North & West Melbourne Precinct History.
Renowned for our thriving mix of commercial, industrial and residential buildings and community spaces, North & West Melbourne sits upon the traditional lands of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation.
At the time of European settlement in 1835, the future township comprised green, hilly country, studded with Red Gum eucalyptus trees, belts of tea trees and fringed to the west by a portion of swampy marshland.
Just seven years after Melbourne’s founding, cattle yards were constructed at the corner of Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, later to become the famous Queen Victoria Market.
Prompted by the discovery of gold in 1851 and the need to accommodate a rapidly swelling goldrush population, the area was surveyed and quarter-acre town allotments put up for sale. It soon became known as Hotham Hill.
The residential section of the township was soon displaced as industry expanded, and flour mills, wool stores and foundries soon popped up.
By 1884, the area was the most thickly populated of all the Melbourne municipalities, (there being 31 persons to the acre) and its name was officially changed to North Melbourne in 1887 (formerly the Hotham Town Hall).
Construction of major buildings, many of which still stand, followed steadily thereafter including The ‘Bougainvillea House’ overlooking the intersection of Dryburgh and Curran streets towards Royal Park; North Melbourne Town Hall with its commanding 150 foot spire and illuminated clock; and the striking sandstone Catholic parish church, St Mary Star of the Sea, completed in its current state in 1900.
An important part of Melbourne’s fledgling years, The National Trust has classified eleven buildings and two organs in North & West Melbourne as being of historical significance.
Hotham was the name of the suburb now known as North Melbourne for much of the nineteenth century.
The Hotham History Project.
The Hotham History Project is a community group with an interest in the history of North and West Melbourne, formerly known as Hotham.
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