Bourke Street
Bourke Street Victoria | |
|---|---|
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| Bourke Street Mall, between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street looking west, June 2007 | |
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  Bourke Street | |
| Coordinates | |
| General information | |
| Type | Street |
| Length | 3 km (1.9 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Collins Street Docklands, Melbourne |
| East end | Spring Street Melbourne CBD |
| Location(s) | |
| LGA(s) | City of Melbourne |
| Suburb(s) | Docklands, Melbourne CBD |
Bourke Street is one of the main streets in the Melbourne central business district and a core feature of the Hoddle Grid. It was traditionally the entertainment hub of inner-city Melbourne, and is now also a popular tourist destination and tram thoroughfare.
During the
Bourke Street is named for Irish-born British Army officer Sir Richard Bourke, who served as the Governor of New South Wales from 1831 and 1837 during the drafting of the Hoddle Grid.[2]
Geography
Bourke Street runs roughly from east to west and bisects the city centre along its long axis.[3] Bourke Street runs parallel between Little Collins Street to the south and Little Bourke Street to the north.
There are two primary stretches of Bourke Street, split by Southern Cross station: the historic city centre and the modern Docklands precinct. The city centre portion runs from Spring Street in the east (overlooked by Parliament House) to Spencer Street and Southern Cross station. The newer Docklands end continues on the other side of the station (which is only accessible to pedestrians) and finishes at its intersection with Collins Street further west.
History
Having been laid out as part of the Hoddle Grid in 1837, Bourke Street was considered "out of town" until the 1840s when the western end saw the opening of St Patrick's Hall, the first synagogue and the first public hospital. During the 1850s it gained a reputation as a busy thoroughfare popular as the centre for Saturday nightlife. As retail presence increased with department store Buckley & Nunn opening a succession of buildings in 1851 and rival Myer in 1911, the street was often compared to London's Oxford Street.
Melbourne's first theatre opened on Bourke Street as the Pavilion (1841), and by the late 1840s the east end was established as Melbourne's main entertainment zone. Theatres and public halls were complemented by billiard halls, cigar divans, rifle galleries, bowling alleys and sideshows. While the early evening crowd trod Bourke Street's pavements for entertainment or for show, the night-time street was also notorious for public disorder, fights, brothel touts and drinking and drunkenness.[1]
Cheap restaurants appeared from the 1870s, when Parer's Hotel and Crystal Tea Rooms[4] became a Melbourne institution, while the Café de Paris was a favourite literary and artistic meeting place. Twentieth-century restaurants such as Florentino's, Pellegrini's and the Society Café have become Melbourne institutions.[1]
The late 20th century onwards has resulted in office block developments, residential skyscrapers, the introduction of several shopping arcades and the Bourke Street Mall.
Mall
The Bourke Street Mall is a pedestrian and tram-only strip running between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets. The mall is Bourke Street's most famous feature and contains retail hubs like
Concepts for a Bourke Street Mall were drawn up as early as 1964 by
The mall received a major facelift in preparation for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and elevated tram super-stops were later installed.
In the January 2017 Melbourne car attack, a mentally ill person driving a sedan being pursued by the police deliberately drove the vehicle onto the footpath and ran over innocent bystanders at Bourke Street Mall. The crime claimed the lives of six people, including one baby and one child. Over twenty-five victims were hospitalised with injuries.[7]
The
In September 2023, a male drove through a tram stop, running over multiple bystanders before crashing into two cars at the Bourke/Russell Street Intersection, claiming the life of 1 individual and injuring several more. The male was arrested by police soon after the attack.[9]
Arcades
Many of Melbourne's famous arcades and shopping centres connect to Bourke Street, including:
- Melbourne's GPO, the former General Post Office, a boutique shopping arcade from 2004 until clothing company H&M took over as key tenant in 2014
- Royal Arcade, a heritage shopping arcade from 1869
- Strand Arcade
- Midcity Arcade
- Kmart Centre, formally Target Centre
- The Walk Arcade
- Centrepoint Shopping Centre
Events
The inaugural Myer Christmas Window display was in 1956, the year of the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics and became an annual tradition. Myer's shopfront windows are decorated in a different Christmas-themed display and are visited by around 1,000,000 children and their parents each December. The Myer Christmas Parade was an annual parade running down Bourke Street from Spring Street to the Myer windows. The parade was last held in 2010.
Skyscrapers
Bourke Street is a commercial zone lined by glass-paned skyscrapers, especially at its west end. Prominent skyscrapers include the National Australia Bank headquarters at 395 and 700 Bourke, 385 Bourke Street, Bourke Place, UniSuper, Marland House, National Bank House at 500 Bourke (former headquarters of NAB), AMP Square, Medibank at 720 Bourke, Channel Nine Melbourne and AGL Energy (atop Southern Cross station).
Transportation
In August 1887 the
Parliament railway station is located at the eastern end of Bourke Street near the corner of Spring Street and is part of the underground City Loop for the suburban rail network.
Cinemas
Bourke Street has played a historically significant part in Melbourne's cinema industry. It was home to the city's first permanent cinema (although this was initially established near
Bourke Street remained a centre for cinema-goers until quite recently. In 2005, the Hoyts cinema moved to larger premises at the
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Bourke Street". Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ "Melbourne's Streets & Lanes" (PDF). The Royal Historical Society of Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ^ "Untitled", Bay of Plenty Times, vol. XIV, no. 1804, p. 4, 21 February 1885
- ^ "Parer's Crystal Café & Hotel". 24 November 2017.
- ^ Bourke Street development, Frederick Romberg and Robin Boyd, 1964, courtesy Robin Boyd Foundation and Diane Masters. State Library of Victoria collection.
- Trolley Wireissue 175 April 1978 page 21
- Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ Pearson, Erin; Silvester, John; Fox Koob, Simone (9 November 2018). "Lone terrorist responsible for deadly attack on Bourke Street". The Age. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- ^ McMillan, Ashleigh (8 September 2023). "Driver arrested after one killed, four injured in CBD tram stop crash". The Age.
- ^ Quiet ride on a slow tram down Bourke st The Argus 23 June 1955 page 3
- ^ Trams Come to Bourke Street Trolley Wire issue 235 November 1988 pages 17-21
External links
- Bourke Street Mall – Official government tourism site