Melbourne+Markets+Q+1


 * Markets of Melbourne**

Homepage The Dawn of Markets Where are They Now? Shopping Centres VS. Markets The Everlasting Queen Vic Market [|Reflective Blog] The Dawn of Markets

** __ The Western Market __ ** The Western Market was Melbourne's first official fruit and vegetable market. It was established in December 1841, only 6-7 years after the first English people settled in that area. The Western Market was massive for it's time and took up a whole city block. It was located where the streets, Market, and Collins street and Flinders Lane now are. The Market was originally a General Market just selling the basics, but after a few years the little General Market turned into fully fledged Wholesale Market. The market lasted 90 years in the trade, which is quite a long time in the market industry, untill it was demolished in 1961. The Western Market is now occupied by the AXA Center, a financial company, it is now a dated 60s building. (To see the 60s building, look on Where are They Now? page)

** __ The Eastern Market __ ** While the Western Market was thriving, the Eastern side of Melbourne was quite dead until in 1847 when the Old Paddy Market, later known as the Eastern Market was opened, mostly for convenience because it was rather hard to get to the Western Market from the Eastern Villiage (there doesn't seem to be a name recorded for this town), the most direct road was Great Bourke Street but it often flooded and was strewn with tree stumps. The Eastern Market was basically the Western Markets downfall. The Eastern Market slowly became more popular and the Western Market recieved less imcome and eventually had to close and was demolished in 1962 to make room for the Southern Cross Hotel, which was recently sold, demolished and is being replaced with a new building.

**__ The Fish Market __**      In 1890 the Fish Market was built, encorprated with the train line as a wall seperator between the catagories of seafood. All the seafood sold would of come from local waters such as the Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay. Some fish you may have found in the Yarra and Port Phillip Bay were; prawns, blue mussles, mud crabs, yabbies, european carp, murrey cod, golden perch, baracuda, barramundi, perch and gummy shark. These fish would have been much cleaner in the late 1800s and early 1900s compared to now (pollution and all) and particularly the 50s and 60s. The outside of the Fish Market was based on Gothic arcitecture because of the spires and darkened bricks used in design and construction. The Fish Market was demolished in 1956 to modernise Melbourne in time for the Olympics and afterwards to make way for a car park and more train lines to cope with the growing population of Melbourne and to make room for Flinders Street Station.

If you would like to read about Queen Victoria Market; we made a whole page for it! Click here to go to it.

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