North Melbourne

North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of City of Melbourne. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the 2021 census.

Formerly known as Hotham, it was essentially a working class area, with some middle class pockets, and was one of the first towns in Victoria to be granted Municipal status.

Today it is noted for its Victorian architecture, cosmopolitan demographic, commercial and older industrial areas.

History

North Melbourne's first institutions were built in the 1840s, beginning with a cattle yard. At this time the area was not well defined and included Parkville and Royal Park, as well as a part of West Melbourne.

thumb|left|Benevolent Asylum, Hotham, Melbourne, 1870-1875

In the 1850s a Benevolent Asylum was built between Abbotsford and Curzon Streets, coinciding with the desire to find space to accommodate the growing population from the gold rush. (The Asylum remained a feature of the area until its move to Cheltenham in 1911.) In 1859 the area separated from the City of Melbourne and proclaimed as the municipal Borough of Hotham, after the Governor of Victoria Charles Hotham. Hotham Post Office opened on 20 March 1860.

By 1861, Hotham had a population of over 7,000.

In 1869, some of these decided to form the Hotham Football Club that later became a foundation member of the VFA (Australian rules football), today known as the North Melbourne Kangaroos. On 26 August 1887, the Borough was renamed North Melbourne. By this time it included an imposing North Melbourne Town Hall and the Metropolitan Meat Market, both designed by the architect George Raymond Johnson.

Although there were pockets of middle class housing in the wider tree-lined streets such as Dryburgh, Chapman and Brougham, by the 1880s the suburb had become a predominantly working class area with most of the male population employed in local industry.

Commercial centre

The main shopping strip of Errol Street is located largely between North Melbourne Town Hall and Victoria Street, with some further shops to the east, west and north of the intersection of Errol and Queensberry.

Demographics

North Melbourne's real estate is above the Melbourne median and the suburb remains an overwhelmingly middle-class community. However, the median weekly household income was $1,236 at the , which was lower than the national median of $1,438.

The presence of recent migrants is evident, including many refugees from countries such as Somalia and Eritrea who often live around the government-owned housing estates near the Melrose Street area, on the suburb's fringe. At the , 41.7% of residents reported being born in Australia, compared to the national average of 66.7%; the next most common countries of birth were China 13.5%, Malaysia 2.9%, Vietnam 2.4%, England 2.3% and New Zealand 2.2%. Children aged under 15 years made up 10.5% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up just 7.1% of the population.

Culture

"Spring Fling" is an annual festival for North and West Melbourne.

The heritage listed town hall and former Meat Market are both theatre and arts spaces.

Sport

thumb|Arden Street Oval, home to the North Melbourne Football Club

The North Melbourne Football Club is still active and plays in the national Australian football competition, the Australian Football League. The club's football department and training sessions are based at its traditional home ground at North Melbourne Cricket Ground, which has recently been redeveloped. Since 2019 both AFLW and VFL teams once again play there, bringing football back after a 34-year absence

Transport

Major roads include Flemington Road, Elizabeth Street and Victoria Street.

The suburb is served by two railway stations, and , both on the Upfield line. Despite the naming, the North Melbourne railway station is actually in the adjacent suburb of West Melbourne, while the Flemington Bridge railway station is within North Melbourne boundaries and not in Flemington. Arden railway station is planned to be built on Arden Street within North Melbourne's industrial area, as part of the Melbourne Metro Rail Project.

North Melbourne is serviced by three tram routes:

57 – West Maribyrnong to Flinders Street station; travels down Flemington Road, and then Abbotsford, Queensberry, Errol, and Victoria Streets.
58 – West Coburg to Toorak; travels through Royal Park, and then down Flemington Road.
59 – Airport West to Flinders Street station; travels down Flemington Road.

It also has a number of bus routes.