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

The Everlasting Queen Victoria Market The Queen Vic Market has been called the biggest and best market in the southern hemisphere, and I have experienced it myself, it's true! The sights, the smells, the free samples, the doughnuts: American or Spanish, the shouting meat sellers, the bargain clothes and the imported lasers; it's all there! Whilst all the preceeding markets have been shut down due to lack of popularity and funding, the Queen Vic has grown vastly and has a place in every melburnian's heart. Many generations of Melbourne famalies have been going there and loving it for years.

It first went into business on 20 March 1878 and was managed by the Melbourne City Council that was established in 1842. Since then, it has grown considerably, mostly with the addition of rows E onward (rows A through D are still the original rows). There also used to be a road between rows D and E. Did you know that almost the whole market is built on a cemetery?! Creepy! In the 1970s the market separated the wholesale section from the retail section, because of that, the City Council planned to turn the market into a trade centre, office and hotel complex. The public demanded that the market stayed as is, so it was classified by the National Trust on the Historic Buildings Register as a Heritage Building.

When John Batman died on 6 May 1839, he was burried in the cemetery where the market is now, his body was moved to the Fawkner cemetery when the market was built.