Book Launch: Old North Melbourne

This is the story of the first fifty years of today’s much-loved suburb of North Melbourne.

When the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung were first developed by European settlers in 1852, there were many barriers to its success. A great expanse of barren land lay between it and Melbourne, a swamp on the west, open sewerage to the east and undeveloped bushland to the south. But of the thousands of immigrants who flocked to Victoria during the gold rush, some settled in North Melbourne, determined to develop an urban town to be proud of. This book details the triumphs and struggles of the people of nineteenth-century North Melbourne, revealing fascinating individuals and the collective story of the emergence of this determined working-class community.

Fiona Gatt will be introduced by Professor Andrew May, who has described the book as ‘Australian urban history at its best’.

This event has received funding from the Centre for Contemporary Histories at Deakin University.