West Melbourne's History
West Melbourne Suburb Timeline

West Melbourne Structure Plan
The City of Melbourne has approved a revised structure plan for West Melbourne in February 2018. The structure plan focuses on 3 key areas of community concern: traffic calming measures, planning controls and community amenity. West Melbourne is a long-established area with a strong community, diverse mix of housing, warehouses..Read More....
The Old Melbourne Cemetery
The Old Melbourne Cemetery allocated 1837 close to Flagstaff Hill and bounded by Queen, Franklin and Peel Streets and the now, non existent Fulton Street. It closed 1917 and disinterments continued until 1922. There are still around 9000 people who remain in the site which are now covered by carpark..Read More....
St James moved from William St to cnr Batman King
Foundation stone laid 1839 Services began 1842 Moved stone by stone and rebuilt in 1914 Originally called the “pepper pot” because of the shape of the tower which had a rounded cap at the top of the tower. When it was rebuilt, it was altered to the lower tower as..Read More....
Festival Hall is Built
Began as West Melbourne Stadium in 1913. Festival Hall was built by John Wren in 1915 and became metropolitan Melbourne’s main venue for boxing and wrestling. The structure was rebuilt in 1956 after being burnt down the year before, and was the Olympic Games venue for gymnastics, boxing and wrestling...Read More....
St Mary’s Star of the Sea is Built
St Mary’s Star of the Sea, a Catholic Church,, started construction in 1891 and was completed in 1900. It is a large sandstone building which still survives on Victoria Street. It is constructed from Barrabool sandstone to a French Gothic design and shows the fund-raising capacity of the large Catholic..Read More....
The Spencer Street Power Station
The Spencer Street Power Station opened in 1892, and supplied power to the city’s residents as well as being a wholesale supplier to other municipal distributors. Owned by the City of Melbourne.
Queen Victoria Market
20th March 1878 the Queen Victoria Market opened. Land was originally granted in the 1850s on land that was used for cattle and sheep prior to that time. in 1859 the state government granted the people of Melbourne 2.4 acrees of land to be used as a wholesale vegetable market...Read More....
West Melbourne Primary School
Designed and constructed to service 2000 children. At the time, children didn’t attend school every day, the Education Act was introduced about the same time to make it compulsory for children aged 6 to 15 to attend school.
Train Station and Railway line established
North Melbourne railway station is located in West Melbourne, Australia. The station is a major interchange point with the Craigieburn, Flemington Racecourse, Sunbury, Upfield, Werribee and Williamstown lines all servicing the station. It opened on 6 October 1859, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/889 At the same..Read More....
West Melbourne Gasworks
Governor Hotham opened the West Melbourne gasworks on 17 December 1855 on a wet cold day and caught a chill which led to his demise 2 weeks later on 31st December. The gasworks manufactured gas from black coal and supplied gas and coke to the local area. The works operated..Read More....
The History of West Melbourne's Streets
- Abbotsford Street
- Adderley Street
- Adderley, Charles Bower (1814-1905)
- Capel Street
- Chetwynd Street
- Dryburgh Street
- Dudley Street
- Dudley Street
- Hawke Street
- Howard Street
- Jeffcott Street
- King Street
- Lothian Street
- Marshall, Samuel John (1873-1944)
- Munster Terrace
- Peel Street
- Roden Street
- Rosslyn Street
- Rosslyn Street
- Spencer Street
- Stanley Street
- Stanley Street
- Victoria Street
- Walsh Street
- William Street