Gertrude Street

Victoria
Gertrude Street is located in Melbourne
West end
West end
East end
East end
Coordinates
General information
TypeStreet
Length850 m (0.5 mi)[1]
Major junctions
West endNicholson Street
Carlton, Melbourne
 
East endLangridge Street
Collingwood, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbsFitzroy

Gertrude Street is a street in the inner northern suburb of Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.

History

The Aboriginal Health Service opened on Gertrude Street in 1973, co-founded by Alma Thorpe, her mother Edna Brown, and Bruce McGuinness.[2][3] It provided a service largely provided by volunteers,[4] operating as a de facto community centre there until 1992. A nearby street behind a factory was a meeting and drinking place, known to the community as Charcoal Lane.[5] The whole area is significant to Aboriginal Australians, many of whom spent time there from the 1960s to the 1980s after leaving missions, Aboriginal reserves, and other government institutions and drifted to the city in a bid to trace their families.[4]

Gentrification of the area, which had started in the 1980s, continued into the 2000s, with Gertrude Street being transformed into a string of fine dining restaurants, art galleries, bookshops and fashion stores.[5]

In 2009 the Aboriginal Health Service building at 136 Gertrude Street was converted into a social enterprise restaurant called Charcoal Lane,[5][6] run by Mission Australia, which provided training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and became well known for its gastronomy.[7] It closed its doors in August 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the historic building was handed back to the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS).[8]

In 2022 Gertrude Street was voted "the second coolest street in the world" by 20,000 people polled by Time Out.[9] Locals also refer to it as "Little Hollywood".

Description

Cafes, bars, eateries, boutiques, antiques shops, bookshops, many social services and a few art galleries (including Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces) are located along the street, which runs along an east–west alignment from Nicholson Street opposite the Royal Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens to Smith Street.

Film production studios such as Banalarama[10] and KEWL Studios are located on the section between Brunswick Street and Nicholson Street.

The street continues east of Smith Street, under the name of Langridge Street, where it terminates at Nicholson Street, Abbotsford.

Transport

A tram on Gertrude Street in 2020

Melbourne tram route 86 runs along the entire length of Gertrude Street, and it is intersected by route 96 and route 11 at Nicholson Street and Brunswick Street respectively.

Landmarks

Landmarks on Gertrude Street include:

  • The Champion Hotel, on the corner of Gertrude and Brunswick Streets
  • The Builders Arms Hotel, a pub (c.1850s), on the corner of Gertrude and Gore Streets;[11] the only hotel that allowed Aboriginal Australians to drink there in the 1960s to 1980s[4]
  • The MMTB building, on the corner of Gertrude and Nicholson Streets
  • The Rob Roy Hotel, on the corner of Gertrude and Brunswick Streets
  • The Australian Print Workshop, opposite the Builders Arms Hotel; operating out of its present location since the late 1980s,[12] purchasing the building in early 2006 after the death of its owner in late 2005[13]

Archie Roach's song "Charcoal Lane" mentions Gertrude Street.[14][15]

See also

icon Australian Roads portal

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gertrude Street.
  1. ↑ Google (25 January 2022). "Nicholson Street" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "Alma Thorpe". First Peoples - State Relations. Victorian Government. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  3. ↑ "Edna Brown". First Peoples - State Relations. Victorian Government. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Dunstan, Joseph (31 July 2022). "Melbourne's Fitzroy hides a past as a hub for the Aboriginal civil rights movement". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Schaik, Johan van (1 March 2010). "Charcoal Lane". ArchitectureAU. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  6. ↑ Topsfield, Jewel (5 June 2009). "Laneway leads to Aboriginal careers in food". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  7. ↑ "Charcoal Lane". Gastrology. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Mission Australia announces closure of Fitzroy social enterprise restaurant Charcoal Lane". Mission Australia. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  9. ↑ editors, Time Out. "It's official: Gertrude Street is the second coolest street in the world". Time Out Melbourne. Retrieved 26 August 2022. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ↑ "Contact". Banalarama Studios. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "Public Bar, Bistro & Private Dining Room". Builders Arms Hotel. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  12. ↑ Coslovich, Gabriella (12 March 2010). "Part of our arts heritage lives to print another day". The Age. p. 19. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  13. ↑ "Our Building". Australian Print Workshop. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  14. ↑ "Vika and Linda on the magic of Fitzroy and Archie Roach". Double J. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  15. ↑ O'Brien, Mary (2 November 2013). "My secret Melbourne ... Vika Bull". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
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