Melbourne central business district
The Melbourne central business district is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is located primarily within the City of Melbourne, with some parts located in the City of Port Phillip.
The central business district is centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city laid out in 1837. It also includes parts of the parallel and perpendicular streets to the north, bounded by Victoria Street and Peel Street; and extends south-east along much of the area immediately surrounding St Kilda Road.
The CBD is the core of Greater Melbourne's metropolitan area, and is a major financial centre in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. It is home to several major attractions in Melbourne, including many of the city's famed lanes and arcades, the distinct blend of contemporary and Victorian architecture, the Queen Victoria Market, the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, the National Gallery of Victoria, the State Library, Parliament House, and Federation Square. It contains Flinders Street railway station, the centre of Melbourne's metropolitan railway network, and the world's busiest tram corridor along Swanston Street.
In recent times, it has been placed alongside New York City and Berlin as one of the world's great street art meccas, and designated a "City of Literature" by UNESCO in its Creative Cities Network.
Foundation of Melbourne
Batman's treaty
In April 1835, John Batman, a prominent grazier and a member of the Geelong and Dutigalla Association, sailed from Launceston on the island of Van Diemen's Land, aboard the schooner Rebecca, in search of fresh grazing land in the south-east of the Colony of New South Wales. He sailed across Bass Strait, into the bay of Port Phillip, and arrived at the mouth of the Yarra River in May. After exploring the surrounding area, he met with the elders of the indigenous Aboriginal group, the Wurundjeri of the Kulin nation alliance, and negotiated a transaction for which later became known as Batman's Treaty. The transaction, which is believed to have taken place on the bank of Merri Creek, consisted of an offering of: blankets, knives, mirrors, sugar, and other such items; to be also tributed annually to the Wurundjeri. The last sentence of Batman's journal entry on this day became famous as the founding charter of the settlement.Upon returning to Van Diemen's Land, Batman's treaty was deemed invalid by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, under the Proclamation of Governor Bourke in August 1835. It was the belief of Governor Bourke, as well as the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir George Arthur, that the Aboriginal people did not have any official claims to the lands of the Australian continent. The proclamation formally declared, under the doctrine of terra nullius, that The Crown owned the whole of the Australian continent and that only it alone could sell and distribute land. It therefore voided any contracts or treaties made without the consent of the government, and declared any person attempting to rely on such a treaty to be trespassing. However, at the time the proclamation was being drawn up, a prominent businessman from Van Diemen's Land, John Pascoe Fawkner, had also funded an expedition to the area; which sailed from George Town aboard the schooner Enterprize. At the same time, the Port Phillip Association had also funded a second expedition; which sailed from Launceston aboard the Rebecca.
Fawkner's fait accompli
The settlement party aboard the Enterprize entered the Yarra River, and anchored close to the site chosen by Batman, on 29 August. The party went ashore the following day and landed their stores, livestock and began to construct the settlement. The Association party aboard the Rebecca arrived in September after spending time at a temporary camp at Indented Head, where they encountered William Buckley – an escaped convict, believed dead, who had been living for 32 years with the indigenous Aboriginal group, the Wathaurong of the Kulin nation alliance. Batman was dismayed to discover the settlers of the Enterprize had established a settlement in the area and informed the settlers that they were trespassing on the Association's land. However, according to the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, both the parties were in fact trespassing on Crown land. When Fawkner arrived in October, and following tense arguments between the two parties, negotiation were made for land to be shared equally.As Fawkner had arrived after the two parties, he was aware of the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, which had gained approval from the Colonial Office in October. He knew that cooperation would be vital if the settlement was to continue to exist fait accompli. Land was then divided, and the settlement existed peacefully, but without a formal system of governance. It was referred to by a number of names, including: "Batmania" and "Bearbrass" of which the latter was agreed upon by Batman and Fawkner. Fawkner assumed a leading role in the establishment of Bearbrass; which, by early 1836, consisted of 177 European settlers. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Charles Grant, recognised the settlement's fait accompli that same year, and authorised Governor Bourke to transfer Bearbrass to a Crown settlement. Batman and the Port Phillip Association were compensated £7,000 for the land. And, in March 1837, it was officially renamed "Melbourne" by Governor Bourke in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb.
Boundaries and geography
The Melbourne CBD does not have current official boundaries, but rather is commonly understood to be the Hoddle Grid plus the parallel streets immediately to the north, including the Queen Victoria Market, and the area between Flinders Street and the river. There are a number of officially demarcated areas which are similar, but all differ slightly. Some that are larger still use the term 'Melbourne', which leads to some confusion.The boundaries of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Statistical Area Level 2 'Melbourne' is a good representation of the commonly understood area of 'the CBD'; it includes the Hoddle Grid, plus the area of parallel streets just to the north up to Victoria Street including the Queen Victoria Market, but not the Flagstaff Gardens or the streets to the west of it, and the area between Flinders Street and the Yarra river west of Swanston Street. A map can be found . This is not to be confused with the State Suburb level area, also called Melbourne, which is a larger area.
The area of the postcode 3000 is very similar, but also includes the area to the east of Flinders Street Station, and a leg up northern Elizabeth Street. A map of this can be found and .
The locality of Melbourne is an official area, but is larger; it is the area of postcode 3000 combined with the area of postcode 3004 and both of these postcodes are known as Melbourne.
The term 'central business district', or 'CBD', was first used in the Report on a planning scheme for the central business area of the City of Melbourne by town planner E.F. Borrie, which was commissioned by the City of Melbourne, and published in 1964. The maps used in the report show the CBD as just the Hoddle Grid, plus the parallel streets immediately to the north, and the area between Flinders Street and the river, very similar to the ABS area.
Since 1999, the Melbourne Planning Scheme has included a 'Capital City Zone' which is a much larger area, including the former CBD, minus the RMIT area, but including Southern Cross Station, much of Southbank down a line along the West Gate Freeway, Kingsway, down to Coventry Street, South Melbourne, and the north wharf area and the South Wharf area. A map of the CCZ can be found . The area described as 'the central city' in Clause 21.08 of the Melbourne Planning Scheme is similar, but also includes the Docklands.
There are several adjoining areas that have important functions that are sometimes included within the idea of 'the CBD' or the central city, such as Parliament House and the Treasury buildings on Spring Street, which are officially in East Melbourne, and Southern Cross railway station on Spencer Street, which is officially in Docklands. Other areas have in the last 30 years become heavily developed with apartments, office buildings and important functions similar to the CBD, and are sometimes incorporated, such as the Docklands to the west, and Southbank and South Wharf on the other side of the Yarra River.
Despite the area being described as the central business district, it is neither the geographic or demographic centre of Melbourne; due to urban sprawl to the south east the geographic centre is in the southeastern suburbs.
Hoddle Grid
The Hoddle Grid is the rectangular grid of the streets in the centre of the city laid out in 1837 by government surveyor Robert Hoddle. All major streets are one and half chains in width, while all blocks are exactly ten chains square. It is long by wide. It is bounded by Flinders Street, Spencer Street, La Trobe Street and Spring Street. The grid's longest axis is oriented 70 degrees clockwise from true north, to align better with the course of the Yarra River. Most of the arterial streets outside the Hoddle Grid were aligned almost north–south, Melbourne, at 8 degrees clockwise from true north–noting that magnetic north was 8° 3' E in 1900, increasing to 11° 42' E in 2009.Hoddle's survey did not include any public squares or piazzas, reputedly to avoid any facilitation of protests or public loitering, though colonial government practice did not generally include public squares other than land set aside for government buildings or markets.
The whole town was at first accommodated within the Hoddle Grid, but the huge surge in immigration brought about by the Gold Rush in the 1850s quickly outgrew the grid spreading into the first suburbs in Fitzroy and South Melbourne, and beyond.
The Hoddle Grid and its fringes remained the centre and most active part of the city into the mid 20th century, with retail in the centre, banking and prime office space on Collins Street, medical professionals on the Collins Street hill, legal professions around William Street, and warehousing along Flinders Lane and in the western end. Government buildings like GPO, State Library, Supreme Court, and Customs House occupied various blocks with Parliament House and the railway stations on the edges.
Residential uses, most notably the slums of Little Lonsdale Street, were largely replaced by commercial uses by the 1950s, with residential not making a return until the 1990s with the conversion of older buildings. Since the 2000s this has accelerated with numerous high rise apartment buildings and student housing projects.
With the loss of residents, restricted retail and pub hours, the central city became dominated by 9-5 business uses, with one commentator remarking that in the 1970s, the city was "as deserted as war-torn Berlin".