Alfresco

What unsafe suburbs do feel there are in your area?

State the city/town etc... and why you think it's an unsafe suburb.

Jon77

Well I am currently still in the UK and originate from Middlesbrough (voted the worst place in the UK to live by Kirsty and Phil ). I have spent 5 years in Australia previously and travelled extensively and I have yet to find in Australia an 'estate' on the same scale as some of the council estates in and around Middlesbrough.

Whilst there are areas in Australia I personally would not want to live there are few areas I would not venture. Maybe it is because of what I have been exposed to in my Middlesbrough childhood.

Now if anyone would like a guided tour of the pleasures of Easterside, Grove Hill, Dormanstown, Grangetown or South Bank please let me know.

bcworld

Most cities have areas where some people will feel uncomfortable...not sure I'd necessarily describe them as 'unsafe' though.

In Melbourne there are parts of the CBD that are seedy and a fair bit of violence seems to go down. There are a few streets in St Kilda where you will see all sorts of things going on...but I live in the same suburb and am far removed from it so can't really level it at the whole area.

In Sydney, Darlinghurst or Kings X are a bit like St Kilda in the same respect...some streets a bit wild, others quiet - Oxford St is fairly horrific at the weekends sometimes. The Liverpool St area of the CBD can also be a bit choice...only place in Australia I've seen carbon copies of Glasgow neds roaming the streets looking for trouble.

In Brisbane the Valley can be a sight to behold on weekends...really rough. West End has a bit of a nasty underbelly to it in places as well.

Couldn't comment on anywhere else, suburban areas etc.

IndieG

Nope, Melbourne has a lot of unsafe suburbs too (Sunshine, Noble Park, St Albans to name a few...). I don't venture out after dark even in a safe suburb, but then that's just me

The_Wookie

Perth certainly has some 'dodgy' areas.

Some that spring to mind:

Balga
Armadale
Bassendean
Cloverdale
Balcatta

petensue

It is funny but Woodvale is an expensive and so called nice suburb but I always felt unsafe there at night.Maybe is was because we lived opposite a school and park and used to hear the drunks smashing up the place and shouting at what they we going to do to each other.Just 5 minutes away a boy was murdered in another park though it would be classed as a safe suberb.Sue.

saxtonj

I have to agree with the comments about not finidng as unsafe as english council estates.
I grew up on a council estate and lived there most of my life, managing to escape without a police record.

Anyway, there are didgy suburbs here and you could get 'Bashed' etc, but mostly it happens at 3 am in the morning, I say mostly, and that can happen in any city in the world at that time. Mostly it's drunken fights, the odd stabbing, and occasionaly a shooting, but they're generally drug related and bikie gang related so don't 'generally' affect the public.

I feel safer here than i ever did in England, but like anywhere, have your wits about you and you'll be ok.

The worse thing about here is the burglary rate, it seems to be pretty high and just seems to be the expected norm.

I agree with the Perth 'Dodgy' burbs

Weebie

Half of every major city in Australia I would not visit.

Weebie

Woodvale would be regarded as a shithole by locals.

fish.01

I feel very safe almost everywhere in Brisbane.

Most Brisbane suburbs that feel less safe are either at night in very busy inner urban places with lots of clubs/pubs/partying/homeless (Valley) or druggies/homeless (West End) or in some pockets of outer suburbia where you find really cheap housing (and this is partly due to my perception than reality)...easy to avoid all this when past the partying age

Gert Muller

Good state secondary school there though which probably attracts a lot of families. Not sure I would visit the Woodvale tavern again though.....

DadAgain

I remember a good few years ago (9 or 10) wandering around Bulimba (posh riverside Brisbane) and fearing for my personal safety. There were no druggies, no signs of any criminal activity - just imaculately maintained gated houses and people with a "Get the f*&k out of our suburb efore I unleash the dogs on you" kind of death-stare.

I couldnt wait to get out of there and back to the seedy, gritty (back then) comfort of Spring Hill, with its junkies, night-whores and general 'normal' feel.

Of course at the same time there would have been PLENTY of people who'd argue that Spring Hill was a much more dangerous place and Bulimba extremely pleasant - it just felt VERY VERY hostile to me at that time!

The reality is - as fish says - pretty much everywhere in Brisbane is safe - just stay away from the Normanby pub when the Broncos or Australian Cricket team show up for a drink and you'll be fine!

fish.01

In Bulimba you were more likely to be run over by an X5 reversing out of the driveway

bcworld

Bulimba!!?? You're avin a giraffe!

The Oxford Hotel (152) can be a bit grim on a Sat night but apart from that.

Although locals did often say that in days gone by it was considered a rough area, long time ago though.

DadAgain

It was the X5 drivers (and the A6s and Lexus princesses etc etc ) I was worried about - definately not bogan - but not 'welcoming'. I felt like I'd be shot for not dressing well enough or making the place look too untidy.

My point I guess is that the perception of safety is dependent enormously on your own state of mind and appearance. A guy in a suit driving a Mercedes might feel a little nervous parking up next to the armour plated petrol station in Logan - but the scruffy backpacker might hardly notice (Brisbane grim bits, really arent that grim). By comparison the scruffy backacker might well feel 'on edge' in the 'rich white ghettos' worrid about being swept up by Police, called in by over-anxious curtain twitchers wondering why such a vagrant type would be strolling around their patch of privately owned meticulously manicured street.

...I have of course become far more respectable these days and no longer fear middle class warriors. (but I still dont fear urban degredation environments either)