Fairfield is bounded by Grange Road to the east, the Yarra River to the south, Darebin Road to the north and Northcote to the west.
History
Fairfield gets its name from "Fairfield Park", an estate that was subdivided from large tracts of land that was brought by Charles Henry James, a land speculator.[3] The name was alleged to have come from Derbyshire, England.[3]
Fairfield Post Office opened on 21 February 1887.[4] It has since relocated.
Fairfield is predominantly residential, with a small north-eastern pocket remaining a light industrial area.
A three-storey hotel, the Grandview Hotel, was completed in 1888, with its licence was granted by the Licensing Court on 15 August in that year.[citation needed] It has been known for hosting live music, and in the 1970s the Aboriginal country music band, the Country Outcasts, featuring Harry & Wilga Williams, had a residency there.[5][6][7]
The Station Street shopping district currently[when?] has 89 businesses operating within it, with 23 cafes/bars/restaurants and 17 food and wine specialists.[8]
In the 2021 census, the most common ancestries were English 33.3%, Australian 28.0%, Irish 16.0%, Scottish 11.7 and Italian 10.2%. 73.8% of people were born in Australia with other common countries of birth being England 3.2%, Greece 2.6%, Italy 1.8%, and New Zealand 1.4%. Most common languages, other than English spoken at home are Greek 5.5%, Italian 2.8%, Mandarin 1.1%, Spanish 1.1% and Vietnamese 1.0%.[9]
Fairfield has significant Greek and Italian communities, with 10.3% and 8.8% of residents of the City of Darebin (which Fairfield is contained within) being of those ancestries respectively. There are also strong numbers of Chinese, Dutch, German and Indian residents in the suburb.[10]
