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Join the listFootscray · Melbourne
A once-in-a-generation opportunity for Footscray.
The old Footscray Hospital site is 6.6 hectares of public land in the heart of one of Melbourne's most densely populated suburbs. We're fighting for a redevelopment that puts community first.
About ROFH
Who we are.
Reimagining Old Footscray Hospital (ROFH) is a grassroots community group of local residents united by a shared vision for this large site within the highly built-up, densely populated suburb of Footscray.
With the new Footscray Hospital now open as of February 2026, we are calling on the Victorian Government to commit to genuine co-design with the local community — delivering a large park and medium-density housing, including a significant percentage of social and affordable housing, at the Gordon Street site.
Get Involved
How you can help.
In this election year for Victoria, help us send a clear message about how important this site is to our community.
Other ways to help
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6.6 hectares on Gordon Street.
The former Footscray Hospital occupies an entire block on Gordon Street — one of the largest parcels of publicly owned land in Melbourne's inner west. What happens here will shape Footscray for generations.
Former Footscray Hospital site — approximate boundary Gordon Street, Footscray VIC 3011
The Campaign
What we're asking for.
We are calling on key decision makers within the Victorian Government to commit to a genuine community-led master plan for the entire former Footscray Hospital site.
- 1
Commit to detailed community consultation and co-design of a precinct plan for the entire former Footscray Hospital site, with a public response by June 2026.
- 2
Publish timeframes and commit resources to consultation, site master plan finalisation, site remediation, rezoning, and development of community assets.
- 3
Deliver, by 2028, a park on land currently used as a car park in front of the former psychiatric building on Gordon Street — as a first tangible community outcome.
- 4
Deliver a major nature-based parkland over the former quarry as soon as site remediation has occurred.
- 5
Remediate the former psychiatric building (Victorian Heritage listed) and transfer ownership to Maribyrnong Council for community use by 2030.
- 6
Commit to a significant percentage of social and affordable housing as part of any future medium-density residential development.
Background
How we got here.
- Origins
-
Late 1800s
Parts of the Gordon Street site are used as a bluestone quarry, supplying stone for Footscray's industrial expansion. The quarry is eventually exhausted and backfilled — the low-lying land it left behind shapes the site's character to this day.
[verify — general area history; quarry location referenced in ask #4]
-
1920s
The Footscray community raises funds to purchase the land for their first local hospital — an extraordinary act of civic ambition by a working-class suburb at the height of the interwar period.
- The People's Hospital
-
1953
Footscray Hospital opens on Gordon Street, finally delivering on three decades of community fundraising. It becomes the principal hospital for Melbourne's inner west.
-
1960s–70s
The hospital expands in step with the suburb. A brutalist concrete psychiatric building is constructed — its heavy, fortress-like form typical of mid-century institutional architecture. It is later added to the Victorian Heritage Register.
[verify — decade and heritage listing details]
-
2000s
Western Health is formed, consolidating Melbourne's western hospitals under a single network. Footscray Hospital, now more than half a century old, is increasingly stretched as the suburb's population grows.
[verify — Western Health formation date]
-
2018
The Victorian Government announces a new Footscray Hospital to be built on Geelong Road. The fate of the Gordon Street site is left unaddressed.
[verify — announcement year]
- A community asks
-
2022
As the new hospital takes shape on Geelong Road, the Victorian Government fails to communicate any plans for the old site. ROFH forms and begins community consultation with three pop-up events. A volunteer architect translates community feedback into a concept plan.
-
2023
The Victorian Government commences its own consultation — a basic online survey. A community reference group is promised, with options for the site to be shared by end of 2025.
-
2024
Maribyrnong City Council releases its advocacy plan: large bushland, 3–8 storey medium-density housing with 30% social housing, and remediation of the heritage psychiatric building for community use.
-
2025
The Victorian Government's Engage Victoria page stalls at "Reporting back." The promised reference group is quietly removed from the website. A meeting with Development Victoria arranged by Katie Hall MP in December provides little reassurance.
-
February 2026
The new Footscray Hospital opens on Geelong Road. The Gordon Street site officially enters its next chapter — but without a plan, without a timeframe, and without community input.
- What comes next
-
June 2026 Upcoming
ROFH hosts a community forum to bring residents, councillors, and decision-makers together — and to demand a public response from government by this date.
-
November 2026 Upcoming
The Victorian state election. An opportunity to make the future of this site a question every candidate in the inner west must answer.
-
By 2028 Our Ask
A first park delivered — on the land currently used as a car park in front of the heritage psychiatric building. A tangible sign that change is coming.
-
By 2030 Our Ask
The heritage psychiatric building remediated and transferred to Maribyrnong Council for community use. A major nature-based parkland over the former quarry. Medium-density housing with a significant social and affordable component — delivered, not just promised.
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Get in touch.
oldfootscrayhospital@gmail.com
ROFH is a volunteer community group based in Footscray, in Melbourne's inner west.
The site in question: the former Footscray Hospital, Gordon Street, Footscray VIC 3011.