Cremorne, Victoria

Cremorne is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the Local Government Area of the City of Yarra.

Cremorne is a small suburb in inner Melbourne bounded by the Yarra River, Punt Road, Swan and Church Streets, and divided down the middle by the railway to South Yarra. Covering only about a square kilometre, until recently Cremorne existed only as a locality in the larger suburb of Richmond. Cremorne's charm is in its rather chaotic mix of uses. There are industrial icons such as Bryant and May, Rosella and the Nylex Clock side by side with Victorian cottages, modern townhouses, offices and light industries.

History

Cremorne takes its name from the Cremorne Gardens which occupied the western half of Cremorne for a period in the mid 19th century. The gardens, owned by entrepreneur George Coppin, were one of Melbourne's major attractions at the time with wild animals, dancers and other entertainment. They were shortlived however and by 1863 they had been sold and subdivided for housing and an asylum.

Although a largely residential area in its early history, the banks of the Yarra were home to many offensive industries such as tanneries and the Richmond Power Station which opened in 1891. Into the 20th century Cremorne became increasingly industrial. Large manufacturing complexes were built including the Bryant and May and Rosella factories. In the mid 20th century light industry flooded into Cremorne with the construction of hundreds of small to medium factories which were occupied by the ragtrade, mechanics, printers and small engineering businesses.

The residential areas increasingly became slums with some areas threatened with clearance. Throughout the 1970s and 80s Cremorne became a centre for crime. A notorious Melbourne criminal was known to own around a dozen houses in Cremorne which were used for various illicit purposes.

Things started to improve in the 1990s however. The inner city was desirable again and large industries found it uneconomic to operate in inner urban areas. The Richmond Power Station, Bryant and May and Rosella were all converted to office space. The small Victorian terraces and cottages which abound in Cremorne were snapped up in a renovation boom. Today Cremorne is a mixture of period and modern housing, cutting edge offices, funky bars and a diminishing light industrial sector.

Streets of Cremorne

Cremorne is bounded by three main roads and the Yarra River. Swan Street is one of Melbourne's most popular shopping strips. Famous for the Dimmeys department store, full of discounted seconds and distressed stock, it also has an eclectic collection of restaurants and clearance shops. Punt Road is the major north/south link in inner Melbourne and is busy 24 hours a day. Church Street is lined with furniture showrooms. The Monash Freeway is sandwiched between the river and Cremorne making the river largely inaccessible. Both Swan and Church Streets have regular tram services. Balmain Street and Cremorne Street are the main streets that pass within Cremorne.

Railways

Cremorne is near the junction of the two busiest groups of railway lines in Melbourne. They form a barrier between east and west and cut Cremorne off from Richmond to the north. Cremorne has one station within its boundaries, East Richmond. Trains on the Lilydale, Belgrave, Glen Waverley, and Alamein lines pass through it, (though Lilydale and Belgrave services rarely stop), heading towards the eastern suburbs. Some early railway maps of Melbourne show a Cremorne station, just north of the river, on the modern Caulfield group of railway lines, but it lasted little more than a year, closing in 1860. Richmond station is slightly to the north of Cremorne, Melbourne's busiest outside the central business district.

External Links

• City of Yarra (http://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/)
• Dimmeys (http://www.dimmeys.com.au/)

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