EASTERN MARKET - MELBOURNE Crn. Bourke Street / Exhibition (Stephen) Street: 1880’s - 2014
The Eastern Market was established in the later 1840’s on a 2 acre block on the south west corner of Bourke and Stephen streets. Stephen Street was later re-named Exhibition Street in 1898. Known as Paddy’s Market, the open style market with its corrugated roofed sheds was re-developed in the late 1870’s on where it remained until 1960. The market buildings were demolished to make way for the Southern Cross Hotel. The guest list for this once popular hotel included prime ministers and presidents and numerous visiting American entertainers. It also hosted the Brownlow Medal counts and Logie Awards and in June 1964 it was home to a group of young Liverpudlian mop-tops, The Beatles, where at one stage Exhibition Street was blocked by an estimated 20,000 screaming fans. The hotel was demolished in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s. The Southern Cross Towers, SX1 and SX2 currently occupy the former Eastern Market site. https://www.flickr.com/photos/past2present/
Photos: Patterson Brothers, (SLV) Robert Smith (2014)
