Royal Historical Society of Victoria : Promoting and preserving the history of Victoria

Heritage Victoria Officer's Report - Queen Victoria Market

1 November 2018

Heritage Victoria Officer’s Report on City of Melbourne Application for Permit to Reconstruct Queen Victoria Market

Read more by Professor Charles Sowerwine, Chair, Heritage Committee, Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Update on Queen Victoria Market 'People's Panel'

31 October 2018

“In last week’s statement on the Queen Victoria Market ‘People’s Panel’, we noted that the first two sessions had, as a fellow participant remarked to me, ‘tried to railroad us’ into accepting the discredited Doyle plan for the market, the plan rejected by Heritage Victoria. We protested in letters to the organisers and then to the Lord Mayor. Others too had written to the Lord Mayor expressing concern. The Friends of the Queen Victoria Market obtained the release of Heritage Victoria’s internal report on the Doyle plan, which is a searing indictment of the whole plan (it is also on our web site). And our statement was picked up by the Herald-Sun on Saturday (‘Historian slams market panel’, 27 October 2018, p. 16). All this may have contributed to a new attitude on the part of facilitators and City of Melbourne and QVM Pty Ltd staff when the third panel session opened on Saturday morning.”

Read more by Dr Judith Smart, Heritage Committee, with Professor Charles Sowerwine, Chair, Heritage Committee, Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

RHSV Statement on Queen Victoria Market 'People's Panel'

25 October 2018

“The RHSV has participated in good faith in the first two sessions of Melbourne City Council’s ‘People’s Panel’ regarding the development of the Queen Victoria Market. We were assured that ‘everything was on the table.’ But it has now become clear, as the panel’s web portal proclaims to participants, that our ‘remit’ is only to ‘help shape the delivery and location of trader and customer facilities at Queen Victoria Market’ and that the nature of these facilities is non-negotiable.”

Read more from the report by Emeritus Professor Charles Sowerwine, Chair of the RHSV Heritage Committee.

Three Vital Planning Scheme Amendments Approved

23 October 2018

The RHSV is pleased that there is some good news on heritage in the central city area. Planning Minister RIchard Wynne approved three Planning Scheme Amendments gazetted on 18 October which provide interim protection (pending implementation of permanent protection, hopefully next year) for Guildford and Hardware Laneways, a much-loved corner of the City, heritage buildings in Southbank and Fishermans Bend and most importantly, the first stage of the Hoddle Grid Heritage Review (C327), which will provide protection for a number of precincts and buildings in the city.

The RHSV has congratulated the Minister on this decision.Read more