Parents Fight to Save 90-Year-Old Brunswick Youth Center

For nearly 90 years, kids in Brunswick have bounced on trampolines, shot hoops, and petted a locally famous rabbit at Don Bosco Youth Centre, all without their parents paying a cent.

Now, more than 3,300 people have signed a petition asking the Victorian government to step in after the Catholic organization that owns the center put it up for sale. The triple-fronted property on Sydney Road could fetch about $10 million from developers.

Joel Ma has brought his six-year-old daughter to the center since she was two. He says the space has become essential for families living in apartments without backyards.

"Don Bosco is part of the fabric of Brunswick," Ma said. "It is the soul of Brunswick. It connects old Brunswick to new Brunswick."

The center has provided free or low-cost programs, short-term housing for young men, basketball courts, and birthday parties since opening in 1939. For parents like Ma, it's where kids learn to take turns using bells that signal when trampoline time is up.

Paul Villani grew up visiting Don Bosco in the 1970s and now works as a lawyer next door. A former priest from the center married him and baptized his children.

"I'm not aware of anywhere in Melbourne where you can go and just hang out after school and it doesn't cost you anything," Villani said. His father, a migrant to the area, also spent weekends there as a child.

The Ripple Effect

The community response shows how one youth center can anchor a neighborhood across generations. Parents say if the government or council purchases the property, local families will volunteer to keep it running.

"I can only imagine that parents who have been coming here since their kids have been really young would want to chip in and give back," Ma said. "Not just for us, but for the next generation."

Both Labor and Greens candidates for the Brunswick electorate have pledged to work toward saving the center. The Greens' Adam Pulford wrote on social media that with families struggling to afford essentials, free community spaces matter more than ever.

The petition argues that free programs aren't luxuries but necessities that determine whether kids can participate in community life or miss out entirely.

Three generations of Brunswick families now wait to see if their shared backyard will survive.