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Story and Place in Media. Assignment 2: This Place

-Forgotten Fitzroy-

With work from Heling Zhang, Madeleine Graham, Rhonda Hodgson, and Thomas Staveley

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Acknowledgement of Country

We would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we study and explore, the Wurunjderi people from the Woiwurrung  language group of the Eastern Kulin Nation, whose land remains unceded.

We pay our respects to the past, present, and emerging Elders of these people, whose lands we learn about, studying as students of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Furthermore, we recognise the creative spirit of Bunjil, along with the storytellers and creators among the Traditional Custodians of this land, as we strive to embody that creative spirit as media practitioners.

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Aboriginal History of Fitzroy

Image Source: James Henry 

Fitzroy is the inner-city suburb in Melbourne. From 1920, Fitzroy is the best-known area for Aboriginal people meeting together. It is a crucial place for Aboriginal family and Aboriginal community. However, In the late 1830s, dispossession happened since colonists and other immigrants settled down in Fitzroy and urbanized this area.

https://aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au/FitzroyAboriginalHeritageWalkingTrail.pdf

Image source: City of Yarra

In 1835, Aboriginal wurundjeri leaders were tricked to sign Batman’s Treaty for exchanging goods.

https://aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au/4-treaty/

Image Source: City of Yarra

Fitzroy is the largest Aboriginal community in Victoria supporting it of more than 300 Aboriginal people. They came from missions during 1920s.

https://www.deadlystory.com/icms_docs/301144_Connecting_with_the_Aboriginal_History_of_the_Yarra.pdf

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Displacement of Aboriginal People in Fitzroy

Image Source: Getty Image

Aboriginal Protection Board 

According to Wikipedia, The Aborigines Protection Act 1886 was established for regulating Aboriginal peoples’ lives. This law controlled everything including their religious beliefs, marriage, accommodation and employment, forcing Aboriginal people to assimilate into white society. Some actions were more cruel. Mixed children were forcibly placed permanently in white homes or government institutions. It happened in Victoria. For escaping the 1886 Act, indigenous people move to Melbourne around Fitzroy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Protection_Board

https://aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au/SnapshotsofAboriginalFitzroy.pdf

https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/explainer/explainer-stolen-generations

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During the 1940s, dilapidated households were common in Fitzroy. They housed many families in the lower socio-economic class.

Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/haunting-images-of-the-streets-that-were-once-home-to-melbournes-slums/news-story/8929dd97a96343ae9de160c637a16c0c

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Aboriginal Meeting Places in Fitzroy 1

The Gore Street Church

Image Source: SBS News

It became popular from 1945. This is a base for having activities of the church. All modern aboriginal movement began from this building, so it is significant to Aboriginal people.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/melbourne-church-known-for-aboriginal-rights-role-gets-heritage-protection

The Pubs in Fitzroy

Builders Arms Hotel also is an indispensable place for indigenous people to fight for their rights.

It was built in 1835 then Aboriginal people started to meet up in this pub.

It is the first legal public for aborigines to drink together.

Image Source: https://www.museumoflost.com/black-pub-melbourne/

https://www.museumoflost.com/black-pub-melbourne/

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Aboriginal Meeting Places in Fitzroy 2

The Peppercom Tree

Image Source: museumoflost

This is a place for Aboriginal leaders to do oratory.

Source: City of Yarra

Caption: An experience from an aboriginal person.

https://www.museumoflost.com/black-pub-melbourne/

https://aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au/SnapshotsofAboriginalFitzroy.pdf

The Fitzroy Stars Gym

Image Source: ABC News

The Fitzroy Stars Football Club is an aboriginal club and it started running from 1973 and the Fitzroy Gym was set up in 1977 by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS). It has an advantaged geographical location, located on the road with health service and law service. It provided indigenous people facilities and classed to work out, then it gradually became a meeting spot for Aborigines.

https://aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au/SnapshotsofAboriginalFitzroy.pdf

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Fitzroy was originally known as a “slum” neighbourhood, with low-income households dominating the area. Source: https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/node/65390

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1951 - The Premiere made it his mission to remove the slums, calling them a “blot on our civilisation”. Source:https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/from-the-archives-1951-fitzroy-and-collingwood-slums-shock-premier-20190724-p52acr.html

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Newspaper dated 2-10-52, stating government reclamation plans. The Melbourne commission stated plans to construct multi-storey towers with the intention to “clean up the slum area”. Source: https://oralhistory.fitzroyhistorysociety.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/FHS-Laurie-OBrien-2015.pdf

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Redevelopment is re-occupation

Image Source:  Randy Olson/Getty Images/National Geographic Creative

Redevelopment of Fitzroy resulted in the dramatic growth of Indigenous people. They had to remove to the outer suburb where the rent is lower, and it also led to decentralize of Aboriginal people in Fitzroy. They cannot live in the heart of the city because of the high rent. They are displaced again by the urbanization. Aboriginal managed to build up a community in Fitzroy for escaping the 1886 Act but the community is facing decentralize again.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/apr/09/indigenous-people-are-being-displaced-again-by-gentrification-aboriginal-redfern-west-end-fitzroy

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FORMER FITZROY METHODIST CHURCH AND MISSION HALL

While it was constructed in 1890, by the 1960’s Former Fitzroy Methodist Church and Mission Hall's main function was in anti-poverty activism and social outreach.

Despite campaigns to protect the hall, it was demolished in 1969 to make room for a housing commission, Atherton Gardens. However, the mission hall was not the only building lost to build the estate. 

Drago Gorlicki, a migrant who was the last standing resident on the proposed site in 1967 had only lived there for nearly three years before refusing to leave. Also noted, a woman who owned a espresso bar on the site protested the bulldozing of her shop by throwing bricks at the construction workers. 

The premiere at the time, Henry Bolte, saw these efforts of clearing these eight streets as an attempt to rid the area of their slums. 

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1970s documentary ‘Fitzroy Coming up for Air’ by Peter Dodds showcases interviews with locals voicing their opposition to removing houses and introducing high-rise living. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qroJBEAHz_k

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In the 1970s, Fitzroy housing commission towers were erected. The project was criticised by residents’ groups and architects as creating ‘prisons in the sky’.

Source: https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/2016/05/suburbs-in-the-sky-high-rise-commission-flats-and-the-melbourne-imagination/

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Too Fucking Much Ballroom

Too Fucking Much Ballroom, (later to be Much More Ballroom, for appeasement/ advertiser friendly reasons) was a regular arts event/musical show that took place in the Central Hall. 

Ballroom events were held monthly and consisted of concert-style shows, interlaced with comedy, poetry readings, theatrical, dance, and novelty performances. These shows initially started as fundraisers for Carlton youth groups, but grew into a phenomenon of arts culture for Melbourne.

It is rumoured that the event obtained its name due to the sensory overload and mayhem an initial gig promoted, described by some as “too fucking much”, and so, the name was born. 

(Above. Comedy avdertising material promoting a Much More Ballroom event) The events ran officially from 1970-1974, and sprouted two similar shows, all contributing to the continued growing arts scene in Fitzroy and across Victoria.

(Above. More recent photo of the Central Hall in Fitzroy

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Interview by Milesago with an original ‘punter and his experience with T.F Much Ballroom, put to words by Dominic Does

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Fitzroy’s Brunswick Street was utilized in the music video for New Zealand-Australian rock band Dragon’s 1978 song  ‘Are You Old Enough?’ It serves as a time capsule of sorts, for what Fitzroy looked like in the late 70’s.