What is the safest suburb to live in Melbourne for a family with a 2 year old daughter?

Question

We will be moving to Melbourne very soon and I would like to know the good and bad areas of the suburbs to live.

Answer 1

Depends how far outside the CBD you want to live.  There's a lot of development taking place in  Lyndhurst, Berwick and Narre Warren at the mo.  These areas are very family oriented too.  I live in Mornington which is safe and has relatively little crime.  I'm lucky to work in Mornington though because a commute to the city could take up to 2 hours at peak times.

Answer 2

Try Berwick or Officer in the South East (not country but not city either), they are about 1 hour away from the city by train and 40mins on the freeway,Berwick is a beautiful town, the population is booming. Lots of young families moving to the new estates popping up everywhere.

Answer 3

Glen Iris - leafy eastern, close to all transport, lots of parks and schools, access to two public swimming pools, plenty of quiet streets, close, but not too close to the city.

Couldn't do better (just like Toorak without the snob-value name)

Answer 4

It really depends on how far fron the city/CBD you want to live..

If you want to live in the inner city, the best places would be south yarra or toorak. very beautiful, also safe! But its very expensive to live there..

Avoid the western suburbs like footscray, sunshine & St Albans. Also avoid Hoppers crossing, werribe and hydilberg.

If you want to live a little bit out of the city/more rural but still close to the city, i would recommend Sunbury or Riddles Creek!!! i have lived in Sunbury for over 10 years and it is EXTREMLEY safe!! and its only about a half an hour drive from the CBD, Riddles Creek is about 40 mins from the CBD but it is really beautiful town and really really safe!!!!! either of those towns would be perfect for you and your family!!!!!

:)

good luck, and welcome to Melbourne!

Answer 5

I live in Eaglemont. Around Heidelberg and Ivanhoe. I think it is a great place to live. I am 13 and grew up here and have never had anything go wrong. The people are really nice and there are great schools.

Good luck with the move. =]

Ps.Do not choose Heidelberg West.

Answer 6

If money is not a problem somewhere like brighton is very good, though extremely expansive.

Answer 7

Essendon a bad area to live in??? hahaha. You cannot be serious. Best suburb to live in on the Western side of Melbourne. Although I agree with most of the other suburbs. I have lived in Footscray for 23years and have never been mugged/harassed/attacked. There are a lot of safe areas to bring a child up. Probably look at new and developing suburbs with a high number of families with young children, that is probably the best place to live.

No place is safety proof.

Answer 8

Bayside... Beaumaris, Black Rock, Sandringham, Parkdale, Brighton.... all really nice suburbs, good schools, close to shops and public transport, not too far from the city.

Too pricey? Go inland slightly to Cheltenham, Dingley Village.

Personally I would avoid Frankston an surround areas, Dandenong, Footscray and surrounding suburbs, Hampton Park (not to be confused with plain Hampton which is really nice).

Answer 9

My family and I used to live in the crappy side of preston, there were break ins, weird stalkerish people ect.

When I was around your daughters age we moved to Templestowe and I love it!

It is so safe, I live in a court, there is never any robberies everyone is soo nice, there are tonns of child care centres and lots of parks and children fun centres. There are a few good state and catholic schools for your daughter when she is old enough.

There are also a few great sporting clubs and oppotunities for when your daughter gets older.

And just to prove how safe it is, every night - around 6'clock I go for a walk and I never feel in danger.

Answer 10

If you choose the West, Go Sydneham

If you choose the East, Go Templestowe

If you choose the North, Dont, lol

Answer 11

well bad area's pretty much anywhere with a train station near it coz that attracts all the teens and crime groups.

Answer 12

Melbourne is a very safe city - I lived there from 1988 to 2000. It is a wonderful place, and I think you are worrying far too much. The main thing is to look for easy access to public transport (much better there than Sydney by the way). Depends really what sort of life style you like. Do you like leafy, sleepy outer suburbs ? Or do you prefer more vibrant inner suburbs? Brunswick, Coburg, Fitzroy, are good lively interesting inner suburbs. Williamstown is a nice mix of seaside yet close to city. Outer suburbs such as Burwood, Armadale etc very nice, bit quiet really. You won't go too far wrong.

Answer 13

I can't believe some of the stereotype comments coming through ! No place is safe these days and parents always need to be on their guard because bad things can happen in the nicest of suburbs. It is not so much where you live but how vigilant you are as a parent and what behaviours you instil in your child/ren. Obviously there are areas of lower, middle class and upper class around the city. Much of the information surrounding so called "bad suburbs" is due to hype. I have lived in the West all of my life for over 40 years and have not come to any harm nor has anyone else I know or their children for that matter. I also work in the children's services area, with a particular child protection focus so I know what sorts of things can happen to children. Visit lots of different places around the city and choose a place that you feel safe and right in, that suits the needs of your family and your child and that has all of the amenities your family needs. Teach your child protective behaviours such as being assertive and able to say NO very loudly when they are forced or coerced into doing something they don't want to or confronted by strangers or people they know and are familiar with for that matter. Using protective behaviours will dissuade anyone who might want to harm your child. Pedophiles steer clear of children who they think might be troublesome, they target vulnerable children and families and children who will "go quietly along without a fuss". Unfortunately, no parent can fully protect their child and this is a sad, hard truth, despite the fact that every parent does their best to keep their child safe from harm.

Answer 14

Its actually quite simple (and i would think this applies to most cities around the world)..

All suburbs in the outskirts of melbourne, are simply put, 'dodge'

(Frankston, Cragieburn, Weribee, Cranbourne etc)

Some others are Footscray, Sunshine, Clayton, Springvale, Noble Park and some other outer city areas such as Carlton, Essendon, Northcote.

'Red light districts' such as St Kilda, or housing commision areas such as South Yarra, are also quite dodgy.

If money is no object, i would highly suggest you move to an upper class suburb such as toorak or brighton beach (though south yarra has some nice places, it is full of housing commision buildings, and is not such a nice place to live).

Best bet would be with a quiet suburb like Templestowe, or maybe Hawthorn

Hope this helps

Answer 15

If you like country living, why don't you try moving to Diggers Rest or Sunbury (it has a very rural feeling, but is close to shopping centres (such as Watergardens), and other necessary facilities etc)

You can also try Caroline Springs, Hillside, Sydenham, Taylors Hill or Taylors Lakes.

If you are more into the waterfront views and beach lifestyle, then Altona or Williamstown would be perfect for your family (so would Brighton and the towns that are situated on the Great Ocean Road like Torquay, Apollo Bay etc)

All of the above mentioned suburbs are nice and quiet and perfect for bringing up a child.

Hope you find a quiet suburb in the west

Good Luck

Answer 16

Mount Eliza has still huge properties and the prizes are high but not as high like Toorak and Brighton Beach. It is very safe here and I leave the front door open the whole day. Even the public schools here have a high reputation and my son is in one of them. For kids it is lovely to grow up near the beach, but there are also nice areas to have a walk or visit with a kid on the Mornington Peninsula.

There are areas in Frankston I would live in. So not all Frankston is unsafe. Frankston has a beautiful beach area, where we go a lot with a nice family restaurant and playground. It also has a good shopping center.

I lived near Brighton Beach and I found it not so safe there actually then here in Mount Eliza. I lived in Mount Dandenong and I experienced dogs attacking our chucks in the back yard , so this was not so safe in this regard.

I would make sure I live near parks, zoo, farms to go with your daughter. Lovely playgrounds. Good Kindergardens and good quality schools.

Answer 17

Southern suburbs - Bentleigh, McKinnon, East Bentleigh, Murrumbeena, Glen Huntly, South Caulfield etc.