VICPlanned settlement
Collingwood
Cheap land on the flat, beside a working river.
1838Allotments subdivided east of Melbourne
WHAT STARTED IT
Collingwood lies on the low, flat ground between the Fitzroy rise and the Yarra, subdivided in 1838 and quickly cut into small, cheap lots outside Melbourne’s building rules. The river drew mills, wool-washing and other noxious trades, and their workers crowded onto the flat.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Flooding and poor drainage plagued the ‘Collingwood flat’, yet by 1891 the municipality held about 35,000 people working in local boot, clothing, hat and brewing factories. Smith Street became a major shopping strip, home to the store that grew into Foy & Gibson.
TURNING POINTS
1838Collingwood and Fitzroy are subdivided into allotments of about 12 hectares.
1840John Dight cuts a mill race through the basalt beside the Yarra for his flour mill.
1855East Collingwood is proclaimed a municipal district in the Government Gazette of 24 April.
1876Collingwood is proclaimed a city.
1888The Foster’s brewery opens in Rokeby Street, in Victoria’s busiest brewing district outside Melbourne.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
An inner suburb in the City of Yarra, where cottages and old factories have been converted and gentrified since the 1990s, alongside public housing towers. Smith Street remains its main shopping strip.