Before its 1856 naming, the area now called Preston was variously known as ‘Gowerville,’ ‘Irishtown,’ and the broader ‘Plenty Road’ district — informal settler names that referenced specific local features (Gower St, the Irish settler enclave) before the formal township was gazetted. The Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation called the wider area home long before any colonial name applied.
I write the over-50s beat for MELBZ. My Italian-Australian family settled in the inner-north in the 1960s, and the older generations in our community had a working memory of the Preston that pre-dated the post-war migration wave — the Irish-settler streets, the Plenty Rd as a goldfields route, the Gower St as the early commercial heart. The naming history is one of the small underrated dimensions of the suburb’s character.
Acknowledging the prior custodianship
Before any colonial name, the area now called Preston is on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. The Wurundjeri are the traditional custodians of much of the land that became metropolitan Melbourne north of the Yarra, including the Darebin watershed and the broader inner-north.
Specific Woi-wurrung place names relate to:
- Water sources — Merri Creek (running through eastern Preston) and Darebin Creek (to the west) both have Woi-wurrung-language names predating colonial mapping. The names reference seasonal water flow, fish presence, and the journey patterns of Wurundjeri groups.
- Hills and topographic features — the higher ground in northern Preston has documented cultural significance.
- Seasonal camp areas — particular spots near the creek confluences were used as gathering grounds during specific seasons of the Wurundjeri calendar.
Public acknowledgement of Country is standard practice in 2026 community contexts and at council events. The Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation is the contemporary representative body. Their work includes ongoing identification and protection of culturally significant sites across the inner-north.
The colonial naming history that follows is layered on top of, not in place of, this prior custodianship.
The 1830s-1850s: pre-naming settlement
European colonial settlement of the area began in the 1830s, accelerating after the Port Phillip District opened to broader settlement in 1837. By the late 1830s, scattered farms and pastoral runs had been established across what became the northern suburbs. The area we now call Preston was on the route between Melbourne and the goldfields when the gold rush began in 1851.
What was here pre-1856:
- Pastoral runs — large lease-holdings used for sheep and cattle grazing through the 1840s.
- Small-holder farms — closer-in agricultural and market-garden properties supplying Melbourne.
- Plenty Rd as the main road north — the route from Melbourne to the Plenty River and beyond to the goldfields. Preston sat astride this route.
- A small concentration of cottages and businesses at the intersection of Plenty Rd and what became Bell St, forming the embryonic township.
The area was administratively part of the broader Heidelberg / Northcote / Plenty district. There was no formal township boundary, no formal name, and no local government structure specific to the area.
‘Gowerville’ and the Gower St cluster
One of the earliest informal names recorded for the area was ‘Gowerville,’ referencing Gower St (named after a settler family). The Public Record Office Victoria archive includes 1840s and 1850s correspondence using ‘Gowerville’ as a locality reference. Trove (the National Library of Australia digitised newspaper archive) shows the name in newspaper notices from the early 1850s.
Why Gowerville? Because Gower St was an early concentration of settler activity. A small cluster of cottages, a general store, and a couple of trades workshops formed a recognisable settlement node before the township was formalised. People referred to “Gowerville” the way they would refer to any small locality with a recognisable centre.
The name didn’t survive the formal gazettal. By 1856, when ‘Preston’ was adopted as the township name, ‘Gowerville’ fell out of common use within a decade. It survives in 2026 only as the street name (Gower St remains as a major Preston street) and in the historical record.
‘Irishtown’ and the Irish settler enclave
The other informal name in active use through the 1840s and 1850s was ‘Irishtown.’ This referenced the substantial Irish settler enclave that established a presence in the area through the 1840s, particularly around what became Bell St and Plenty Rd. The Irish presence was both Catholic and Protestant, with both communities establishing churches and small businesses in the area.
Why Irishtown? Because the demographic concentration was real and visible. The 1840s saw substantial Irish migration to the Port Phillip colony, and a particular concentration of Irish settlers landed in the Preston area. The local pubs, the early Catholic parish, the Irish-owned general stores all reinforced the local identity.
Like Gowerville, the name didn’t survive the formal township naming. It survived longer in colloquial speech — into the 1880s and 1890s — but had largely faded by the early 20th century. Some street names and the location of certain heritage buildings (the older Catholic parish building, certain pub sites) reflect the era.
The Irish layer of Preston’s history was, for a long time, the dominant single ethnic-heritage layer. It was overlaid by the post-war Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, and subsequent migration waves — but the 1840s-1880s Irish foundation is real and documented.
The ‘Plenty Rd district’
Beyond the local-named clusters, the wider area was also referred to as part of the ‘Plenty Rd district’ or ‘Northern Plenty’ — administrative and informal references to the road that ran north from Melbourne to the Plenty River and onward to the goldfields. The Plenty Rd designation was particularly used in newspaper notices and official correspondence when more specific local names weren’t established.
This naming convention reflects the road-based geography of the early colonial period. Roads were major organising features; settlements grew up around them and were named relative to them.
The Plenty Rd designation lingered into the early township era. Even after the official 1856 naming, the area was commonly referred to as “Preston, on the Plenty Rd” in newspaper notices through to the 1880s.
The 1856 naming
In 1856, the township was officially gazetted as ‘Preston.’ The name is generally understood to honour the English town of Preston in Lancashire — a common practice in colonial-era Victorian naming where new settlements drew their names from the British origins of prominent local settlers or referenced English geography directly.
What this meant administratively:
- A formal township boundary was drawn.
- The Preston post office was established (initially in the Plenty Rd / Bell St area).
- Township-level civic identity began forming — a local school, a Mechanics’ Institute, the early version of what would become municipal governance.
By 1880, the Borough of Preston was proclaimed, formalising local government structures. By 1926, it became the City of Preston. The name has been continuous from 1856 to the present, even as the local government structure changed.
In 1994, the Cities of Preston and Northcote merged with parts of Heidelberg to form the City of Darebin — the current local government area. The suburb name ‘Preston’ remained; the LGA name became ‘Darebin’ (referencing the Darebin Creek that runs through the western edge of the LGA).
What’s visible in 2026
Walking Preston in 2026, several heritage features connect to the early-naming era:
Gower St as a major street remains. The Darebin Council Customer Service Centre is on Gower St — one of the few direct connections to the ‘Gowerville’ era.
Older buildings on Plenty Rd include some 1860s and 1870s structures. The Plenty Rd / Bell St intersection has heritage buildings from the township’s early decades. Look for stone-and-brick construction, ornate verandahs, original window proportions.
The Preston Cemetery on Bell St includes 19th-century graves of early settlers. Sections of the cemetery date to the 1850s and 1860s and include Irish, Scottish, English, and broader European-settler graves. Quiet to walk through and historically substantial.
Some older Catholic parish buildings trace to the Irish-settler era, though the specific buildings have generally been replaced multiple times. The continuity is in the parish location rather than the original structure.
Streets named after the early-settler era — some retain Irish, Scottish, or English heritage in the naming. Walking the suburb with this awareness adds a layer to streetscapes that otherwise look like generic mid-20th-century inner-north residential.
Reading the archive
For deeper context beyond a walk:
The Public Record Office Victoria holds the official documentation of the township’s formation, naming, and early administrative history. Researcher access is via appointment; many records are publicly accessible.
Trove (National Library of Australia) is the digitised newspaper archive. Searches for “Preston” or “Gowerville” or “Irishtown” in newspapers from 1840-1880 turn up references that paint a vivid picture of the early decades.
Darebin Libraries local-history collection at the Preston branch includes published histories, photograph collections, and oral-history materials. Open during library hours; staff can help locate specific resources.
The City of Darebin Heritage Strategy documents the heritage-listed buildings and precincts in 2026. Useful for identifying which specific structures connect to which era.
The Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation is the appropriate point of contact for engaging with the prior custodianship history. Their educational programs and public events run multiple times a year.
What this says about the suburb’s identity
Preston’s name has been continuous for 170 years in 2026. The earlier names — Gowerville, Irishtown, the Plenty Rd district — survive only in fragmentary form. The Wurundjeri custodianship history pre-dates and continues alongside the colonial naming, with renewed contemporary recognition.
What this means for understanding the suburb:
- The post-war Italian and Greek migration wave that defined the suburb’s modern character is itself layered on top of an Irish-settler foundation that’s much older.
- The Vietnamese and Chinese arrivals of the late 20th century are layered on top of both.
- The current 75+ language community carries the cumulative heritage of all the layers.
The suburb’s identity isn’t any single layer — it’s the cumulative pattern. Knowing the early-naming history adds depth to walking the streets. The Gower St you walk past has history that pre-dates Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, or any of the more recent arrivals.
A long-time Preston resident with deep family roots in the suburb told me in April 2026: “My great-grandparents knew this as Irishtown. My grandparents knew it as Preston. My parents lived through Italian Preston. I live through multicultural Preston. Same place, different layers.” That’s the working pattern.
For broader Preston context — the contemporary multicultural layer, the food strip, the rhythms that anchor most weekly life — the things-to-do guide and our Preston languages article cover the modern suburb. The family pillar covers the next-90-day priorities for new arrivals.
What to walk
A 90-minute self-guided history walk in 2026:
- Start at the Preston Customer Service Centre on Gower St. This is the modern descendant of the ‘Gowerville’ era civic identity.
- Walk south on Plenty Rd to the Bell St intersection. Look for heritage buildings dating to the 1860s-1880s.
- Walk east on Bell St to the Preston Cemetery. Spend 15-20 minutes in the older sections.
- Walk west on Bell St back to the High St strip. Notice how the post-war migrant commercial layer has built on top of the earlier streetscape.
- End at Edwardes St for a coffee at one of the long-running Italian-heritage cafes. This is where the next major layer of the suburb’s history was added.
The walk is about 3.5km and takes 90-120 minutes including stops. Best done on a Saturday morning when the heritage features are visible and the cafe strip is most active.
The verdict
Preston was Gowerville, Irishtown, and the Plenty Rd district before its 1856 township naming. The Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung custodianship pre-dates and continues alongside all colonial naming.
Walk Gower St if: you want to see the modern descendant of the suburb’s earliest informal name. The Customer Service Centre on Gower St is the civic continuation.
Walk the Preston Cemetery if: you want to see the 19th-century settler layer directly. Quiet, accessible, genuinely historical.
Visit the Darebin Libraries local-history collection if: you want to engage with the documented archive. Free, accessible during library hours, friendly staff.
Engage with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung organisation if: you want to understand the prior custodianship history with appropriate cultural context.
The suburb’s identity is layered. Knowing the early names adds depth to walking the streets. Methodology and how we cross-check oral history against PROV and Trove sources are on our methodology page.
Last verified: 4 May 2026. Sources: Public Record Office Victoria archive: Darebin and Preston naming history; National Library of Australia Trove digitised newspaper archive 1840-1860; Darebin Libraries local-history collection accessed April 2026; City of Darebin Heritage Strategy 2024 update.