Gertrude Street is a street in the inner northern suburb of

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia.

History

The Aboriginal Health Service opened on Gertrude Street in 1973, co-founded by

Alma Thorpe Alma Beryl Thorpe (born 1935), also known as Aunty Alma Thorpe, is an Australian Aboriginal elder and activist. In 1973 she co-founded the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS), together with her mother, Edna Brown, and Bruce McGuinness. ...

, her mother Edna Brown, and

Bruce McGuinness Bruce Brian McGuinness (17 June 1939 – 5 September 2003) was an Australian Aboriginal activist. He was active in and led the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, and is known for founding and running ''The Koorier'', which was the first Ab ...

. It provided a service largely provided by volunteers, operating as a

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

community centre there until 1992. A nearby street behind a factory was a meeting and drinking place, known to the community as Charcoal Lane. The whole area is significant to

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

, many of whom spent time there from the 1960s to the 1980s after leaving missions,

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

s, and other government institutions and drifted to the city in a bid to trace their families. 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 Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

restaurants,

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

, bookshops and fashion stores. In 2009 the Aboriginal Health Service building at 136 Gertrude Street was converted into a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ca ...

restaurant called Charcoal Lane, run by

Mission Australia Mission Australia is a national Christian charity that provides a range of community services throughout Australia. It has its roots in the Brisbane Town and Country Mission (1859) and Sydney City Mission (1862), but was only officially establish ...

, which provided training for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

young people and became well known for its gastronomy. It closed its doors in August 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and the historic building was handed back to the

Victorian Aboriginal Health Service Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

(VAHS). In 2022 Gertrude Street was voted "the second coolest street in the world" by 20,000 people polled by '' Time Out''. 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 Gertrude Contemporary is a contemporary art complex located in Melbourne, Australia. The organisation was founded in 1985 and is located at 21-31 High St, Preston South. It also has a satellite exhibition space, Gertrude Glasshouse, at 44 Glassho ...

) are located along the street, which runs along an east–west alignment from

Nicholson Street Nicholson Street is a street in inner Melbourne. It is named after William Nicholson, then member of the Legislative Council, and later Premier of Victoria from 1859 to 1860. Geography Nicholson Street runs north-south through inner north ...

opposite the

Royal Exhibition Building The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage-listed building in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, built in 1879–1880 as part of the international exhibition movement, which presented over 50 exhibitions between 1851 and 1915 around the glo ...

in the

Carlton Gardens The Carlton Gardens is a World Heritage Site located on the northeastern edge of the Central Business District in the suburb of Carlton, in Melbourne, Australia. A popular picnic and barbecue area, the heritage-listed Carlton Gardens are home t ...

to Smith Street.

Film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

studios such as Banalarama 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

Melbourne tram route 86 Melbourne tram route 86 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network from Bundoora RMIT to Waterfront City. The 22.2 kilometre route is operated out of Preston depot with E class trams. History The line had its beginnings as t ...

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 Builder may refer to: * Construction worker, who specializes in building work * Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood * General contractor, that specializes in building work ** Subcontractor * Builder (detergent), a component of mod ...

, a pub (c.1850s), on the corner of Gertrude and Gore Streets; the only hotel that allowed

to drink there in the 1960s to 1980s * 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, purchasing the building in early 2006 after the death of its owner in late 2005

In popular culture

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalu ...

's song "

Charcoal Lane ''Charcoal Lane'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer song writer Archie Roach, released in 1990. Name From the 1960s through to the 1980s, the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy was a meeting place for Aboriginal people who had l ...

" mentions Gertrude Street.

References