Queen Victoria Market may honour the dead buried beneath its carpark
Queen Victoria Market’s carpark was built over the disused Old Melbourne Cemetery, with thousands of bodies still buried beneath. Now the dead could be honoured.
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Inner Melbourne’s newest park could feature statues and plaques honouring people buried in the city’s first cemetery.
Melbourne City Council is considering ideas for the proposed Market Square on the site of the main carpark at Queen Victoria Market.
The carpark was built over the disused Old Melbourne Cemetery, but thousands of bodies are still buried beneath.
A public consultation has yielded dozens of ideas for Market Square, which will be a 1.5ha green plaza under the market’s $250 million redevelopment plan.
A council report said proposals included commemorating those buried there through plaques and statues, and reinstating historic cemetery laneways with information about past events.
The cemetery had an Aboriginal section, so a key focus will be to “respect and foster Aboriginal voices and connections to the place”, the report said.
It said other ideas suited to the square included preserving the 19th century history of the market through Victorian cultural and style elements, heritage activities or walking tours.
The report said many respondents wanted the space to be safe and inclusive, to celebrate Melbourne’s cultural diversity and to have minimal concrete, paving and other hard surfaces.
“Respondents also commented on their desire to avoid certain negative social impacts that may arise, including drugs and alcohol and associated crime,” it said.
While 29 respondents supported the removal of carparking to enable the square, 20 recommended retaining car spaces within the area.
Market Square is opposed by the vocal Friends of Queen Victoria Market activist group, which has rubbished the council’s claim that the space will be like a Federation Square of the CBD’s north.
The group’s secretary Miriam Faine said in a recent submission that “Melbourne doesn’t need another Fed Square”.
“It does need to preserve its biggest tourist attraction - a traditional, sustainable, uniquely Melbourne market,” she said.
Dr Faine said traders would become a “backdrop” to events held in Market Square and adjacent sheds.
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The report said events suggested in the consultation included food and drink events, music festivals, cultural shows and workshops/classes.
A charter for the square and the start of a design process are due to go before a council meeting in March.