If you, like many others, gazed upon the list of Melbourne suburbs that are now subject to an additional four weeks of Stage 3 lockdown and happened upon one or two that didn’t seem quite right, you’re not alone, and you’re certainly not crazy.
More than a handful of confused Melburnians looked across the list of suburban lockdown areas and scratched their heads at the apparent overnight birthing of “Brunswick South,” a suburb that virtually no one seems to have heard about.
https://twitter.com/brodielancaster/status/1277847954695401474
I just heard from my friend in council that even the mayor does not think Brunswick South is a thing.
— Claire Capel-Stanley (@capelstanley) June 30, 2020
Does Brunswick South exist?
— Erin Handley (@erinahandley) June 30, 2020
The question everyone in the inner-north is asking right now: “Hang on… there’s a Brunswick South?!” #covid19Vic
— Sophie Jennings (@sophjennings) June 30, 2020
And while Brunswick South is the clear obvious stand-out from the list, it’s not the only one that turns up duck eggs when plugging it into Google Maps.
Moonee Vale and Moreland West were both listed on the State Government’s lockdown hot zone’s list, which was released yesterday amidst the escalating coronavirus situation in the Victorian capital. And yet they too return zero results when trying to pinpoint their locations on a map. Also on the list? Highpoint City and Watergardens, neither of which appear on anyone’s actual home address.
And this happens because, would you believe, they’re not actually suburbs.
As far as suburban geography goes, Brunswick South, Moonee Vale and Moreland West do not exist, and Highpoint City and Watergardens are, of course, shopping centres.
These all appear on the list because they are Post Offices, or have PO Boxes that they are attached to. They’re not actual suburbs, just a spot where people have their mail sent. And because the Victorian State Government is using post codes specifically to define lockdown regions, therefore the unusual place names make an appearance.
Brunswick South, Moonee Vale, and Moreland West all sit within the boundaries of Brunswick West, while Highpoint City should be fairly self explanatory.
The Moonee Vale Post Office is an outdated shop front that maintains a series of PO Boxes in the northern area of Brunswick West, while the Moreland West LPO – a similarly outdated shop front/PO Box array – sits on the corner of Moreland and Melville Rd.
https://twitter.com/Shan3jwy/status/1277955101718507521
As for Brunswick South, that is situated opposite the Union Square shopping centre on Grantham Rd. The Australia Post Twitter account has been hard at work for the past 24 hours sifting through various Brunswick South-related confusion, repeatedly affirming that it isn’t a secret Brunswick and is merely a bank of PO Boxes in the area.
The Brunswick South postcode is only for PO Boxes at a particular Post Office 😁- Nathan
— Australia Post (@auspost) July 1, 2020
Of course, that doesn’t clear up any confusion regarding Brunswick South Primary School, which happens to be located in Brunswick East. But that’s another story for another day.
