St Kilda, Victoria
Encyclopedia
St Kilda is an inner city
suburb of Melbourne
, Victoria
, Australia
, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district
. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip
. As of 2006 Census the population has 16,122 people.
St Kilda was named after a schooner
Lady of St Kilda
(which moored at the main beach for much of 1841) by Charles La Trobe
and the ship's master and early settler Lieutenant James Ross Lawrence.
During the Edwardian
and Victorian eras, St Kilda became a favoured suburb of Melbourne's elite, and many palatial mansions were constructed along its hills and waterfront. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, St Kilda served a similar function for Melburnians as did Coney Island
to the residents of New York City
and its history draws an interesting parallel. Densely populated postwar St Kilda became Melbourne's red-light district
, home to low-cost rooming houses
. Since the late 1960s
, St Kilda became known for its culture of bohemianism
as home to many prominent artists, musicians and subculture
s, including punks
, LGBT
and techno
scene. While some of these groups still maintain a presence in St Kilda, in recent years the district has experienced rapid gentrification
pushing many lower socio-economic groups out to other areas.
St Kilda is home to many of Melbourne's famous visitor attractions including Luna Park
, the Esplanade Hotel, Acland Street
and Fitzroy Street
. It is home to St Kilda Beach
, Melbourne's most famous beach, several renowned theatres and several of Melbourne's big events and festivals.
, who was superintendent of the Port Phillip District
of New South Wales
, the area was known by several names, including 'Green Knoll' and 'The Village of Fareham'. It was named after the schooner the Lady of St Kilda
, which was owned between 1834 and 1840 by Sir Thomas Acland. In 1840 Thomas Acland sold the vessel to Jonathan Cundy Pope of Plymouth who sailed for Port Phillip in Melbourne in February 1841. While there the vessel was moored at the main beach for most of that year, which was soon known as "the St. Kilda foreshore."
There was never a 'Saint' Kilda. The schooner "Lady of St. Kilda" was named in honor of Lady Grange
, who was imprisoned on the island of Hirta
, the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago
, on the western edge of Scotland
, by her husband in 1734-40. The World Heritage listed archipelago comprises several islands with dramatic sea cliffs up to 430 metres in height.
According to the United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre the name 'St Kilda' derives from Skildar, the Viking name for shields, reflecting the outline of the islands which resembled shields when viewed from the sea. Skildar was transcribed in error by Lucas Waghenaer in his 1592 charts without the trailing r and with a period after the S, creating S.Kilda. This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by other map makers, creating the form that has been used for several centuries, St Kilda.
Kulin
people lived in Euroe Yroke (the area now known as St Kilda) for up to 30,000 years. Evidence has been found of shellfish midden
s and huts along Albert Park and Lake
and axe
s which were most likely sharpened on the sandstone
cliffs behind the main beach. Corroboree
s where held at the historic tree which still stands at St Kilda Junction
, at the corner of Fitzroy Street and Queens Road. Much of the area north of present-day Fitzroy Street
was swampland, part of the Yarra River
Delta which comprised vast areas of wetlands and sparse vegetation.
The first European settler in St Kilda was Ben Baxter in around 1839. He was a settler from Melbourne on a grazing lease. In 1840, St Kilda was the home to Melbourne's first quarantine station for Scottish
immigrants.
The area was officially named St Kilda in 1841. The first sale of Crown lands in St. Kilda took place on 7 December 1842. The first block was bought by James Ross Lawrence, who had been master of the Lady of St Kilda until 1842. Lawrence had now settled in Melbourne. His block was bounded by three unmade roads. One of these roads he named Acland Street after Thomas Acland, who had been his employer until 1840 but who had never been to Port Phillip District. The remaining two became Fitzroy Street and The Esplanade. (A plaque at the junction of Acland and Fitzroy Streets marks the site of the block.) By 1845, Lawrence had subdivided and sold the land on which he had built a cottage. The land on the sea-side of The Esplanade has continued to be Crown land.
Within a few years, St Kilda became a fashionable area for wealthy settlers and the indigenous peoples were driven out to surrounding areas. The high ground above the beach offered a cool fresh breeze during Melbourne's hot summer months.
St Kilda became a separate municipality on 24 April 1857, and in the same year, the railway line and railway station connected St Kilda to Melbourne city and a loop line to Windsor. These railway lines brought many visitors to St Kilda and increased patronage to the privately run sea baths
, the jetty promenade and the St. Kilda Cup, cricket and bowling clubs were formed in 1855 and 1865. By the mid 1860s St. Kilda had about fifteen hotels including the George, formerly the Seaview (1857).
St. Kilda's population more than doubled between 1870 and 1890 to about 19,000 persons. During the Land Boom of the 1880s, St Kilda became a densely populated district of great stone mansions and palatial hotels, particularly along the seaside streets such as Fitzroy Street
, Grey Street
and Acland Street
the area once known as St Kilda Hill centred between Wellington Street, Alma Road, former High Street (incorporated as part of St Kilda Road) and Chapel Street. The Esplanade Hotel was built in 1878 overlooking St Kilda Beach and the George Hotel was built in 1889 at the railway terminus on Fitzroy Street, on the site of the Seaview hotel (1857).
The lower inland areas of St Kilda East
were not so wealthy and included many smaller, semi detached cottages, many constructed of timber. Much of the area which is now St Kilda West was swampland, but was reclaimed and subdivided in the 1870s.
Cable tram lines
were opened in 1888 and 1891 to run from the Melbourne central city area along St Kilda Road to St Kilda Junction
and then branch out along Wellington, High and Fitzroy Streets.
During the Depression of the 1890s, however, St Kilda began to decline. Many wealthy families had lost much of their fortunes and several of the large mansions were subdivided for apartment or boarding-house accommodation. After a cable tram line
was extended south from the Melbourne central city area, the seaside area became a popular entertainment precinct for Melbourne's working classes. Wealthy people moved to more exclusive suburbs such as Brighton
, South Yarra and Toorak
. From 1906, the Victorian Railways
operated their 'Electric Street Railway' from St Kilda to Brighton
.
Carlo Catani
, a native of Italy
, was Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department. He was contracted in 1906 to prepare a masterplan for the beautification of the St Kilda foreshore to Point Ormond. His plan resulted in the famous leisure precinct along the foreshore. Notable features included the Dreamland
amusement park, which existed between 1906 and 1909, the St Kilda Sea Baths
(1910), which replaced the 1862 "Gymnasium Baths", Luna Park
(1912), Palais de Danse (1926), the Palais Theatre
(1927), St Moritz Ice Rink (1939), and many others. Several landmarks along the foreshore have been named after Catani, including the clock tower, gardens and arch.
St Kilda grew as a centre for Melbourne's growing Jewish community and a growing Orthodox
community developed with a number of synagogue
s and schools. Cafe Scheherazade on Acland Street was for many years an icon to this community, however as the community moved eastwards to more affluent Caulfield
, it became of more historical interest, before finally shutting its doors and moving to Caulfield in 2008. There are still Jewish neighbourhoods in East St Kilda, mainly of older and more Orthodox people but the Jewish character of Acland Street
is no longer the dominant presence it had been once.
St Kilda's decline escalated after the Great Depression
and it became the growing focus of many of Melbourne's social issues
including crime, prostitution
and drug abuse
. Several cabaret venues emerged. Leo's Spaghetti bar and gelateria was opened for the Olympics in 1956 by an Italian migrant as one of Melbourne's first Italian restaurants and quickly became a Melbourne establishment.
St Kilda became one of the city's main areas of bohemianism
as well as one of the larger gay and lesbian
residential areas From 1965, Mirka Mora
's Tolarno Hotel became the focus of many of the local artists.
Trams were re-routed from Beaconsfield Parade in St Kilda West to terminate at Park Street. In 1968, the Palais de Danse, adjacent to the Palais was gutted by fire. The Palace nightclub was built in its place in 1971 and in 2007 was also gutted by fire and demolished.
In the late 1960s St Kilda Road was widened to create a Queens Way connection to Dandenong Road. The work required the demolition of hundreds of residential and commercial buildings including (including the landmark Junction Hotel) much of High Street, once considered St Kilda's centre. The widening also had the effect of creating a physical barrier between St Kilda's foreshore, civic area and eastern residential streets.
In 1981, the St Moritz ice rink was closed. Around 1984, it was destroyed by a spectacular fire.
, one of the first light rail
lines in Melbourne, terminating in Acland Street.
St Kilda also experience increased gentrification
during the 1990s, particularly popular with yuppies due to its proximity to the CBD. The increased cost of rentals led many long term residents to leave and removed much of the bohemian and artistic character of the area.
In 1991, the site formerly occupied by the St Moritz ice rink was reopened as the St Moritz hotel, which became the Novotel Bayside in 1993, then Novotel St Kilda in 1999.
Tim Costello
, when the mayor of St Kilda, worked closely with local social welfare groups between 1993 and 1994 to help clean up the city's streets. Combined with the legalisation of prostitution, St Kilda's streets were becoming safer. However, violence is almost a daily hazard for an estimated 400 street workers in St Kilda (2004) with the notorious Greeves St coming under heavy police presence after hours.
In mid-1998, Becton, new owners of the Esplanade Hotel announced its plan to build a 125 metre, 38-storey tower behind the historic hotel. The plans were later scaled down due to resident concerns.
On 11 September 2003, the St Kilda icon, the 99 year old pier kiosk
burned down in an arson attack. In a swift and overwhelming response to the loss, the government committed to its original plans using what remained of the original materials.
In 2004, Baymour Court, significant 1920s Spanish Mission
flats and hotel stables were demolished despite the campaigning of the National Trust of Victoria and The Esplanade Alliance as part of the commencement of hi-rise Esplanade apartment building.
For the 2006 Commonwealth Games
, St Kilda hosted an interpretive public art
work called, the Lady of St Kilda sculpture, a mock timber shipwreck
. The installation proved to be extraordinarily popular with locals and tourists and it was left erected for many months afterward. However, the sculpture was subject to vandals disassembling parts of it as well as concern for children's safety on the high unprotected bow of the "ship" so the local council removed it in November 2006.
The area adjacent to the Palais Theatre known as the Triangle Site, including the Palace music venue is the subject of a major re-development, first proposed in 2005. The proposals stipulated the restoration of the Palais Theatre, but controversially many advocated the demolition of the Palace, one of the area's main live music venues. To save the Palace, a legal battle ensued. Ironically, the Palace burned down spectacularly during an arson attack, and fears were held for the Palais. The winning development in 2007 plans a series of lanes, promenades and walkways rambling through eating and drinking spaces, art installations, entertainment venues, retail outlets and open grassy spaces. Further controversy over the new development was caused when the tenants who vacated the Palais illegally removed its 80 year old chandeliers.
In 2006, plans went out for a foreshore re-development, which included promenade widening and saw the demolition of the bicentennial pavilion which marked the land end of the St Kilda pier.
In 2006, the proposed development of a skate park and concrete urban plaza over parkland on Fitzroy Street next to the primary school at Albert Park caused significant local controversy. The council received a large number of objections. Alternative sites along the foreshore were ignored by council and all of the mature trees on the site were removed before the plans were presented for consultation.
In February 2008, the Port Phillip Council's approval of the proposed Triangle site development despite over 5,000 written objections (representing over a quarter of the population of St Kilda) caused an uproar in St Kilda which saw media attention across Victoria with local resident lobby groups including Save St Kilda and UnChain St Kilda banding thousands of residents together in protest and enlisting the help of celebrities including Dave Hughes, Magda Subzanski and Rachel Griffiths in their fight against the local council. The council had refused to allow a secret agreement between it, the developers and state government to be released which effectively allowed for the transfer of ownership of a large amount of crown land
to private owners. As well as the outrage over the sale of public land, many residents believed that the state government and council should have funded the restoration of the heritage Palais themselves rather than pass the costs on to the developers who had proposed a larger development to recover their own costs.
In May 2008, the skate park development was stopped by the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming that the council had acted inappropriately. A hearing was scheduled with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
. The mayor at the time, Janet Bolitho, was cited to have commented "the area would remain public open space - just maybe not green".
In December 2009, a new council elected to largely replace the councillors who approved the Triangle development voted almost unanimously to terminate the agreement with the developers, agreeing to pay them $5 million over a period of three years.
For many years, St Kilda has had the highest population density in the Melbourne statistical area, and the highest for a metropolitan area outside of Sydney. This density is reflected in the built form, which consists primarily of strata titled units, apartments and flats, including a single Housing Commission of Victoria
tower.
Despite migrationary
trends, St Kilda retains a small number of ethnic groups although like much of inner Melbourne, the community is largely multicultural
. There are restaurants and shops representing the cultures of Italy, Japan, China, India, France, Ireland, Vietnam, Thailand and also Egypt, as well as local and international cuisine. The suburb's previously large Jewish community has declined, but a large number of synagogue
s still function in the area, and the Jewish Museum of Australia
is located in Alma Road. An Italian Australian community has also been present in St Kilda for over a century, and a prominent member is Ron Barassi
. St Kilda has a large Irish
population. A growing French community has established in the area, which is the home of the Alliance Francaise
de Melbourne with several schools and art galleries. A small community from the former Soviet Union
has also established itself in the nearby area and there are several shops of this community in the Carlisle Street area. While Melbourne's Indigenous Australian population is relatively low, St Kilda has one of the larger indigenous communities and there are several rooming houses identifying with indigenous people.
. The National Theatre
(formerly the Victory) on the corner Barkly and Carlisle Streets is a Beaux Arts styled performing arts venue built in 1920 which is home to the oldest ballet
school in Australia (established 1939). The Palais Theatre
is located on the Esplanade and was built in 1927 to the design of Henry White as a cinema (formerly Palais Pictures). It is now used as a live music and concert venue. The Astor Theatre
on Chapel Street is a modern/art deco
styled cinema built in 1935 to the design of Ray Morton Taylor. It features the largest screen in southern hemisphere and operates as an arthouse cinema with its own year long film festival and private functions.
St Kilda is home to a large number of places of worship built over the years to serve primarily the Christian and Jewish faiths, although many of the churches have since been converted for other uses. The St Kilda Hebrew Congregation built between 1872 and 1880 in Charnwood Road was one of the earliest. The present building, diagonally opposite the original site (now a block of flats) but located in Charnwood Grove was consecrated on 13 March 1927.
The former Baptist Church, built in 1876 at 16 Crimea Street served as a masonic hall before being acquired by St Michael's Grammar School
. The St Kilda Parish Mission Uniting Church, built in 1877 on the corner Chapel and Carlisle Streets is notable for its polychromatic brick and slate roof design. St Kilda Presbyterian Church, built in 1878 on the corner of Alma Road and Barkly Street was designed by Wilson & Beswicke
architects. The Sacred Heart Church is a St Kilda landmark with its tall tower built on Grey Street in 1890 to the design of renowned colonial architect Reed
in partnership with Henderson & Smart architects. The former St Kilda Uniting Church on the corner Fitzroy and Princes Streets became part of an apartment complex in the late 1990s. The Holy Trinity Church built between 1882 and 1889 on the corner of Brighton Road and Dickens Street is another church by Reed
of Reed & Barnes. All Saints' Anglican Church, on the corner of Dandenong Road and Chapel Street, was designed by Nathaniel Billing with the foundation stone laid in 1858, becoming what is believed to be the largest Anglican parish church in the southern hemisphere, able to seat 1400 people, All Saints' is also known for its male choir which is the only parish church choir of its kind left in Australia. Other notable churches include the Christ Church Complex on the corner Acland Street and Church Square.
St Kilda has run Melbourne's first major arts and crafts market which has been run on the Esplanade every Sunday since the 1980s. It has been rivalled in Melbourne in recent years by the Southbank art and craft market on Southbank promenade.
St Kilda is also home to many major annual events. The largest of these is the St Kilda Festival
, which since 1980 has grown over recent years and now attracts over half a million young people to the area each year. St Kilda also hosts the annual gay Pride March, which starts at Lakeside Drive and heads down Fitzroy Street
to the Catani Gardens. St Kilda is also home to the many venues of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival
. Each year, the Community Cup
Festival celebrates grassroots Australian rules football
, attracting up to 23,000 spectators and raising money for local charity the Sacred Heart Mission which helps the homeless, a similar annual celebrity cricket match known as Batting for the Battlers is played at the Peanut Farm opposite Luna Park and attracts a crowd of up to 2,000. Other local events include the St Kilda Film Festival and St Kilda Writers Festival.
and its front-man Mark Seymour
. Members of The Birthday Party
lived here in the late 1970s
, when they were known under their previous name of The Boys Next Door. As have Paul Kelly
, Tex Perkins
, Fred Negro
, Rowland S. Howard
and dozens of other independent musicians. For all things related to the seedier and funnier sides of St Kilda music scene see Fred Negro
's 'Pub Strip'. Prominent local music venues include the Palace, (closing soon due to redevelopment unless the High Court says otherwise) the Palais theatre for larger concerts, the Esplanade Hotel, the Prince of Wales Hotel for larger gigs and DJ's (and backpackers), The George Public Bar on Saturday afternoons, the St Kilda Bowls Club, and The Greyhound - which picked up the local crowd, local bands, local bar staff and sticky carpet when The Esplanade Hotel (The Espy) kicked them out after 'suburbification' in the early noughties. The Greyhound has been undergoing a multi-million dollar redevelopment since 2008 which has seen live music make way for a predominantly Gay & Lesbian clientele, building upon the successful Saturday night drag shows that have been running at the venue for over 15 years.
St Kilda has very strong traditional links with Australian Football. The name St Kilda features in the national Australian Football League
with the St Kilda Football Club, known as the Saints. The team retains the name of its former home but has not actually played home games in St Kilda since 1964. The St Kilda area played a large role in the development of Australian Football. The St Kilda City Football Club of the Southern Football League
is based at the Peanut Farm. St Kilda also has Women's Australian rules football
team, the St Kilda Sharks, who won back-to-back Victorian Women's Football League
titles in 1998&99. Albert Park and Lake
reserve has a number of ovals which are home to Australian rules football clubs. These include the historic Junction Oval
which has in the past been a prominent VFL/AFL venue and more recently a training facility for the Melbourne Football Club
. Several amateur VAFA clubs also use the park for their home grounds including the Collegians Football Club (Harry Trott Oval), Powerhouse Football Club (Ross Gregory Oval) and Old Melburnians (Junction Oval) are based in the St Kilda section of Albert Park. The Community Cup was a popular community Australian rules event which was run for 14 years by the local Sacred Heart Mission which up until 2007 had drawn crowds of up to 23,000 spectators.
St Kilda also has a strong cricket
presence. The Junction Oval is home to the St Kilda Cricket Club
and occasionally the Victorian Bushrangers Cricket Club and was made famous as the debut venue of cricket great Shane Warne
. St Kilda has a wide range of other minor sports including the Collegians-X hockey
club, the St Kilda baseball
club, an ultimate disc club and several social soccer clubs.
St Kilda has a vibrant and popular Lawn Bowls scene which attracts younger players and has been popularised in film and television. The St Kilda Lawn Bowls Club on Fitzroy Street has a long history and retains its heritage clubhouse building as well as hosts many community events.
Many of the open water events of the 2007 World Aquatics Championships
were held at St Kilda beach. The 2006 Commonwealth Games
triathlon and cycling time trials were held along the foreshore, and the marathon passed through some of St Kilda's main streets. The annual Melbourne Marathon
also passes through St Kilda. St Kilda Beach is regularly used for state and international beach volleyball
tournaments.
, sailing
, kitesurfing
, rollerblading, beach volleyball
, jetskiing
, waterskiing and sunbathing. A skate park for the Fitzroy street end of Albert Park is in the planning stages.
St Kilda has many distinctive local landmarks, most centred around the St Kilda Esplanade and foreshore area, several featuring domes of a Moorish
architecture theme established at the turn of the century. Perhaps the best known is Luna Park
an early 20th century amusement park with its famous "Moonface" entry and its historic scenic railway.
The St Kilda Pier is another local landmark and major tourist attraction. The pier is terminated by the St Kilda Pavilion
, an eccentric Edwardian building in the mould of English pier pavilions which is considered of high cultural importance to Melburnians. It was recently reconstructed and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register after burning down. The pier has a long breakwater which shelters St Kilda Harbour and hosts a Fairy Penguin colony.
St Kilda Beach
, with gentle bay waves is popular with swimmers and sunbathers during the summer months. It is often criticised by locals and visitors alike for its pollution, but significant recent efforts have been made by government organisations to keep it clean.
The St Kilda Sea Baths
is a Moorish themed building was built in the late 1920s, and demolished in the 1990s
leaving only the front facade. It was redeveloped inkeeping with the original style and continues a history of sea baths in St Kilda which dates back to the 1850s.
Acland Street
is a shopping and restaurant precinct famous for its cake shops and cafes. It also features a number of public artworks.
St Kilda Town Hall
is an impressive building by William Pitt
. Directly opposite is the St Kilda Public Library, built between 1971-1973 at 150 Carlisle Street, it is a notable brutalist design by architect Enrico Taglietti, uniquely designed to open like a book. Also includes Ashton Raggatt McDougall
’s award winning extension (1994).
St Kilda is home to many "boom style" mansions, dating back to the early days of the seaside resort. Notable historic residences include Eildon Mansion
on Grey Street built in 1855 (later modified) to the design of Reed and Barnes is a significant grand old mansion. Hewison House built at 25 Chapel Street in 1869 is a former mansion that has become an administration building of St Michael's Grammar School
. Marion Terrace in Burnett Street was built in 1883 and is considered one of the finest Second Empire styled terrace houses in Australia. Myrnong Hall built in 1890 on Acland Street is a large Victorian mansion richly decorated in cast iron.
Notable Edwardian buildings include The Priory, built in 1890 at 61 Alma Road, it is one of the few Richardsonian Romanesque
homes in Melbourne, built as the boarding house for a ladies school, but now a private residence.
During the Interwar years, St Kilda was heavily subdivided into apartments. This era produced some outstanding early apartment designs including
Majestic Mansions on Fitzroy Street (1912) and The Canterbury flats built on Canterbury Road built between 1914 and 1919 to the design of H.W. & F.B. Tompkins is a notable mixture of Edwardian styles and are some of the earliest self-contained flats in Melbourne. Summerland Mansions built in 1920 on Fitzroy Street is another notable block in the "mansion flats" style, a style rare in Melbourne. Belmont Flats on the corner of Alma Road and Chapel Street was built in 1923, an outstanding blend of Arts and Crafts and Californian Bungalow influences applied to an apartment building, was built in 1923. Belvedere Flats at 22 Esplanade on the corner of Robe Street was built in 1929 and is a notable Spanish Mission
styled block of flats designed by William H. Merritt and has featured on The Secret Life of Us
. All of these buildings are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. A significant block of Spanish Mission flats, the Baymor Court, built in 1929 was demolished in November 2004 to make way for the Esplanade hi-rise apartment development.
St Kilda is also home to some notable contemporary residential designs. St Leonards Apartments in St Leonards Street is two blocks of post modern apartments built in 1996 to the design of Nonda Katsalidis
and is recognised with multiple RAIA
Victorian Architecture Awards
. Newman House on Canterbury Road was built in 2000 and became a pop architecture icon. The house was designed by Cassandra Fahey for local celebrity Sam Newman
featuring an image of Pamela Anderson
's face. Sam did not first obtain council
permission, however permits were issued retrospectively when it became a major local landmark and won the award for Best New Residential Building in the RAIA
Victorian Architecture awards. Newman no longer lives at the house.
St Kilda features many notable grand old hotels, some which still operate as licensed premises and others that function as accommodation, most of which are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The most famous is the Esplanade Hotel on the Esplanade. Built in 1878 and later modified, the Esplanade is an iconic pub and live music venue known by locals simply as the 'Espy'. The St Kilda Coffee Palace, built in the 1870s was once the St Kilda's main coffee palace
. It is now a busy backpackers hostel. The George Hotel built in 1887 on the corner of Fitzroy and Grey streets was also once a large coffee palace. In the 1990s, it was converted into studio apartments. Many of the interior and exterior features are in need of restoration. The Prince of Wales Hotel is another famous hotel which was built in 1940 in the moderne style on the site of the first Prince of Wales which was built in 1920. It has been used as a cabaret venue and is now another live music venue.
St Kilda is known for its many parks and gardens, many featuring combinations of the predominant Canary Island Date Palm
s, which are synonymous with the area and Californian Fan Palms
. Some of the notable gardens include St Kilda Botanic Gardens
on Blessington Street, which has heritage features and gates, a conservatory, rose garden, lake and sustainable Eco Centre building. The gardens were once surrounded by mansions, but was subject to unit development in the 1960s. The St Kilda Foreshore and Catani Arch are on Jacka Boulevarde, while the upper Esplanade reserve where the Sunday markets are held features the Catani Clock Tower, heritage toilets and vaults. The Catani Gardens which sit between the foreshore, Beaconsfield Parade and the Esplanade includes a War Memorial, Captain Cook statue and Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron Buildings. O'Donnell Gardens is adjacent to Luna Park on Acland Street and features an art-deco monument and tall palms. Alfred Square on the upper Esplanade has numerous war memorials, which include the South African War Memorial (1905) listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Albert Park is a large park which spans many suburbs, including St Kilda on Fitzroy Street and hosts a number of sporting fields and a recreational lake. The St Kilda Town Hall features a small public Victorian garden facing the corner of busy Brighton Road and Carlisle Street.
St Kilda is also home to one of Melbourne's few remaining Indigenous Australian
landmarks, the Corroboree Tree. The red gum eucalyptus
, estimated at being between four and seven hundred years old, is located next to Queens Road, close to the junction with Fitzroy Street. A plaque close to its base reads "Aboriginals of early settlement days congregated and held their ceremonies under and in the vicinity of this tree". These ceremonies celebrated important events, told traditional stories and promoted unity between communities, and are commonly known by the generic term, corroboree
, or ngargee in the local language. The site continued to be used, both for ceremonial purposes and as a fringe camp, for some years after British settlement in 1835, as is evidenced by Jacob Miller who told his son how he had witnessed the remnant Kulin
population "perform their dancing about the old tree" after moving into the area during the 1850s.
The "Veg Out" Community Gardens at the former St Kilda Bowling Club in the Peanut Farm reserve is another popular public garden. The gardens are primarily rented by residents of apartments in the area and offer local residents the opportunity to express themselves in a small plot of dirt, which results in many colourful artistic displays.
St Kilda is home to several schools, including secondary schools St Michael's Grammar School
, Christian Brothers College and primary schools St Kilda Primary School (on Brighton Road) and St Kilda Park Primary School (on Fitzroy Street in Albert Park) all of which have imposing heritage buildings on campus.
Past schools include St Kilda Grammar which closed at the turn of the century.
s and a dedicated light rail
line along the former St Kilda railway and terminates at the Metropol building - the former St Kilda railway station before integrating with the on-road system.
Tram
routes 96
from Bourke Street, tram 112
from Collins Street
and tram 16
from Swanston Street, all service St Kilda and are around 25 minutes from the city.
St Kilda also has water transport in the form of ferries
and private boating
. Williamstown Ferries operates a regular ferry
service running primarily between St Kilda and Williamstown
as well as operating services with to the Melbourne CBD with drop-off points at major tourist attractions which departs from St Kilda Pier. Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron
has a building at St Kilda harbour, which has berths for boats and yachts and the Squadron also operates the St Kilda Marina on Marine Parade, one of the first marinas in Melbourne and still very popular.
The Bayside Trail off-road
bicycle
network connects through St Kilda with an additional Copenhagen-style bicycle lane running along Fitzroy Street connecting Albert Park to the foreshore.
s cases are associated with St Kilda. Linda Stilwell was a 7 year old girl who was abducted
on 10 August 1968 from St Kilda Beach. The prime suspect is Derek Percy who has also been named by police as a suspect in the disappearance of the Beaumont children, and the Wanda Beach Murders
.
Adele Bailey was a 23 year old transsexual who disappeared from St Kilda in September 1978. Her remains were found in 1995 in a disused mineshaft near Bonnie Doon
.
Louise and Charmian Faulkner
also vanished from outside their Acland St flat on 26 April 1980 after getting into a ute
driven by an older Australian male.
Musicians
Entertainers
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Inner city
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suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne
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, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
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Australia
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, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district
Melbourne city centre
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. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip
City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....
. As of 2006 Census the population has 16,122 people.
St Kilda was named after a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Lady of St Kilda
Lady of St Kilda
The Lady of St Kilda was a schooner which served from 1834 before being shipwrecked at Tahiti after sailing from Sydney sometime shortly after 1843....
(which moored at the main beach for much of 1841) by Charles La Trobe
Charles La Trobe
Charles Joseph La Trobe was the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria .-Early life:La Trobe was born in London, the son of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, a family of Huguenot origin...
and the ship's master and early settler Lieutenant James Ross Lawrence.
During the Edwardian
Edwardian period
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period in the United Kingdom is the period covering the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910.The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 and the succession of her son Edward marked the end of the Victorian era...
and Victorian eras, St Kilda became a favoured suburb of Melbourne's elite, and many palatial mansions were constructed along its hills and waterfront. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, St Kilda served a similar function for Melburnians as did Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
to the residents of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and its history draws an interesting parallel. Densely populated postwar St Kilda became Melbourne's red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
, home to low-cost rooming houses
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
. Since the late 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, St Kilda became known for its culture of bohemianism
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
as home to many prominent artists, musicians and subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
s, including punks
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
, LGBT
LGBT culture
LGBT culture, is the common culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It is sometimes also referred to as Queer culture. The term gay culture, though not synonymous, is sometimes also used though this may also apply specifically to the culture of homosexual men.LGBT...
and techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
scene. While some of these groups still maintain a presence in St Kilda, in recent years the district has experienced rapid gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
pushing many lower socio-economic groups out to other areas.
St Kilda is home to many of Melbourne's famous visitor attractions including Luna Park
Luna Park, Melbourne
For other amusement parks of the same name, see Luna Park; for other uses of the phrase, see Luna Park Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia...
, the Esplanade Hotel, Acland Street
Acland Street, Melbourne
Acland Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
and Fitzroy Street
Fitzroy Street, Melbourne
Fitzroy Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
. It is home to St Kilda Beach
St Kilda Beach, Victoria
St Kilda Beach is a beach located in St Kilda, Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, south from the Melbourne city centre. It is Melbourne's most famous beach. The beach is a sandy beach about long between St Kilda Marina and St Kilda Harbour along St Kilda Esplanade and Jacka Boulavard...
, Melbourne's most famous beach, several renowned theatres and several of Melbourne's big events and festivals.
Name
Before being officially named St Kilda in 1841 by Charles La TrobeCharles La Trobe
Charles Joseph La Trobe was the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria .-Early life:La Trobe was born in London, the son of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, a family of Huguenot origin...
, who was superintendent of the Port Phillip District
Port Phillip District
The Port Phillip District was an historical administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales, existing from September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria....
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, the area was known by several names, including 'Green Knoll' and 'The Village of Fareham'. It was named after the schooner the Lady of St Kilda
Lady of St Kilda
The Lady of St Kilda was a schooner which served from 1834 before being shipwrecked at Tahiti after sailing from Sydney sometime shortly after 1843....
, which was owned between 1834 and 1840 by Sir Thomas Acland. In 1840 Thomas Acland sold the vessel to Jonathan Cundy Pope of Plymouth who sailed for Port Phillip in Melbourne in February 1841. While there the vessel was moored at the main beach for most of that year, which was soon known as "the St. Kilda foreshore."
There was never a 'Saint' Kilda. The schooner "Lady of St. Kilda" was named in honor of Lady Grange
Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange
Rachel Chiesley, usually known as Lady Grange , was the wife of James Erskine, Lord Grange, a Scottish lawyer with Jacobite sympathies. After 25 years of marriage and 9 children, the Granges had an acrimonious separation...
, who was imprisoned on the island of Hirta
Hirta
Hirta is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, on the western edge of Scotland. The name "Hiort" and "Hirta" have also been applied to the entire archipelago.-Geography:...
, the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago
St Kilda, Scotland
St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...
, on the western edge of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, by her husband in 1734-40. The World Heritage listed archipelago comprises several islands with dramatic sea cliffs up to 430 metres in height.
According to the United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre the name 'St Kilda' derives from Skildar, the Viking name for shields, reflecting the outline of the islands which resembled shields when viewed from the sea. Skildar was transcribed in error by Lucas Waghenaer in his 1592 charts without the trailing r and with a period after the S, creating S.Kilda. This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by other map makers, creating the form that has been used for several centuries, St Kilda.
History
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
people lived in Euroe Yroke (the area now known as St Kilda) for up to 30,000 years. Evidence has been found of shellfish midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
s and huts along Albert Park and Lake
Albert Park and Lake
Albert Park and Albert Park Lake are situated in the City of Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of the Melbourne CBD....
and axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
s which were most likely sharpened on the sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
cliffs behind the main beach. Corroboree
Corroboree
A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting of Australian Aborigines. The word was coined by the European settlers of Australia in imitation of the Aboriginal word caribberie. At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the...
s where held at the historic tree which still stands at St Kilda Junction
St Kilda Junction
St Kilda Junction is one of the most notorious intersections in Melbourne, Australia. It is located in the suburb of St Kilda, and bordering Windsor, Melbourne and St Kilda East, and is the meeting point of the major roads Punt Road, St Kilda Road, Dandenong Road/Queens Way/Princes Highway and...
, at the corner of Fitzroy Street and Queens Road. Much of the area north of present-day Fitzroy Street
Fitzroy Street, Melbourne
Fitzroy Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
was swampland, part of the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
Delta which comprised vast areas of wetlands and sparse vegetation.
The first European settler in St Kilda was Ben Baxter in around 1839. He was a settler from Melbourne on a grazing lease. In 1840, St Kilda was the home to Melbourne's first quarantine station for Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
immigrants.
The area was officially named St Kilda in 1841. The first sale of Crown lands in St. Kilda took place on 7 December 1842. The first block was bought by James Ross Lawrence, who had been master of the Lady of St Kilda until 1842. Lawrence had now settled in Melbourne. His block was bounded by three unmade roads. One of these roads he named Acland Street after Thomas Acland, who had been his employer until 1840 but who had never been to Port Phillip District. The remaining two became Fitzroy Street and The Esplanade. (A plaque at the junction of Acland and Fitzroy Streets marks the site of the block.) By 1845, Lawrence had subdivided and sold the land on which he had built a cottage. The land on the sea-side of The Esplanade has continued to be Crown land.
Within a few years, St Kilda became a fashionable area for wealthy settlers and the indigenous peoples were driven out to surrounding areas. The high ground above the beach offered a cool fresh breeze during Melbourne's hot summer months.
St Kilda became a separate municipality on 24 April 1857, and in the same year, the railway line and railway station connected St Kilda to Melbourne city and a loop line to Windsor. These railway lines brought many visitors to St Kilda and increased patronage to the privately run sea baths
St Kilda Sea Baths
The St Kilda Sea Baths are sea baths on St Kilda Beach in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The first sea baths were opened in 1860 and rebuilt in 1910 to replace the 1862 "Gymnasium Baths" and have been rebuilt several times since. They closed in 1993, leaving only the front facade.-History:Until the...
, the jetty promenade and the St. Kilda Cup, cricket and bowling clubs were formed in 1855 and 1865. By the mid 1860s St. Kilda had about fifteen hotels including the George, formerly the Seaview (1857).
Land Boom
Fitzroy Street, Melbourne
Fitzroy Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
, Grey Street
Grey Street, Melbourne
There are 14 Grey Streets in metropolitan Melbourne, but by far the best-known is Grey Street in St Kilda, once a grand residential street but now with a reputation as a centre of prostitution....
and Acland Street
Acland Street, Melbourne
Acland Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
the area once known as St Kilda Hill centred between Wellington Street, Alma Road, former High Street (incorporated as part of St Kilda Road) and Chapel Street. The Esplanade Hotel was built in 1878 overlooking St Kilda Beach and the George Hotel was built in 1889 at the railway terminus on Fitzroy Street, on the site of the Seaview hotel (1857).
The lower inland areas of St Kilda East
St Kilda East, Victoria
St Kilda East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is located within the Local Government Areas of the City of Glen Eira and the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, it had a population of 12,188.St Kilda East is one...
were not so wealthy and included many smaller, semi detached cottages, many constructed of timber. Much of the area which is now St Kilda West was swampland, but was reclaimed and subdivided in the 1870s.
Cable tram lines
Melbourne cable tramway system
The Melbourne cable tramway system was a cable car public transportation system operated from 1885 to 1940 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
were opened in 1888 and 1891 to run from the Melbourne central city area along St Kilda Road to St Kilda Junction
St Kilda Junction
St Kilda Junction is one of the most notorious intersections in Melbourne, Australia. It is located in the suburb of St Kilda, and bordering Windsor, Melbourne and St Kilda East, and is the meeting point of the major roads Punt Road, St Kilda Road, Dandenong Road/Queens Way/Princes Highway and...
and then branch out along Wellington, High and Fitzroy Streets.
Seaside playground
Melbourne cable tramway system
The Melbourne cable tramway system was a cable car public transportation system operated from 1885 to 1940 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
was extended south from the Melbourne central city area, the seaside area became a popular entertainment precinct for Melbourne's working classes. Wealthy people moved to more exclusive suburbs such as Brighton
Brighton, Victoria
Brighton is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Brighton had a population of 20,651...
, South Yarra and Toorak
Toorak, Victoria
Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district located on a rise on the south side of a bend in the Yarra River. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington...
. From 1906, the Victorian Railways
Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways operated railways in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations...
operated their 'Electric Street Railway' from St Kilda to Brighton
Brighton, Victoria
Brighton is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Brighton had a population of 20,651...
.
Carlo Catani
Carlo Catani
Carlo Giorgio Domenico Enrico Catani was a civil engineer who worked in Australia for the Victorian Government for the majority of his career.He oversaw many projects, including:*the draining of the Koo-Wee-Rup swamp...
, a native of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, was Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department. He was contracted in 1906 to prepare a masterplan for the beautification of the St Kilda foreshore to Point Ormond. His plan resulted in the famous leisure precinct along the foreshore. Notable features included the Dreamland
Dreamland (Melbourne amusement park)
Dreamland was an Australian amusement park in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which was opened on 2 November 1906. It was demolished in 1909, except for the Figure Eight rollercoaster which remained open until 1914. - History :...
amusement park, which existed between 1906 and 1909, the St Kilda Sea Baths
St Kilda Sea Baths
The St Kilda Sea Baths are sea baths on St Kilda Beach in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The first sea baths were opened in 1860 and rebuilt in 1910 to replace the 1862 "Gymnasium Baths" and have been rebuilt several times since. They closed in 1993, leaving only the front facade.-History:Until the...
(1910), which replaced the 1862 "Gymnasium Baths", Luna Park
Luna Park, Melbourne
For other amusement parks of the same name, see Luna Park; for other uses of the phrase, see Luna Park Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia...
(1912), Palais de Danse (1926), the Palais Theatre
Palais Theatre
The Palais Theatre is a former cinema, now functioning exclusively as a concert venue, located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of 2,896 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia....
(1927), St Moritz Ice Rink (1939), and many others. Several landmarks along the foreshore have been named after Catani, including the clock tower, gardens and arch.
St Kilda grew as a centre for Melbourne's growing Jewish community and a growing Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
community developed with a number of synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s and schools. Cafe Scheherazade on Acland Street was for many years an icon to this community, however as the community moved eastwards to more affluent Caulfield
Caulfield, Victoria
Caulfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira...
, it became of more historical interest, before finally shutting its doors and moving to Caulfield in 2008. There are still Jewish neighbourhoods in East St Kilda, mainly of older and more Orthodox people but the Jewish character of Acland Street
Acland Street, Melbourne
Acland Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
is no longer the dominant presence it had been once.
Further decline
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and it became the growing focus of many of Melbourne's social issues
Social issues
Social issues are controversial issues which relate to people's personal lives and interactions. Social issues are distinguished from economic issues...
including crime, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
. Several cabaret venues emerged. Leo's Spaghetti bar and gelateria was opened for the Olympics in 1956 by an Italian migrant as one of Melbourne's first Italian restaurants and quickly became a Melbourne establishment.
St Kilda became one of the city's main areas of bohemianism
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
as well as one of the larger gay and lesbian
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
residential areas From 1965, Mirka Mora
Mirka Mora
Mirka Mora is a prominent French-born Australian Visual artist who has contributed significantly to the development of Contemporary Art in Australia. Her mediums include painting, sculpture and mosaics.- Early life :...
's Tolarno Hotel became the focus of many of the local artists.
Trams were re-routed from Beaconsfield Parade in St Kilda West to terminate at Park Street. In 1968, the Palais de Danse, adjacent to the Palais was gutted by fire. The Palace nightclub was built in its place in 1971 and in 2007 was also gutted by fire and demolished.
In the late 1960s St Kilda Road was widened to create a Queens Way connection to Dandenong Road. The work required the demolition of hundreds of residential and commercial buildings including (including the landmark Junction Hotel) much of High Street, once considered St Kilda's centre. The widening also had the effect of creating a physical barrier between St Kilda's foreshore, civic area and eastern residential streets.
In 1981, the St Moritz ice rink was closed. Around 1984, it was destroyed by a spectacular fire.
Gentrification
In 1987, the St Kilda railway line was closed, rationalised and re-opened to become part of route 96Melbourne tram route 96
Melbourne tram route 96 is a public transport tram and light rail route in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.It is one of Melbourne's busiest tram route carrying 39,700 passengers a day with a frequency of every 10 minutes or less during peak...
, one of the first light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
lines in Melbourne, terminating in Acland Street.
St Kilda also experience increased gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
during the 1990s, particularly popular with yuppies due to its proximity to the CBD. The increased cost of rentals led many long term residents to leave and removed much of the bohemian and artistic character of the area.
In 1991, the site formerly occupied by the St Moritz ice rink was reopened as the St Moritz hotel, which became the Novotel Bayside in 1993, then Novotel St Kilda in 1999.
Tim Costello
Tim Costello
Timothy Ewen Costello AO is a prominent Baptist minister and current CEO of World Vision Australia.He is an "Australian Living Treasure". He is the brother of former treasurer of Australia and Federal Member for Higgins Peter Costello....
, when the mayor of St Kilda, worked closely with local social welfare groups between 1993 and 1994 to help clean up the city's streets. Combined with the legalisation of prostitution, St Kilda's streets were becoming safer. However, violence is almost a daily hazard for an estimated 400 street workers in St Kilda (2004) with the notorious Greeves St coming under heavy police presence after hours.
In mid-1998, Becton, new owners of the Esplanade Hotel announced its plan to build a 125 metre, 38-storey tower behind the historic hotel. The plans were later scaled down due to resident concerns.
On 11 September 2003, the St Kilda icon, the 99 year old pier kiosk
St Kilda Pavilion
The St Kilda Pavilion is a historic kiosk located at the end of St Kilda Pier, in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The kiosk was designed by James Charles Morell and built in 1904 by John W. Douglas. The kiosk was proposed and operated by Francis Parer. Until the 1930s the structure was widely...
burned down in an arson attack. In a swift and overwhelming response to the loss, the government committed to its original plans using what remained of the original materials.
In 2004, Baymour Court, significant 1920s Spanish Mission
Mission Revival Style architecture
The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century for a colonial style's revivalism and reinterpretation, which drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California....
flats and hotel stables were demolished despite the campaigning of the National Trust of Victoria and The Esplanade Alliance as part of the commencement of hi-rise Esplanade apartment building.
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
, St Kilda hosted an interpretive public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
work called, the Lady of St Kilda sculpture, a mock timber shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
. The installation proved to be extraordinarily popular with locals and tourists and it was left erected for many months afterward. However, the sculpture was subject to vandals disassembling parts of it as well as concern for children's safety on the high unprotected bow of the "ship" so the local council removed it in November 2006.
The area adjacent to the Palais Theatre known as the Triangle Site, including the Palace music venue is the subject of a major re-development, first proposed in 2005. The proposals stipulated the restoration of the Palais Theatre, but controversially many advocated the demolition of the Palace, one of the area's main live music venues. To save the Palace, a legal battle ensued. Ironically, the Palace burned down spectacularly during an arson attack, and fears were held for the Palais. The winning development in 2007 plans a series of lanes, promenades and walkways rambling through eating and drinking spaces, art installations, entertainment venues, retail outlets and open grassy spaces. Further controversy over the new development was caused when the tenants who vacated the Palais illegally removed its 80 year old chandeliers.
In 2006, plans went out for a foreshore re-development, which included promenade widening and saw the demolition of the bicentennial pavilion which marked the land end of the St Kilda pier.
In 2006, the proposed development of a skate park and concrete urban plaza over parkland on Fitzroy Street next to the primary school at Albert Park caused significant local controversy. The council received a large number of objections. Alternative sites along the foreshore were ignored by council and all of the mature trees on the site were removed before the plans were presented for consultation.
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
to private owners. As well as the outrage over the sale of public land, many residents believed that the state government and council should have funded the restoration of the heritage Palais themselves rather than pass the costs on to the developers who had proposed a larger development to recover their own costs.
In May 2008, the skate park development was stopped by the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming that the council had acted inappropriately. A hearing was scheduled with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is a government agency in the state of Victoria, Australia. The name is pronounced 'vee-cat'...
. The mayor at the time, Janet Bolitho, was cited to have commented "the area would remain public open space - just maybe not green".
In December 2009, a new council elected to largely replace the councillors who approved the Triangle development voted almost unanimously to terminate the agreement with the developers, agreeing to pay them $5 million over a period of three years.
Demography
Today, St Kilda is an area of sharp social contrast, with many homeless and other disadvantaged people living among the wealthy and fashionable who crowd its shops and cafes. The suburb is noted for its many itinerant backpackers, but also for its many long-term permanent residents.For many years, St Kilda has had the highest population density in the Melbourne statistical area, and the highest for a metropolitan area outside of Sydney. This density is reflected in the built form, which consists primarily of strata titled units, apartments and flats, including a single Housing Commission of Victoria
Housing Commission of Victoria
The Housing Commission of Victoria was a State Government body responsible for public housing in Victoria, Australia...
tower.
Despite migrationary
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
trends, St Kilda retains a small number of ethnic groups although like much of inner Melbourne, the community is largely multicultural
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
. There are restaurants and shops representing the cultures of Italy, Japan, China, India, France, Ireland, Vietnam, Thailand and also Egypt, as well as local and international cuisine. The suburb's previously large Jewish community has declined, but a large number of synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s still function in the area, and the Jewish Museum of Australia
Jewish Museum of Australia
The Jewish Museum of Australia is a community museum, which aims to explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia and benefit Australia's diverse society...
is located in Alma Road. An Italian Australian community has also been present in St Kilda for over a century, and a prominent member is Ron Barassi
Ron Barassi
Ronald Dale Barassi, Jr AM is a former Australian rules football player and coach. During a long and decorated career, Barassi has been one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football. His father, Ron Barassi, Sr., was the first Australian footballer killed at Tobruk during...
. St Kilda has a large Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
population. A growing French community has established in the area, which is the home of the Alliance Francaise
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
de Melbourne with several schools and art galleries. A small community from the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
has also established itself in the nearby area and there are several shops of this community in the Carlisle Street area. While Melbourne's Indigenous Australian population is relatively low, St Kilda has one of the larger indigenous communities and there are several rooming houses identifying with indigenous people.
Culture
St Kilda has a unique artists culture, and is also home to many high profile local events.Theatre and cinema
St Kilda has three main theatres, each catering to a different niche use, all are listed on the Victorian Heritage RegisterVictorian Heritage Register
The Victorian Heritage Register lists places of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 1995 which establishes Heritage Victoria as the permit authority...
. The National Theatre
National Theatre, Melbourne
The National Theatre is a 783 seat Australian theatre and theatrical arts school located in the Melbourne bayside suburb of St Kilda, on the corner of Barkly and Carlisle Streets...
(formerly the Victory) on the corner Barkly and Carlisle Streets is a Beaux Arts styled performing arts venue built in 1920 which is home to the oldest ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
school in Australia (established 1939). The Palais Theatre
Palais Theatre
The Palais Theatre is a former cinema, now functioning exclusively as a concert venue, located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of 2,896 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia....
is located on the Esplanade and was built in 1927 to the design of Henry White as a cinema (formerly Palais Pictures). It is now used as a live music and concert venue. The Astor Theatre
The Astor Theatre
The Astor Theatre is a classic, single-screen cinema located in the inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, that has a long and illustrious history....
on Chapel Street is a modern/art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
styled cinema built in 1935 to the design of Ray Morton Taylor. It features the largest screen in southern hemisphere and operates as an arthouse cinema with its own year long film festival and private functions.
Places of worship
The former Baptist Church, built in 1876 at 16 Crimea Street served as a masonic hall before being acquired by St Michael's Grammar School
St Michael's Grammar School
St Michael's Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.The school was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and is associated with the Anglican Church of Australia. St Michael's is located on a single campus, its...
. The St Kilda Parish Mission Uniting Church, built in 1877 on the corner Chapel and Carlisle Streets is notable for its polychromatic brick and slate roof design. St Kilda Presbyterian Church, built in 1878 on the corner of Alma Road and Barkly Street was designed by Wilson & Beswicke
John Beswicke
John Beswicke was an architect and licensed surveyor operating in Melbourne between 1882 and 1915. He was apprenticed to the firm Crouch and Wilson at age 16, where he continued to work for 18 years, finishing as head assistant. On January 2, 1882 Ralph Wilson and John Beswicke formed the...
architects. The Sacred Heart Church is a St Kilda landmark with its tall tower built on Grey Street in 1890 to the design of renowned colonial architect Reed
Joseph Reed (architect)
Joseph Reed , a Cornishman by birth, was probably the most influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established a practice, Reed and Barnes in Melbourne in 1852. The practice now known as Bates Smart is one of the oldest continually operating in the world.Reed's buildings...
in partnership with Henderson & Smart architects. The former St Kilda Uniting Church on the corner Fitzroy and Princes Streets became part of an apartment complex in the late 1990s. The Holy Trinity Church built between 1882 and 1889 on the corner of Brighton Road and Dickens Street is another church by Reed
Joseph Reed (architect)
Joseph Reed , a Cornishman by birth, was probably the most influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established a practice, Reed and Barnes in Melbourne in 1852. The practice now known as Bates Smart is one of the oldest continually operating in the world.Reed's buildings...
of Reed & Barnes. All Saints' Anglican Church, on the corner of Dandenong Road and Chapel Street, was designed by Nathaniel Billing with the foundation stone laid in 1858, becoming what is believed to be the largest Anglican parish church in the southern hemisphere, able to seat 1400 people, All Saints' is also known for its male choir which is the only parish church choir of its kind left in Australia. Other notable churches include the Christ Church Complex on the corner Acland Street and Church Square.
Events and Festivals
St Kilda is also home to many major annual events. The largest of these is the St Kilda Festival
St Kilda Festival
The St Kilda Festival is a popular community festival held in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda. Traditionally held on the second Sunday in February, the festival is about showcasing live Australian music, family and children's entertainment, beach activities and much more all presented in a...
, which since 1980 has grown over recent years and now attracts over half a million young people to the area each year. St Kilda also hosts the annual gay Pride March, which starts at Lakeside Drive and heads down Fitzroy Street
Fitzroy Street, Melbourne
Fitzroy Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
to the Catani Gardens. St Kilda is also home to the many venues of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Melbourne Underground Film Festival
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival...
. Each year, the Community Cup
Community Cup
The Community Cup is an annual charity event held in Melbourne which features an Australian rules football match. It is noted for its cult following, celebrity appearances and media profile....
Festival celebrates grassroots Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, attracting up to 23,000 spectators and raising money for local charity the Sacred Heart Mission which helps the homeless, a similar annual celebrity cricket match known as Batting for the Battlers is played at the Peanut Farm opposite Luna Park and attracts a crowd of up to 2,000. Other local events include the St Kilda Film Festival and St Kilda Writers Festival.
Music
St Kilda has a vibrant local music scene that has produced many Australian live music acts. One of the more famous of these is legendary rock band Hunters & CollectorsHunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk...
and its front-man Mark Seymour
Mark Seymour
Mark Seymour is an Australian musician and vocalist best known for his work as the frontman and songwriter of rock band Hunters & Collectors...
. Members of The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
lived here in the late 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, when they were known under their previous name of The Boys Next Door. As have Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
, Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
, Fred Negro
Fred Negro
Fred Negro is an Australian satirist, musician, songwriter, and cartoonist born in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, in 1959...
, Rowland S. Howard
Rowland S. Howard
Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, he played electric guitar in the post-punk group The Birthday Party. Howard died of liver cancer in December 2009, aged 50 years....
and dozens of other independent musicians. For all things related to the seedier and funnier sides of St Kilda music scene see Fred Negro
Fred Negro
Fred Negro is an Australian satirist, musician, songwriter, and cartoonist born in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, in 1959...
's 'Pub Strip'. Prominent local music venues include the Palace, (closing soon due to redevelopment unless the High Court says otherwise) the Palais theatre for larger concerts, the Esplanade Hotel, the Prince of Wales Hotel for larger gigs and DJ's (and backpackers), The George Public Bar on Saturday afternoons, the St Kilda Bowls Club, and The Greyhound - which picked up the local crowd, local bands, local bar staff and sticky carpet when The Esplanade Hotel (The Espy) kicked them out after 'suburbification' in the early noughties. The Greyhound has been undergoing a multi-million dollar redevelopment since 2008 which has seen live music make way for a predominantly Gay & Lesbian clientele, building upon the successful Saturday night drag shows that have been running at the venue for over 15 years.
Sport
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
with the St Kilda Football Club, known as the Saints. The team retains the name of its former home but has not actually played home games in St Kilda since 1964. The St Kilda area played a large role in the development of Australian Football. The St Kilda City Football Club of the Southern Football League
Southern Football League (Victoria)
The Southern Football League is an Australian rules football league, based in the south and south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, for both seniors and juniors....
is based at the Peanut Farm. St Kilda also has Women's Australian rules football
Women's Australian rules football
Women's Australian rules football is a fast growing sport played at senior level in Australia, United States, England, New Zealand, Canada and Japan. At junior level, it is also played in Papua New Guinea, Argentina and South Africa...
team, the St Kilda Sharks, who won back-to-back Victorian Women's Football League
Victorian Women's Football League
The Victorian Women's Football League is the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 22 clubs and 30 teams from Victoria, Australia across four divisions and a total of over 1,000 players....
titles in 1998&99. Albert Park and Lake
Albert Park and Lake
Albert Park and Albert Park Lake are situated in the City of Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of the Melbourne CBD....
reserve has a number of ovals which are home to Australian rules football clubs. These include the historic Junction Oval
Junction Oval
The Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...
which has in the past been a prominent VFL/AFL venue and more recently a training facility for the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
. Several amateur VAFA clubs also use the park for their home grounds including the Collegians Football Club (Harry Trott Oval), Powerhouse Football Club (Ross Gregory Oval) and Old Melburnians (Junction Oval) are based in the St Kilda section of Albert Park. The Community Cup was a popular community Australian rules event which was run for 14 years by the local Sacred Heart Mission which up until 2007 had drawn crowds of up to 23,000 spectators.
St Kilda also has a strong cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
presence. The Junction Oval is home to the St Kilda Cricket Club
St Kilda Cricket Club
St Kilda Cricket Club is a cricket club in the elite club competition of Melbourne, Australia, known as Victorian Premier Cricket.Its home ground is the St Kilda Cricket Ground, often called the Junction Oval.-History:...
and occasionally the Victorian Bushrangers Cricket Club and was made famous as the debut venue of cricket great Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
. St Kilda has a wide range of other minor sports including the Collegians-X hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
club, the St Kilda baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
club, an ultimate disc club and several social soccer clubs.
St Kilda has a vibrant and popular Lawn Bowls scene which attracts younger players and has been popularised in film and television. The St Kilda Lawn Bowls Club on Fitzroy Street has a long history and retains its heritage clubhouse building as well as hosts many community events.
Many of the open water events of the 2007 World Aquatics Championships
2007 World Aquatics Championships
The 2007 World Aquatics Championships or the XII FINA World Championships were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007...
were held at St Kilda beach. The 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
triathlon and cycling time trials were held along the foreshore, and the marathon passed through some of St Kilda's main streets. The annual Melbourne Marathon
Melbourne Marathon
The Melbourne Marathon has been held every year from 1978. It is run over the traditional marathon distance. . The Race celebrated its 30th birthday in 2007 with a new course which featured the Melbourne Cricket Ground as both the starting point and finishing point. 3328 competitors completed the...
also passes through St Kilda. St Kilda Beach is regularly used for state and international beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
tournaments.
Recreation and leisure
Recreation on St Kilda beaches includes most watersports, including windsurfingWindsurfing
Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...
, sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, kitesurfing
Kitesurfing
Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding is an adventure surface water sport that has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. Kitesurfing harnesses the power of the wind to propel a rider across the water on a small surfboard or a...
, rollerblading, beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
, jetskiing
Personal water craft
A personal water craft , also called water scooter, is a recreational watercraft that the rider rides or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat....
, waterskiing and sunbathing. A skate park for the Fitzroy street end of Albert Park is in the planning stages.
Local landmarks
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
architecture theme established at the turn of the century. Perhaps the best known is Luna Park
Luna Park, Melbourne
For other amusement parks of the same name, see Luna Park; for other uses of the phrase, see Luna Park Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia...
an early 20th century amusement park with its famous "Moonface" entry and its historic scenic railway.
The St Kilda Pier is another local landmark and major tourist attraction. The pier is terminated by the St Kilda Pavilion
St Kilda Pavilion
The St Kilda Pavilion is a historic kiosk located at the end of St Kilda Pier, in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The kiosk was designed by James Charles Morell and built in 1904 by John W. Douglas. The kiosk was proposed and operated by Francis Parer. Until the 1930s the structure was widely...
, an eccentric Edwardian building in the mould of English pier pavilions which is considered of high cultural importance to Melburnians. It was recently reconstructed and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register after burning down. The pier has a long breakwater which shelters St Kilda Harbour and hosts a Fairy Penguin colony.
St Kilda Beach
St Kilda Beach, Victoria
St Kilda Beach is a beach located in St Kilda, Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, south from the Melbourne city centre. It is Melbourne's most famous beach. The beach is a sandy beach about long between St Kilda Marina and St Kilda Harbour along St Kilda Esplanade and Jacka Boulavard...
, with gentle bay waves is popular with swimmers and sunbathers during the summer months. It is often criticised by locals and visitors alike for its pollution, but significant recent efforts have been made by government organisations to keep it clean.
The St Kilda Sea Baths
St Kilda Sea Baths
The St Kilda Sea Baths are sea baths on St Kilda Beach in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The first sea baths were opened in 1860 and rebuilt in 1910 to replace the 1862 "Gymnasium Baths" and have been rebuilt several times since. They closed in 1993, leaving only the front facade.-History:Until the...
is a Moorish themed building was built in the late 1920s, and demolished in the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
leaving only the front facade. It was redeveloped inkeeping with the original style and continues a history of sea baths in St Kilda which dates back to the 1850s.
Acland Street
Acland Street, Melbourne
Acland Street is a street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which enjoys great popularity as a recreational area, mainly due to its many restaurants and its proximity to the entertainment areas along St Kilda beach...
is a shopping and restaurant precinct famous for its cake shops and cafes. It also features a number of public artworks.
St Kilda Town Hall
St Kilda Town Hall
St Kilda Town Hall is a city hall in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.-Architecture:The design by local architect William Pitt in the Classical Revival style. It was built in 1890. Pitt's grand vision for the town hall was never completed...
is an impressive building by William Pitt
William Pitt (architect)
William Pitt born in Melbourne was an architect, public servant and politician working in Victoria, Australia in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th century....
. Directly opposite is the St Kilda Public Library, built between 1971-1973 at 150 Carlisle Street, it is a notable brutalist design by architect Enrico Taglietti, uniquely designed to open like a book. Also includes Ashton Raggatt McDougall
Ashton Raggatt McDougall
Ashton Raggatt McDougall or ARM is a firm of architects based in Melbourne, Australia known for "architectural outspokenness". Founded in 1988, the firm has completed internationally renowned design work and the principals are Stephen Ashton, Howard Raggatt and Ian McDougall...
’s award winning extension (1994).
Residential architecture
With many layers of development, St Kilda is characterised by an eclectic mix of residential styles, ranging from rows of Victorian terrace houses, Edwardian and interwar homes and apartments to post-war and modern infill development. Much of St Kilda's innovative architecture is recognised nationally.St Kilda is home to many "boom style" mansions, dating back to the early days of the seaside resort. Notable historic residences include Eildon Mansion
Eildon Mansion
Eildon Mansion is one of the largest renaissance style houses in Melbourne, built in 1877 in Grey St. St Kilda, in Melbourne which is on the Victorian Heritage Register....
on Grey Street built in 1855 (later modified) to the design of Reed and Barnes is a significant grand old mansion. Hewison House built at 25 Chapel Street in 1869 is a former mansion that has become an administration building of St Michael's Grammar School
St Michael's Grammar School
St Michael's Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.The school was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and is associated with the Anglican Church of Australia. St Michael's is located on a single campus, its...
. Marion Terrace in Burnett Street was built in 1883 and is considered one of the finest Second Empire styled terrace houses in Australia. Myrnong Hall built in 1890 on Acland Street is a large Victorian mansion richly decorated in cast iron.
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
homes in Melbourne, built as the boarding house for a ladies school, but now a private residence.
During the Interwar years, St Kilda was heavily subdivided into apartments. This era produced some outstanding early apartment designs including
Majestic Mansions on Fitzroy Street (1912) and The Canterbury flats built on Canterbury Road built between 1914 and 1919 to the design of H.W. & F.B. Tompkins is a notable mixture of Edwardian styles and are some of the earliest self-contained flats in Melbourne. Summerland Mansions built in 1920 on Fitzroy Street is another notable block in the "mansion flats" style, a style rare in Melbourne. Belmont Flats on the corner of Alma Road and Chapel Street was built in 1923, an outstanding blend of Arts and Crafts and Californian Bungalow influences applied to an apartment building, was built in 1923. Belvedere Flats at 22 Esplanade on the corner of Robe Street was built in 1929 and is a notable Spanish Mission
Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture
The Spanish Colonial Revival Style was a United States architectural stylistic movement that came about in the early 20th century, starting in California and Florida as a regional expression related to history, environment, and nostalgia...
styled block of flats designed by William H. Merritt and has featured on The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
. All of these buildings are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. A significant block of Spanish Mission flats, the Baymor Court, built in 1929 was demolished in November 2004 to make way for the Esplanade hi-rise apartment development.
St Kilda is also home to some notable contemporary residential designs. St Leonards Apartments in St Leonards Street is two blocks of post modern apartments built in 1996 to the design of Nonda Katsalidis
Nonda Katsalidis
Nonda Katsalidis is an Australian architect.He is currently a practicing director of architecture firm Fender Katsalidis Architects in partnership with Karl Fender.-Life:Katsalidis migrated to Melbourne, Australia as a 5 year old...
and is recognised with multiple RAIA
Raia
Raia may refer to:* Royal Australian Institute of Architects, a professional body for architects in Australia* Raia , a small village in Goa, India, about 6 km from Margao on the way to Loutolim...
Victorian Architecture Awards
Victorian Architecture Awards
The Victorian Architecture Awards are architecture awards that are annually awarded to buildings in the state Victoria, Australia. These awards have been awarded since 1929 by the Australian Institute of Architects....
. Newman House on Canterbury Road was built in 2000 and became a pop architecture icon. The house was designed by Cassandra Fahey for local celebrity Sam Newman
Sam Newman
John Noel William "Sam" Newman is a retired Australian rules football player and current television personality. He is a featured presenter on the AFL version of The Footy Show.-VFL career:...
featuring an image of Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
's face. Sam did not first obtain council
City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....
permission, however permits were issued retrospectively when it became a major local landmark and won the award for Best New Residential Building in the RAIA
Raia
Raia may refer to:* Royal Australian Institute of Architects, a professional body for architects in Australia* Raia , a small village in Goa, India, about 6 km from Margao on the way to Loutolim...
Victorian Architecture awards. Newman no longer lives at the house.
Historic hotel buildings
Coffee Palace
The term Coffee Palace was primarily used in Australia to describe the temperance hotels which were built during the period of the 1880s although there are references to the term also being used, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom...
. It is now a busy backpackers hostel. The George Hotel built in 1887 on the corner of Fitzroy and Grey streets was also once a large coffee palace. In the 1990s, it was converted into studio apartments. Many of the interior and exterior features are in need of restoration. The Prince of Wales Hotel is another famous hotel which was built in 1940 in the moderne style on the site of the first Prince of Wales which was built in 1920. It has been used as a cabaret venue and is now another live music venue.
Parks and gardens
Canary Island Date Palm
Phoenix canariensis is a species in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands. It is a relative of Phoenix dactylifera, the true date palm....
s, which are synonymous with the area and Californian Fan Palms
Washingtonia
Washingtonia is a genus of palms, native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico...
. Some of the notable gardens include St Kilda Botanic Gardens
St Kilda Botanic Gardens
St Kilda Botanical Gardens are a botanical garden located in the suburb St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. Located on the former site of a gravel pit and rubbish dump, they were formally gazetted on 28 September 1859 and opened in 1861....
on Blessington Street, which has heritage features and gates, a conservatory, rose garden, lake and sustainable Eco Centre building. The gardens were once surrounded by mansions, but was subject to unit development in the 1960s. The St Kilda Foreshore and Catani Arch are on Jacka Boulevarde, while the upper Esplanade reserve where the Sunday markets are held features the Catani Clock Tower, heritage toilets and vaults. The Catani Gardens which sit between the foreshore, Beaconsfield Parade and the Esplanade includes a War Memorial, Captain Cook statue and Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron Buildings. O'Donnell Gardens is adjacent to Luna Park on Acland Street and features an art-deco monument and tall palms. Alfred Square on the upper Esplanade has numerous war memorials, which include the South African War Memorial (1905) listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Albert Park is a large park which spans many suburbs, including St Kilda on Fitzroy Street and hosts a number of sporting fields and a recreational lake. The St Kilda Town Hall features a small public Victorian garden facing the corner of busy Brighton Road and Carlisle Street.
St Kilda is also home to one of Melbourne's few remaining Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
landmarks, the Corroboree Tree. The red gum eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
, estimated at being between four and seven hundred years old, is located next to Queens Road, close to the junction with Fitzroy Street. A plaque close to its base reads "Aboriginals of early settlement days congregated and held their ceremonies under and in the vicinity of this tree". These ceremonies celebrated important events, told traditional stories and promoted unity between communities, and are commonly known by the generic term, corroboree
Corroboree
A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting of Australian Aborigines. The word was coined by the European settlers of Australia in imitation of the Aboriginal word caribberie. At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the...
, or ngargee in the local language. The site continued to be used, both for ceremonial purposes and as a fringe camp, for some years after British settlement in 1835, as is evidenced by Jacob Miller who told his son how he had witnessed the remnant Kulin
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
population "perform their dancing about the old tree" after moving into the area during the 1850s.
The "Veg Out" Community Gardens at the former St Kilda Bowling Club in the Peanut Farm reserve is another popular public garden. The gardens are primarily rented by residents of apartments in the area and offer local residents the opportunity to express themselves in a small plot of dirt, which results in many colourful artistic displays.
Education and schools
St Michael's Grammar School
St Michael's Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.The school was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and is associated with the Anglican Church of Australia. St Michael's is located on a single campus, its...
, Christian Brothers College and primary schools St Kilda Primary School (on Brighton Road) and St Kilda Park Primary School (on Fitzroy Street in Albert Park) all of which have imposing heritage buildings on campus.
Past schools include St Kilda Grammar which closed at the turn of the century.
Transport
St Kilda is well connected to the Central Business District (CBD) of Melbourne by tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s and a dedicated light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
line along the former St Kilda railway and terminates at the Metropol building - the former St Kilda railway station before integrating with the on-road system.
Tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
routes 96
Melbourne tram route 96
Melbourne tram route 96 is a public transport tram and light rail route in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.It is one of Melbourne's busiest tram route carrying 39,700 passengers a day with a frequency of every 10 minutes or less during peak...
from Bourke Street, tram 112
Melbourne tram route 112
Tram route 112 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from West Preston, in the northern suburbs to St Kilda.Like most tram routes in Melbourne, it falls within Metcard/myki ticketing Zone 1....
from Collins Street
Collins Street, Melbourne
Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne central business district and runs approximately east to west.It is notable as Melbourne's traditional main street and best known street, is often regarded as Australia's premier street, with some of the country's finest Victorian era buildings.The...
and tram 16
Melbourne tram route 16
Tram route 16 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the University of Melbourne in the city centre to Kew in the eastern suburbs. It runs through the suburbs of Melbourne, St Kilda, Balaclava, Malvern, and Kew...
from Swanston Street, all service St Kilda and are around 25 minutes from the city.
St Kilda also has water transport in the form of ferries
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
and private boating
Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
. Williamstown Ferries operates a regular ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
service running primarily between St Kilda and Williamstown
Williamstown, Victoria
Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Williamstown had a population of 12,733....
as well as operating services with to the Melbourne CBD with drop-off points at major tourist attractions which departs from St Kilda Pier. Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron
Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron
Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron is a yacht club located at St Kilda Beach in the suburb of St. Kilda in Melbourne, Australia. The squadron was originally founded in 1876. Its has occupied its grounds on Pier Road in St. Kilda since prior to incorporation....
has a building at St Kilda harbour, which has berths for boats and yachts and the Squadron also operates the St Kilda Marina on Marine Parade, one of the first marinas in Melbourne and still very popular.
The Bayside Trail off-road
Segregated cycle facilities
Segregated cycle facilities are marked lanes, tracks, shoulders and paths designated for use by cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded...
bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
network connects through St Kilda with an additional Copenhagen-style bicycle lane running along Fitzroy Street connecting Albert Park to the foreshore.
Localities
St Kilda West is a locality in St Kilda and represents the area north west of St Kilda bordered by West Beach Road, Fraser Street and Canterbury Road. It is a small community which is a mix of medium density terrace housing and flats (mostly 1920s stock) to modern hi-rise apartments.Missing person cases
Three separate and prominent unsolved missing personMissing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
s cases are associated with St Kilda. Linda Stilwell was a 7 year old girl who was abducted
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
on 10 August 1968 from St Kilda Beach. The prime suspect is Derek Percy who has also been named by police as a suspect in the disappearance of the Beaumont children, and the Wanda Beach Murders
Wanda Beach Murders
The Wanda Beach Murders refers to the case of the unsolved murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Sydney's Wanda Beach on 11 January 1965. Their partially buried bodies were discovered the next day....
.
Adele Bailey was a 23 year old transsexual who disappeared from St Kilda in September 1978. Her remains were found in 1995 in a disused mineshaft near Bonnie Doon
Bonnie Doon, Victoria
Bonnie Doon is a small village in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Maroondah Highway, in the Shire of Mansfield. Bonnie Doon is 115 kilometres north-east from Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Bonnie Doon and the surrounding area had a population of 755....
.
Louise and Charmian Faulkner
Louise and Charmian Faulkner disappearance
Louise Yvonne Faulkner and Charmian Christabel Alexis Faulkner were a mother and daughter who disappeared without a trace from outside their residence at 39 Acland St, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia in 1980...
also vanished from outside their Acland St flat on 26 April 1980 after getting into a ute
Coupé utility
The coupé utility automobile body style, also known colloquially as the ute in Australia and New Zealand, combines a two-door "coupé" cabin with an integral cargo bed behind the cabin—using a light-duty passenger vehicle-derived platform....
driven by an older Australian male.
Notable residents
Visual Artists- Rupert BunnyRupert BunnyRupert Charles Wulsten Bunny was an Australian painter, born in St Kilda, Victoria. He achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in fin-de-siècle Paris....
born in St Kilda in 1864 - William PittWilliam Pitt (architect)William Pitt born in Melbourne was an architect, public servant and politician working in Victoria, Australia in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th century....
(1855-1880s) - Marcus ClarkeMarcus ClarkeMarcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was an Australian novelist and poet, best known for his novel For the Term of his Natural Life.- Biography :...
(lived at 49 Robe Street in the 1870s) - Sidney NolanSidney NolanSir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
(between 1917 and 1931) - Albert TuckerAlbert Tucker (artist)Albert Lee Tucker , a pivotal Australian artist, was a member of the Heide Circle, a group of leading modernist artists and writers that centred on the art patrons John and Sunday Reed, whose home, "Heide", located in Bulleen, near Heidelberg , was a haven for the group...
(lived at 47 Robe Street between 1944 and 1946) - Joy HesterJoy HesterJoy St Clair Hester was an Australian artist who played an important, though sometimes underrated, role in the development of Australian modernism, though her works could also be considered Abstract Expressionism....
(lived at 47 Robe Street between 1944 and 1946) - Mirka MoraMirka MoraMirka Mora is a prominent French-born Australian Visual artist who has contributed significantly to the development of Contemporary Art in Australia. Her mediums include painting, sculpture and mosaics.- Early life :...
(lived at Tolarno mid 1960s)
Musicians
- AC/DCAC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
(1973–1975) - Mark SeymourMark SeymourMark Seymour is an Australian musician and vocalist best known for his work as the frontman and songwriter of rock band Hunters & Collectors...
(1970s-2005) - Rowland S. HowardRowland S. HowardRowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, he played electric guitar in the post-punk group The Birthday Party. Howard died of liver cancer in December 2009, aged 50 years....
(1970's; 1993–2009) - Fred NegroFred NegroFred Negro is an Australian satirist, musician, songwriter, and cartoonist born in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, in 1959...
- Renee GeyerRenée GeyerRenée Rebecca Geyer is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with "It's a Man's Man's World", "Heading in the Right Direction" and "Stares and Whispers" in the 1970s and...
- Chris StewartChris StewartChris Stewart or Christopher Stewart may refer to:*Chris Stewart , former member of British band Genesis*Chris Stewart , U.S major league baseball player...
- Aaron Trotman
Entertainers
- Margot RobbieMargot RobbieMargot Robbie is an Australian actress. She is known for her role as Donna Freedman on the soap opera Neighbours, which earned her two Logie Award nominations. In 2011, Robbie began appearing as Laura Cameron in the ABC drama series Pan Am.-Early life:Robbie was born on 2 July 1990 and grew up on...
(actress) - Trevor MarmaladeTrevor MarmaladeTrevor Marmalade is the stage name of a comedian from Melbourne, Australia of Dutch descent. Jason grew up in Surrey Hills in Melbourne....
(comedian) - Rachel GriffithsRachel GriffithsRachel Anne Griffiths is an Australian film and television actress who came to prominence in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding and her Academy Award nominated performance in the 1997 film Hilary and Jackie....
(actress) - Magda SzubanskiMagda SzubanskiMagda Szubanski is a British-born Australian actress, comedian, television presenter, radio host and author.Szubanski's career began while she was studying at university and she progressed to television sketch comedy, as both a writer and performer...
(comedian) - John SafranJohn SafranJohn Safran is an Australian documentary maker and radio broadcaster, known for combining humour with explorations into religion and other issues...
(media personality) - Zbych TrofimiukZbych TrofimiukZbych Trofimiuk, birth name Zbigniew Krzysztof Trofimiuk, , an Australian actor. He is best known for his performance as Paul Reynolds, the lead character in the children's science fiction series Spellbinder.-Personal:Trofimiuk is the son of the Prague-born Melbourne sculptor Zoja Trofimiuk.He...
(actor) - Chris LilleyChris Lilley (comedian)-External links:****...
(actor/musician) - Dub FXDub FXDub FX is a worldwide street performer and studio recording artist from St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. After playing and singing in a band called Twitch, he set out solo when he moved to Europe. His trademark is creating rich live music using only his own performance aided by Live looping and...
(musician/street performer) - Jessica JacobsJessica JacobsJessica Madison "Jessie" Jacobs was an Australian actress and singer. She was known for her roles in children's television series in Australia including The Saddle Club, Fergus McPhail, and Holly's Heroes....
(actress...saddle club)
Politicians
- Stanley BruceStanley BruceStanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, CH, MC, FRS, PC , was an Australian politician and diplomat, and the eighth Prime Minister of Australia. He was the second Australian granted an hereditary peerage of the United Kingdom, but the first whose peerage was formally created...
former Prime Minister of Australia (born 1883, but moved in 1885) - Albert JackaAlbert JackaAlbert Jacka VC, MC & Bar was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces...
VC recipient and former Mayor of St Kilda
Novelists
- Morris WestMorris WestMorris Langlo West AO was an Australian novelist and playwright, best known for his novels The Devil's Advocate , The Shoes of the Fisherman , and The Clowns of God . His books were published in 27 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide...
Author of The Devil's Advocate (1959)
Sportspeople
- Mal MichaelMal MichaelMalcolm Roberto "Mal" Michael is a former Australian rules footballer. He is notable for his successful professional Australian Football League career. Following a career spanned 238 games and three clubs in two Australian states he is best known as a triple premiership full-back with the...
(2007-) - Timana TahuTimana TahuTimana James Aporo Tahu is an Australian professional rugby league footballer and former rugby union player, a dual-code international, currently playing for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League. He formerly played for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super 14 competition...
- Michael KlimMichael KlimMichael Klim OAM is a Polish-born Australian swimmer. He was born in Gdynia. He was educated at the University High School, Melbourne and Wesley College, Melbourne where he is currently employed as the College's elite Head Coach of swimming...
- Ron BarassiRon BarassiRonald Dale Barassi, Jr AM is a former Australian rules football player and coach. During a long and decorated career, Barassi has been one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football. His father, Ron Barassi, Sr., was the first Australian footballer killed at Tobruk during...
(lived there from the late 1970s to present) - Jim StynesJim StynesJames "Jim" Stynes OAM is an Irish former professional Australian rules footballer who is currently a businessman, philanthropist, writer, youth worker, qualified teacher and chairman of Melbourne Football Club since 2008....
- Frederick McEvoyFrederick McEvoyFrederick Joseph McEvoy was an Australian/British multi-discipline sportsman and socialite. He had most sporting success as a bobsledder in the late 1930s, winning several medals including three golds at the FIBT World Championships. He married several wealthy heiresses and was a close friend of...
Other
- Jim McNeilJim McNeilJames Thomas "Jim" McNeil was an Australian criminal and an award-winning playwright. While serving a 17 year sentence in Parramatta Correctional Centre for armed robbery and shooting a police officer, McNeill began writing plays. Within a few years he was being hailed as one of Australia's three...
Violent criminal and 'Prison Playwright'. Subject of new book titled The Laughing Bandit to be published by Penguin in 2010