrible place.
lots of people think that western suburbs have a bad reputation but no-one relizes how shit and dodgy some outer eastern/south eastern suburbs are like boronia, ringwood, dandenong, narre warren and the list goes on.
There is bad everywhere. When I lived in the east, parts of Croydon were especially bad. Never hang around the train station, or even Ringwood station for that matter. I now live in Cranbourne and do not even lock my door during the day, I feel that safe. However, the place gets the tag “Crimebourne” for some reason. I have been living here for 10 years and have never felt threatened or unsafe. I worked in Dandenong for 5 years and parts of that were a bit dodgy, but other parts I felt completely safe. Not a great fan of Narre Warren – too much of a “full sick gang culture” happening. I steer clear of the suburb and Fountain Gate shopping centre. I think Frankston is wonderful and a lovely place to visit. You do get some low life hanging around, they normally reside in Frankston North/The Pines area. But the city itself with it’s cool little shopping districts and it’s gorgeous beachfront and great atmsophere makes it a handy place to visit, considering it is only a 20 minute drive from home.
mary ringwoods the best!!!!!!!!! i think moolbark
deffenitly reingwood east, i nearly got stabbed there!!!
Woww..a lot of feedback. Thanks all..
a says:im sure the up-themselves ponces in Toorak are much better than the violent drunks and druggies of footscray and st albans
Sure, there might be less chance of getting stabbed in the inner-east than those suburbs but you’ll might find yourself more at risk of getting BACK-stabbed instead.
Worst suburbs? Roxburgh Park, Craigieburn, Broadmeadows, Meadow Heights, Dallas, Glenroy (North-west)
Hampton Park, Dandenong, Noble Park, Springvale, Doveton, Cranbourne (South-east)
Boring, in a few areas just downright ugly and unwelcomimg and you have the added bonus of gangs of kleptomaniacs and thugs.
Any suburb in the Broadmeadows area (apart from Greenvale) is worth avoiding if you intend to work hard to pay for your household items AND keep them inside your home, even the newly built suburbs.
Hampton Park had the unusual situation of being about as unwelcoming and unfriendly to outsiders as an isolated country hick town yet it had all the lurks and perks of urbanity such as easily available drugs and its own resident gang of uber-bogan speed-freak thugs and thieves. I don’t know if things have improved much in the past ten years with the influx of Indians over that time.
Footscary bro!
dandenong
Frankston/Langwarrin is terrible
Hoppers Crossing/Werribee are also bad
Dandenong is the worst
These statistics from the Victoria Police Websites
Broadmeadows and coburg also leave a lot to be desired
I think Toorak, Caulfield and Brighton are quite hideous. While i think the beach at Brighton is nice, it is the people that live there that really destroy these suburbs. The best would probably be Essendon, North Melbourne and Kensington.
Dave, you must be joking? Toorak, Brighton and Caulfield…gee you must be retarded..are you?
Flemington, Footscray, Dandenong, Kensington and North Melbourne are full of un-savoury people from a certain continent…they are without doubt the worst suburbs in Melbourne. I have nothing against those of them who are good, but gee, if they ever end up coming over to my end of town, they will destroy my suburbs just by showing their coal faces around. Their presence just screams rape, crime, drunkenness and murder.
i think 80% of the west suburbs,60% of the east suburbs &75% of the south & 80% of the north have bad reputations for each side + the CITY IS PRETTY BAD AND REPUGNANT TO.
every place has all the same things, it’s all the same. drugs, alcohol, homeless, poor, scum, violent, weapons. everything.. :/
Broadmeadows
West Heidelberg
Braybrook
They are the absolute worst, scummiest, druggy, gangy suburbs in Melbourne!
Toorak? Sounds like jealousy to me.
Hawthorn is the worst place to be on a tuesday night (Uni night).
Don’t go down glenferrie road at all on those nights, I have seen girls with black eyes, throwing up and missing shoes in the gutter. Guys with blood all over them leaning on friends waiting for a cab. People get bashed, cabbies robbed. The 24 hour McDonalds also attracts 5 or 6 homeless people that have now set up there begging in front of the ATM.
Ridiculous.
Mind you its only around the McDonalds and Room nightclub.
Ballarat, technically a ‘Regional City’ but where do the morlocks come from? Yes! The sphincter of Melbourne- The Western Suburbs.
Frankston by the sea is a beautiful place; obviously you were mixing with people who are not nice. A beautiful place cannot be destroyed by a few people.
Thank you Gina; Frankston and surrounds ie. Seaford, Carrum, Mt Eliza, Mornington are beautiful places.
I stayed in Elwood for a few weeks houseminding pets and never felt safe.
HAMPTON PARK
HAMPTON PARK cheapest dirtiest no station nothing to do just drive down past it and ull see
CRANBOURNE HAMPTON PARK LYNBROOK LYNHURURST why becouse there boring there all close to the tip to many wogs and bogans
PAKENHAM
pt.cook,collingwood,ringwood,hawthorn & werribee
Newport, Yarraville
Kensington, Glenroy, Mt martha, Camberwell
Dandebong.
Most of the western suburbs. Since I live in the west, there is so much scum and bogans here! Hate catching the Werribee line, never feel safe on it.
yarraville is better now but full of rich dogs
Are you serious? Are you actually suggesting that Frankston is classy? LMAO! Have you ever actually set foot in Frankston? Frankston has got one of the highest burglary rates in victoria and is full of criminals, druggos, bogans and stoners.
Go there, it will definitely change you mind on this “classy frankston” idea.
Full of rich dogs? You must be joking……….probably rich compared to your dole cheque though!
Sunbury like totaly the worst
There is a major line of bad suburbs on each side of melbourne e.g. maribyrnog & knoxfield, but on the westside the worst would have to be Newport, Spotswood, Brooklyn, Totenham, Footscray, Sunshine, St.albans, Laverton, Altona & Hoppers-crossing
yes Mike but in the north it would be… TULLAMARINE,COBURG,BROADMEADOWS,EPPING,RESERVOIR,CRAGIEBURN,CAMPBELLFIELD,THOMASTOWN,CARLTON,PARKVILLE,HADFIELD,GLENROY NORTH FAWKNER,ESSENDON & MOONEEPONDS.!
havn’t u seen how filthy carlton & campbellfield areas surroundings are you forgot glenroy & hadfield to. and it’s cragieburn
Frankston,mt.martha,Brighton,St.kilda,Albertpark,Ormond Mckinnon,Oakleigh AROUND the STH would have to be the worst
Geelongs worst suburb is as half as bad as any bad suburb in Melbourne;
Ringwood,Knoxfield,Scoresby,Boxhill,Watsonia,vermont,Fitzroy,Collingwood,Hawthorn,Berwick,Glen-w.doncaster & Werribee But out of all of them NORTHCOTE would have to be the WORST!!!!!!!!
Gotta be Carrum Downs! Even the home owners there (very few) have old broken down cars parked on the front lawn. Situated between the sewerage plant at Patterson Lakes and North Frankston …. need I say more?
Jacana/Broadmeadows are just so dirty, and full of young violent People.
St. Albans
DANDENONG BY FAR WORST IN MELBOURNE
haha, place like Dandenong are much worse than Geelong. Geelong is country bogan, but Dandenong is like a third world country! (How that is construed as racists, I mean by the fact the buildings and shops are all old and dodgy)
South Melbbourne, North Melb, Kensington, Flemington & West Melb are dangerous Evil places
Sunbury is terrible, commonly referred to as Scumbry. I’d call it the worst of all.
Taylor’s Lakes is full of bored youths and skanky bimbos.
Werribee train line is full of the worst people, so probably those stops.
St. Albans is a hole.
So is Sunshine.
Frankston full of bogans
Jenny, you don’t know what your talking about? St Kilda, Brighton? Ormond? -Sounds like jealously to me. Do you even live in Melbourne?
frankston has a crime happen every 6min..
It’s the only way to travel anywhere if you live in Werribee, idiot.
I love Dandenong! There is so much culture there and it’s upgrade has been really great for it’s businesses and it’s turning into it’s very own CBD.. but unfortunately it does come with the CBD problems of scary people at night, crime, bums etc..
I was at Preston the other night and I’ve never felt more unsafe in my life. It looked like an American movie scene.. so scary.
I have to admit I think the west/north are much worse than east/south (even though there are still some dodgy places in these areas)
Nonetheless, Victoria is a beautiful place, if you have travelled you would see this.. we are very lucky..
best part of melbourne is the west!
Matt, you have no clue. Frankston has it’s beautiful spots and it’s garbage spots just like any place. I live on Oliver’s Hill and i’ve never been robbed, stabbed or jabbed. The bogans and stoners stick to their place in the filthy backstreets of Franno North and the rest of the normal people enjoy living on the beach in style, thanks very much. Have you ever set foot in Frankston? Maybe it’s too expensive for you. :|
This question sucks. I can’t believe how many smug, self-satisfied comments there are on this website, casting off-the-hip judgements about suburbs based on at best, personal aesthetic preference, at worst, classist prejudice. The ones that write off Toorak are in the same boat IMO. Reflect for a moment about where you stand and what that enables you to see and not see.
Essendon & Monnee Ponds, is this a joke? These areas are great, full of good schools, low crime rates, close to the city and perfect to raise a family. I have lived in this area for a long time and the demographics are either quiet elderly citizens or new families. Trust me the Essendon and Monnee Ponds area is safe and cetainally far better than the rest of the suburbs you named.
take a chill pill Tron…. Why did you google ‘worst suburbs’ ? Maybe just to post a self-satisfying comment??
This is my first time here at melbournism.com. What a truly positive and uplifting experience it has been. Some of the genuinely talented people of our city have posted some really important messages in this thread.
C’mon.
You’re better than this, Melbourne.
its funny cause no one else has said any of those places besides ringwood. northcote cant be too bad?
Frankston because its full of junkies and dandy/cranbourne because its full of crack heads/hampton park/pakenham/south yarra
Your just listing random places now…Northcote is not bad at all
No where near in the ball park of Foostcray, West Heidelberg(absolute hole seriously), Reservoir, Lalor, Broady
Agree with RJ. Theres one or two ropey bits in frankston but south frankston is beautiful.
Worst: Sunshine, Footscray, Werribee, Boronia,
Bayswater: Pensioner City,
Boronia: singe mothers with 23 kids
I agree, Dave B, I have lived in Elsternwick & Nth Caulfield and Elsternwick shits over North Caulfield’s hideous McMansions and lack of facilities. Caulfield & Brighton are very overpriced for what they are these days. Mornington is becoming more classy, there is better people there, than the phonies in Caulfield & Brighton, with real wealth too!
Albert Park ? McKinnon?, even when St Kilda & Oakleigh were rough areas, Albert Park & McKinnon were always middle-class areas. though I think Brighton will go the same way as St Kilda, too many ugly glass mansions now!
Just look at all the empty run down shops in Toorak Rd South Yarra, Tron and then see if someone knocks Toorak is for envious reasons. Don’t forget Carl Williams had a drug dealer whacked in “classy” South Yarra, oh and the Walsh St shootings back in ’88!
You mean North Geelong? Because it’s near the prisons in Avalon & Laverton areas?
I agree Millo! And full of ugly McMansions(future rooming houses) too boot! If you want to see real wealth, try the Mornington Penninsula(like Portsea, Sorrento) and the Mountain areas (like Donvale, Park Orchards, Ringwood North etc).
Toorak & South Yarra are just full of phonies these days!
Especially Doveton(a suburb of Dandenong).
Crackbourne
FOOTSCRAY!
I grew up in Doveton – survived ok. Has it’s own Facebook page
Every suburb has it’s bad and good parts. There is only two places I refuse to go – Broadmeadows and Footscray. I used to say Craigieburn but I now have friends there so have to go there!
Heidelberg, due to the intense truck traffic linking the ring road with the Eastern freeway. The problem is well known and the way to fix it is to complete the ring road but there are a few tree hugging greenies, with too much say, telling us sane people that we are not allowed to. Until it is completed we should force the trucks through the center of Eltham by routing them along Greensborough bypass, Diamond Creek Rd, Ryans Rd, Wattletree Rd, Main Rd, Fitzsimons La, Williamsons Rd, Tram Rd and on to the Eastern. Then we’ll see how they all like it!
Needless to say we are sick of it. It’s somebody else’s turn!!
What a ridiculous question… Positioning suburb against suburb. So St Kikds is bad because we have prostitutes and drug dealers, Toorak is bad because the people there are rich and In Narre Warren people are poor. Come on Melbournism…
Sorry I just had to say that I doubt St Kilda will ever become Brighton. The food folks in Elwoox have set a good precedent in that regard and I think we, in St Kilda, will follow… Keeping Art Deco alive.
frankston and footscray are the worst…
the best are essendon and armadale!
Absolutely detest the new suburbs like Point Cook. It looks like a cheap movie set.
CRACKBOURNE well just the other day when i was at the staion a guy got his ear bitten off blood like every were
Not brunswick and Footscray
I know what cranbourne’s like ive been all around the drugs and gangs before
st albans isnt that bad and niether is werebie i recon footscray
“SvetlanaBabe
I don’t think anyone here has mentioned Epping in the northern suburbs of Melbourne yet.
It’s full of wife beaters, bong smokers and bogans who live with their mothers.
A truly horrible place.”
Hi SvetlanaBabe,
YOUR COMMENT WAS HILARIOUS – BY THAT, I MEAN THE WAY THAT YOU WORDED IT – GOOD STUFF!
SO WERE MANY OF THE OTHER COMMENTS ON THIS PAGE. THEY CONJURED UP VIVID IMAGES IN MY MIND.
ST.KILDA CERTAINLY HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS, I’VE BEEN A LONG TERM RESIDENT, BUT I’M GLAD TO SAY IT STILL HAS THAT SEEDY UNDERTONE TO IT, WHICH FEELS KIND OF REASSURING IF YOU LIKE SEEDINESS – NOT THAT I’M INTO SEEDINESS PERSONALLY, BUT I LIKE KNOWING ITS STILL AROUND.
THE RICH IN ST.KILDA ALMOST WIPED IT OUT WITH ALL THEIR FLASHY WEALTH AND HAUGHTY ATTITUDES.
BUT ST.KILDA’S SEEDINES CAN NEVER BE TOTALLY DESTROYED; DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN THE PROSITIUTES WERE REFERRED TO AS ‘PROS’ (NOWADAYS THEY CALL THEM ‘HOOKERS’)
AHHH FOR OLD TIMES…
Brendon
“footscray, dandenong and yarra glen!
footscray is baaaaaaad.
the only thing good about it is the people and even thats bad. all they do is yell at you or give you evil looks. i got chased for drugs by people I DONT KNOW 5 times :S like seriously WTF”
HI BRENDON,
-THAT WAS A FUNNY COMMENT!! Evil looks from strangers and and then being chased for drugs by strangers doesn’t sound like fun. I won’t be visiting Footscray in a hurry, that’s for sure. Last time I drove through I got scared, and wound up the car windows cos some evil looking dudes were eyeing me when I was at the stoplights. They looked like whacked-out druggies. Footscray = complete dive!
Great. every suburb in Melbourne has now been named as undesireable. If we as Victorians hate our state, how can we expect the rest of Australia to like it? It’s no wonder we are looked down upon and regarded as the laughing stock of Australia.
Who cares about drugs live life while u can
Seymour! Absolute shocker! Looks like Corio has cleaned themselves up. I remember Corio being riddled with bogans, looks like they all moved to Seymour :P
There are some really lovely parts of Geelong but Corio in Geelong is the worst suburb in Victoria by a freakin mile – in paticular the Harper Road area (the Labuan Square shopping centre in North Shore is also pretty heinous). Worth a safari trip just to see it – keep the windows up and the doors locked.
I love hoppers crossing!
South Yarra to Prahran – noise, traffic, hoons, nightclubs, seedy, violence, alcohol
Roxburgh Park is fine. Lived here 8 years. No problems.
Meadows Heights is bad.
Those saying Brighton is the worst suburb: It may not be the ‘best’, whatever that means, but it ain’t ‘bad’. It has facilities, shops, restaurants, sports, cinemas, schools, parks and beach access etc. It is extremely safe, at least in terms of personal safety on the streets and such (I’m not sure of robbery stats). There are no gangs, violent youths, bogans or junkies – literally none. I feel so safe here sometimes I wish someone would try and rob me just to spice up my evening. It is full of mostly middle aged white folk who drive Mercedes/BMW 4WD’s. Not many young people around, and certainly no ‘alternative’ ones. I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a black person in Brighton, and I’ve been here 20 years (I’m 23). As such you can argue it lacks multiculturalism and ‘diversity’, and of course it is too expensive. But it is what it is – a quiet, safe, upper-middle class suburb.
Point Cook! If you get sucked into buying a large plot of land in this green, family-friendly neighbourhood – you’ve been shafted. You and your children will be spending half your lives in traffic or waiting for the lazy coucils to do something about the quality of the roads. Don’t get me started on the public transport, or lack thereof.
To sum it up:
Most of the western, northwestern, and northern suburbs, but few spots in other areas too:
WEST: I’ll put St Albans, Sunshine and Footscray as the worst.
NORTH: Broadmeadows and the surrounding area (Roxburgh Park, Westmeadows, Dallas, Thomastown, Epping).
SOUTHEASTERN: Noble Park, Dandenong, Narre Warren, Springvale
SOUTH: Frankie & friends.
EAST: Beyond Ringwood up to the puffing billy.
*Notes:
1) I lived in Broadie for a year, once forgot to lock my car (Corolla) at the shopping centre but no one did anything to it, I often went home on the last train (past 12 midnight) carrying laptop and never got robbed. Having said that, it’s full of ‘asylum seekers’, unfriendly neighbours who love to scream, fight and throw ganja party. Please note Toorak legend Edward McGuire and Brighton’s brightest John Ilhan ‘graduated’ from there!
2) As Jamie said, a lot of Indians are moving to those areas. The indians are generally the ‘good guys’, which explained so many unfortunate incidents involving Indians in those areas. But their presence hopefully reduced the bad marks of some of the worst suburbs.