Fitzroy, Victoria

This article is about the suburb. For other uses, see Fitzroy (disambiguation).

Fitzroy Melbourne, Victoria
Aerial view looking south over Fitzroy. Victoria Parade (top); Atherton gardens Housing Commission of Victoria estate (tall buildings top); Fitzroy Town Hall (centre); Brunswick Street commercial centre (right)
Fitzroy
Coordinates	37°48′04″S 144°58′44″E
Population	9,430 (2011)
• Density	6,735/km² (17,443.6/sq mi)
Established	1839
Postcode(s)	3065
Area	1.4 km² (0.5 sq mi)
Location	3 km (2 mi) from Melbourne CBD
LGA(s)	City of Yarra
State/territory electorate(s)	Richmond
Federal Division(s)	Melbourne
Suburbs around Fitzroy: Carlton North Fitzroy North Clifton Hill Carlton Fitzroy Collingwood Melbourne East Melbourne Richmond

Fitzroy is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District in the local government area of the City of Yarra. At the 2011 Census, Fitzroy had a population of 9,430.

Planned as Melbourne's first suburb, it was later also one of the city's first areas to gain municipal status. Its borders are Alexandra Parade (north), Victoria Parade (south), Smith Street (east) and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is also Melbourne's smallest suburb in terms of area, being approximately 100 Ha.

It has a long associations with the working class and is currently inhabited by a wide variety of ethnicities and socio-economic groups and is known for a culture of bohemianism, being the main home of Melbourne's Fringe Festival. Its commercial heart is Brunswick Street, which is one of Melbourne's major retail, eating, and entertainment strips.

It has undergone waves of both urban renewal and gentrification since the 1950s. In response to past planning practices, much of the suburb is now a historic preservation precinct, with many individual buildings and streetscapes covered by Heritage Overlays. Its built environment is diverse and features some of the finest examples of Victorian era architecture in Melbourne. The most recent changes to Fitzroy are mandated by the Melbourne 2030 Metropolitan Strategy, in which both Brunswick Street and nearby Smith Street are designated for redevelopment as Activity Centres.

It was named after Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, the Governor of New South Wales from 1846 to 1855.^{[citation needed]}

History

Looking south down Brunswick Street in 1906

Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, 1935

Fitzroy was Melbourne's first suburb, created in 1839 when the area between Melbourne and Alexandra Parade (originally named Newtown) was subdivided into vacant lots and offered for sale.

Newtown was later renamed Collingwood, and the area now called Fitzroy (west of Smith Street) was made a ward of the Melbourne City Council. On 10 September 1858, Fitzroy became a municipality in its own right, separate from the City of Melbourne. Surrounded as it was by a large number of factories and industrial sites in the adjoining suburbs, Fitzroy was ideally suited to working men's housing, and from the 1860s to the 1880s, Fitzroy's working class population rose dramatically. The area's former mansions became boarding houses and slums, and the heightened poverty of the area prompted the establishment of several charitable, religious and philanthropic organisations in the area over the next few decades. A notable local entrepreneur was Macpherson Robertson, whose confectionery factories engulfed several blocks and stand as heritage landmarks today.

The establishment of the Housing Commission of Victoria in 1938 saw swathes of new residences being constructed in Melbourne's outer suburbs. With many of Fitzroy's residents moving to the new accommodation, their places were taken by post-war immigrants, mostly from Italy and Macedonia and the influx of Italian and Irish immigrants saw a marked shift towards Catholicism from Fitzroy's traditional Methodist and Presbyterian roots. The Housing Commission would build two public housing estates in Fitzroy in the 1960s; one in Hanover Street and one at the southern end of Brunswick Street.

Before World War I, Fitzroy was a working-class neighborhood, with a concentration of political radicals already living there. Postwar immigration into the suburb resulted in the area becoming socially diverse. Many working-class Chinese immigrants also settled in Fitzroy due to its proximity to Chinatown, with also a noticeable Vietnamese community; a small enclave of Africans lives there, and the area (particularly Johnston Street) serves as a centre of Melbourne's Hispanic community, with many Spanish and Latin American-themed restaurants, clubs, bars and some stores.

Like other inner-city suburbs of Melbourne, Fitzroy underwent a process of gentrification during the 1980s and 1990s. The area's manufacturing and warehouse sites were converted into apartments, and the corresponding rising rents in Fitzroy saw many of the area's residents move to Northcote and Brunswick. In June 1994, the City of Yarra was created, by combining the Cities of Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond.

Geography

Fitzroy's topography is flat. It is laid out in grid plan and is characterised by a fairly tightly spaced rectangular grid of medium-sized streets, with many of its narrow streets and back lanes facilitating only one-way traffic. Its built form is a legacy of its early history when a mixture of land uses was allowed to develop close to each other, producing a great diversity of types and scales of building.

Demographics

In the 2011 Australian Census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Fitzroy had a population of 9,430. The median age (33) was younger than the national average (37), while the median weekly individual income ($788 per week) was higher than the national average ($577). Only 25.1% of Fitzroy's population are married, compared to 49.2% nationwide.

44.5% of Fitzroy's population was born overseas in 2011, originating mostly from Vietnam (4.2%), England (3.7%), New Zealand (3.2%), China (3.1%) and the United States (1.2%). 62.2% only speak English at home. Other common languages spoken at home include Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Over 40% of Fitzroy residents do not affiliate with any religious groups, up from roughly a third in the 2006 census and notably higher than Australian average of 22.3%. Catholic was the next most popular response (17.2%), followed by Buddhism (5.8%), Anglican (5.3%) and Islam (4.9%).

Housing

Royal Terrace, Nicholson Street

Fitzroy's housing is diverse. It has some of Melbourne's earliest surviving houses and one of Melbourne's most extensive stands of terraced housing, along with a mix of converted industrial and commercial buildings, walk-up flats, modern apartments and public housing.

Among the earlies homes are Royal Terrace (1853–1858) on Nicholson Street. Overlooking the Carlton Gardens, Royal Terrace was one of the first of its kind in Melbourne. Fitzroy's "character housing" (pre-war) is now mostly gentrified and highly sought after real estate.^{[citation needed]}

The Atherton Gardens high-rise public housing estate, on the corner of Brunswick and Gertrude Streets, is one of Melbourne's largest, built by the Housing Commission of Victoria as part of its controversial "slum clearance" urban renewal program in the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

Due to its desirability as a place to live, Fitzroy faces increasing pressure for residential development. Recent residential projects in Fitzroy have sought to express a sense of Fitzroy's urban character in various ways and have been hotly contested in some cases.

Governance

Former Fitzroy Town Hall, now functions as secondary offices for the City of Yarra

Fitzroy's traditional representation at all levels of government reflects the area's working class and bohemianism, Left-wing politics dominates.^{[citation needed]} The Australian Labor Party and more recently the Australian Greens both have a very strong political presence.

At a local level, Fitzroy is part of the City of Yarra Local Government Area. The Fitzroy area falls within the wards of Langridge and Nicholls, both of these wards are currently represented by the Australian Greens.

At a state level, Fitzroy is within the Electoral district of Richmond, traditionally a safe Australian Labor Party seat.

At federal level, it is within the Division of Melbourne, which was recently taken from Labor by the Australian Greens.

Former City of Fitzroy and Fitzroy Town Hall

Further information: City of Fitzroy

Further information: Fitzroy Town Hall

The area formerly had its own municipal status from 1858, with the City of Fitzroy meeting at Fitzroy Town Hall on Napier Street. The Town Hall is on the Victorian Heritage Register for its state historical and architectural significance. The building was constructed in stages (1863, 1887 and 1890) to comprise municipal offices, meeting hall, police station, courthouse and clock tower.

Since the amalgamation of the City of Fitzroy with the City of Collingwood and the City of Richmond in 1994 to form the City of Yarra, the Town Hall has functioned as secondary offices for the City of Yarra.

Culture

Art

Various kinds of street art adorn many buildings throughout Fitzroy

There are many small commercial art galleries, artist-run spaces and artist studios located within the suburb. Fitzroy has a thriving street art community and is also the home of Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces and the Centre for Contemporary Photography.

Live performance

Fitzroy is a hub for live music in Melbourne, and plays host to several prominent venues; The Old Bar, Bar Open, the Evelyn Hotel, Gertrudes Brown Couch, and Cape Live. The well-known Punters Club was also located in the area; however, it was forced to close in 2002. During the late 1970s, Fitzroy was home to the little bands scene (also known as the "North Fitzroy Beat"), which gave rise to experimental punk acts the Primitive Calculators and Ollie Olsen's Whirlywirld, rock group Hunters & Collectors and Lisa Gerrard, of Dead Can Dance.

Heritage

The Moran and Cato warehouse designed by R.A. Lawson is considered to be of high architectural merit. The old Tramways sheds are on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Champion Hotel is notable for its fanciful Edwardian design.^{[citation needed]}

Pubs

The Devonshire Arms; the oldest extant building in Fitzroy

Fitzroy has a large number of pubs for such a small suburb. The former Devonshire Arms hotel was located in Fitzroy Street and remains the oldest building in Fitzroy. There are many other pubs in Fitzroy.

Cafes

The tiny suburb of Fitzroy has many cafes. Only one of the original three cafes is still standing - Marios. Bakers relocated north, and closed in 2007, while The Black Cat has transformed itself into a bar, but still retains its onstreet garden.^{[citation needed]} In fact Silas is the oldest cafe, located between King William and Moore Streets, on the west side.

With the advance of gentrification, a variety of cafes in different styles have opened up and down Brunswick Street, on Smith Street, parts of Gertrude Street and in some of the back streets, in former milk bars and warehouse sites.^{[citation needed]}

Sport

The Fitzroy Football Club (the Fitzroy Lions) was formed in 1883, as part of the VFL/AFL. The club had some early success before relocating its home games several times and finally running into financial difficulties in the 1980s, forcing it to cede its AFL operations to Brisbane Bears at the end of 1996, upon which Brisbane changed their name to form the Brisbane Lions. After sponsoring various local clubs, Fitzroy returned as a playing club in its own right to play in the 2009 Victorian Amateur Football Association season and play out of the Brunswick Street Oval.

Since that time, Fitzroy have doubled their membership and achieved promotion twice within the VAFA. The club will play in the Premier B division of this competition in 2013.

Fitzroy City, an association football club formed in 1953 by Serbian migrants, is based in Fitzroy. The club is currently playing in the Victorian State League Division 3 South-East and play their home games at Fairfield Park.

The Fitzroy Baseball Club, known as the Fitzroy Lions, is a baseball club founded in 1889 to represent Fitzroy. The club has five senior teams competing in the Baseball Victoria Summer League, as well as junior sides representing the club at every age level.

The Fitzroy Stars Football Club are an Indigenous club that joined the Northern Football League in 2008. They currently play their home games at Crispe Park in Reservoir.

The Melbourne Chess Club, the oldest chess club in the southern hemisphere (est. 1866).^{[citation needed]}

In Popular Culture

The 2010 Australian television show Offspring was set almost entirely in Fitzroy. The main characters of the show were often seen at the Black Cat, a Brunswick Street bar. Fitzroy has also featured in episodes of a number of Australian TV shows, including City Homicide and Rush (notably in Season 3, where the team shot at Fitzroy Town Hall to commemorate the death of a former colleague).

Australian musicians have also made mention of Fitzroy in their lyrics. Clare Bowditch made a reference to Fitzroy in the song Divorcee by 23, as did the musical comedian The Bedroom Philosopher in the song Northcote (So Hungover). Most notably, ARIA award winner Dan Sultan has the song Old Fitzroy, the black and white video for which is shot entirely in Fitzroy, featuring shots of and from Atherton Gardens, as well as shots of a number of Fitzroy pubs.

Social and community services

The health needs of Fitzroy residents and other Melburnians is served by St Vincent's Hospital.

There are two primary schools in Fitzroy: Fitzroy Primary School (government school) and Sacred Heart Primary School (Catholic school). Fitzroy High School is located in North Fitzroy.

A long tradition of community activism and civil society with many social and community service organisations having been based in Fitzroy. Organisations currently operating in the suburb include; the Fitzroy Legal Service, Yarra Community Housing Limited, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Tenants Union of Victoria, a free legal service for residential tenants.

Transport

Brunswick Street looking south

St Vincents Plaza tram interchange

Fitzroy's major road arterials are Brunswick Street (north-south) and Johnston Street (east-west). Other main roads include Victoria Parade, Nicholson Street, Smith Street and Alexandra Parade, which circumnavigate the suburb. It is characterised by a fairly tightly spaced rectangular grid of medium-sized streets, with many of its narrow streets and back lanes facilitating only one-way traffic. Traffic and parking congestion is a problem and Fitzroy and local councils have implemented strategies to keep this traffic off residential side streets. It has been the site of several controversial inner city freeway proposals, particularly in the 1950s, however none of which have proceeded.

There are no railway stations located in Fitzroy itself, with the nearest train stations being Rushall in North Fitzroy and Collingwood and Parliament Stations. An underground railway line running between the City Loop and Clifton Hill, with stations located beneath Brunswick Street and Smith Street, has been proposed.^{[citation needed]}

Three tram lines pass through Fitzroy or its boundaries:

• Route 86 (Bundoora - Docklands): travels along Nicholson Street, Gertrude Street and Smith Street.
• Route 96 (East Brunswick - St Kilda): travels along Nicholson Street.
• Route 112 (West Preston - St Kilda): bisects Fitzroy along Brunswick Street.

The St Vincents Plaza tram interchange, in adjacent East Melbourne, is at the junction of Victoria Parade and Brunswick Street and handles tram routes 24, 30, 86, 109 and 112.

Critical Mass Melbourne at Brunswick Street

Cycling is a very popular form of transport in Fitzroy,^{[citation needed]} as with much of the City of Yarra. A station for the Melbourne Bicycle Share scheme is located near the St Vincents Plaza tram interchange.

The City of Yarra also supports a car sharing service, which has several locations in Fitzroy.

Notable people

• Francis Birtles (1881–1941) - Adventurer
• Jack Cooper (1889–1917) - Australian rules footballer.
• Brody Dalle (1979–) - Lead singer of The Distillers.
• Bruce Dawe (1930–) - Poet
• Alfred Deakin (1856–1919) - The second Prime Minister of Australia.
• Arthur Drakeford (1878–1957) - Politician
• Florrie Forde (1875–1940) - Popular singer and entertainer.
• E. Phillips Fox (1865–1915) - Painter, associated with the Heidelberg School.
• Keith Hancock (1898–1988) - Historian
• Harvey brothers - Cricketing family.
  • Neil Harvey (1928–) - Test cricketer, captained one Test.
  • Merv Harvey (1918–1995) - Test cricketer.
  • Ray Harvey (1926–) - First-class cricketer.
  • Mick Harvey (1921–) - First-class cricketer and Test umpire.
• Donald Alaster Macdonald (1859–1932) - Journalist, nature writer and sports commentator.
• Bertram Mackennal (1863–1931) - Sculptor
• Mary MacKillop (1842–1909) - Roman Catholic nun and the only Australian saint, born on Brunswick Street.
• Laurie Nash (1910–1986) - Test cricketer.
• Bert Newton (1938–) - Television personality.
• Charles Nuttall (1872–1934) - Painter, cartoonist and illustrator.
• Jack O'Hagan (1898–1987) - Musician
• Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (1870–1946)- Author
• Frank S. Williamson (1865–1936) - Poet

See also

• City of Fitzroy - A former local government area

External links

• Fitzroyalty Fitzroy based local blog
• Local History of Fitzroy
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fitzroy". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.