The City of Northcote was a local government area about 5 kilometres (3 mi) northeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia.

The ALP came to dominate Northcote Council politics after the early 1950s, and the majority of candidates were returned without opposition until the late 1970s.

The ALP was slow to endorse migrant candidates,[4] but it gradually did so as the population of the City of Northcote changed, with non-English speaking background immigrants an increasingly important factor in the council electorate.

[5] Changes in the composition of Northcote Council saw more non-Anglo ethnic Councillors from the late 1970s, and certainly a swing to the political left.

[7] Ruxton was also incensed at the refusal of Scottish-born Councillor Brian Sanaghan, to renew his oath of allegiance to the Queen, after being re-elected to the Northcote Council in 1980.

[9] Some friction occurred between members of non-Anglo ethnic groups and Northcote Councillors over the conduct of the City Librarian and library administrators in the 1950s and 1960s.

It unsuccessfully sought an apology for what it argued was a practice that prevented Northcote children from reading, among other things, many of the great works of classical literature.

Parts of the suburbs of Alphington and Fairfield (south of Heidelberg Road) were transferred into the newly created City of Yarra.