Carlton, Victoria

Carlton is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne. At the 2006 Census, Carlton had a population of 12,050.

Its boundaries are roughly Elizabeth Street to the West, Princes Street to the North, Victoria Street to the south, and Nicholson Street to the East.

The suburb well known for its "Little Italy" precinct on Lygon Street, for its Victorian architecture and its European-style squares (University Square, Lincoln Square, Argyle Place and MacArthur Place) and the Carlton Gardens, the latter being the location of the Royal Exhibition Building, one of Australia's few man-made sites with World Heritage status.

Carlton is thought to have been named after Carlton House, London.

History
Carlton was founded in 1851 at the beginning of the Victorian Gold Rush. Carlton Post Office opened on 19 October 1865.

Demographics
The area is noted for its diverse population that has been the home in earlier days of Jewish and Italian immigrants

A large number of low-income residents live in the substantial public housing estates that were built during the 1960s. The two main estates are between Lygon and Rathdowne Sts, and between Nicholson and Canning Sts. These are configured as a mixture of 4 and 5-storey walk-up flats and 22-storey high-rise towers which are in the process of being redeveloped as mixed-tenure housing.

Carlton also has a sizeable tertiary student population, local and international, due to its proximity to the University of Melbourne and RMIT University. While much of the student housing has traditionally been in the older Victorian terraces common throughout the area, the new residential buildings developed during the 1990s and early 2000s targeted at the international student market have transformed the once low-rise skyline of Swanston Street so that its predominant height is about 10-11 storeys.

Local Landmarks


Lygon Street, which runs through the heart of Carlton is a centre of Italian culture and cuisine. It is popular among Melburnians and foreigners alike for its numerous restaurants, especially Italian restaurants. Lygon Street has six specialist gelaterias, and several continental cake cafes.

Carlton is home to some of Melbourne's most historically significant buildings such as Melbourne Trades Hall and the World Heritage Site of the Carlton Gardens, the Royal Exhibition Building and the ruins of the old Carlton brewery, a collection of buildings constructed between 1864 and 1927, all listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Carlton Gardens are also home to the Melbourne Museum.

Carlton has many 19th century public buildings. The Carlton Club, which was built in 1889 by Inskip & Robertson, is notable for its decorative Australian native kangaroo gargoyles and polychrome Florentine arches. The Carlton Post Office and Police Station are both fine Renaissance Revival styled buildings. The Carlton Court House on Drummond Street was designed in the Gothic style by G.B.H Austin and constructed between 1888 and 1889. The Lygon Buildings on Lygon Street were built in 1888 in the Mannerist style. Carlton Gardens Primary School, on Rathdowne Street, opened in 1884.

Residential
Many heritage registered Victorian terrace houses can be found on Drummond Street, a long wide boulevard flanked by grand homes, including Rosaville (no46 built 1883), Medley Hall (no48 built 1892-93), Drummond Terrace (no 93-105 built 1890-91), Lothian Terrace (no175-179 built 1865-69), Terraces at 313&315 (1889), Police Station (no330 built 1878) and Court House (no345-355 built 1887-88).

Notable Public Spaces
The Bali Memorial, which commemorates the victims of the 2002 Bali bombings, is situated in Lincoln Square. It was officially opened on 12 October 2005, the third anniversary of the explosion that killed 202 innocent people, including 88 Australians.

The northern part of Argyle Square, adjacent to Lygon Street, has been redeveloped into an Italian piazza, known as Piazza Italia, in a joint project between the City of Melbourne and its twin city, Milan. A giant sundial is the main feature of the piazza.

Politics
Carlton falls within the federal electorate of Melbourne (currently held by the Adam Bandt of the Greens) and the state electorate of Melbourne (currently held by the ALP's Bronwyn Pike).

A traditional working-class suburb, it has typically seen a high vote for the ALP. However, like many other inner-city suburbs undergoing a process of gentrification, the Greens have been gaining an increasing share of the vote.

The suburb contains two polling booths, which collectively produced the following primary-vote results at the 2007 federal election: 53.29% ALP, 22.60% Greens, 20.13% Liberal, 1.57% Democrat, and 0.83% Family First.

Education




Due to Carlton's close proximity to the Parkville campus of The University of Melbourne, many university-owned buildings can be found around Carlton as a result of the university's expansion through the years. This includes the University Square redevelopment, where the state-of-the-art Law and ICT buildings and a new underground carpark is located. However, the university's continued expansion into Carlton are opposed by some residents. Two of the university's residential colleges are situated in Carlton. Medley Hall is located on Drummond Street, while Graduate House is on Leicester Street. Graduate House is a residential college for graduate students only and does not admit any undergraduate students.

Melbourne Business School and part of RMIT University's City Campus is also situated in Carlton.

Victoria and Tasmania's Catholic seminary, Corpus Christi College, is located on Drummond Street. The college accommodates forty seminarians who are studying to become priests.

Primary education is provided by two schools; Carlton Gardens Primary School and Carlton Primary School. CGPS was founded in 1884 and is one of Melbourne's oldest schools and the closest to the cbd.

Transport
Carlton is served by many of Melbourne's tram routes, running along Swanston street and terminating at Melbourne University. Tram routes 8 and 1 trams continues through Carlton North and beyond via Lygon Street.

Buses serve Carlton via Lygon, Elgin, and Rathdowne Streets. There are currently no trains to Carlton, with the closest station being Melbourne Central Station. There were talks and proposals of extending the city train loop to service Carlton, but no concrete plans have been proposed.

Rod Eddington's East West Link Needs Assessment does mention however, that there will be subway(s) in Carlton, as a part of the proposed 17 km metro tunnel.

Health
Carlton is also very well serviced by the health sector. The Royal Women's Hospital and the new Royal Dental Hospital provide high quality health care. It is also a centre of biomedical research. The Cancer Council Victoria, Cancer Research Institute and Victorian College of Optometry all have their premises in Carlton. Carlton is the home of NETS (Victoria) which provides emergency transport of sick newborns between hospitals throughout Victoria and from Tasmania.

Culture
The famous La Mama Theatre is located in Carlton. It is noted for its energy, which is typical of the early Australian theatre scene in the 1970s. Besides that, Cinema Nova on Lygon Street shows many international arthouse films, while Readings bookstore has been a hub for literary and musical connoisseurs since the 1970s. Carlton is also home to the renowned Dracula Nightclub, which is on the corner of Cardigan Street and Victoria Street, which is famous for its cabaret shows.

Religion
There are a number of churches in Carlton, which serve the spiritual needs of Carlton residents. St Jude's Anglican Church, on Lygon Street, is one of the most active and well attended Anglican churches in the Greater Melbourne area. Other churches in the area include a Romanian Orthodox Church on Queensberry Street, a Salvation Army Church, the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Chinese Church of Christ and the Christian Chapel of the Church of Christ built in 1865. The Catholic seminary is situated on the site of St George's Catholic Church, Carlton's oldest surviving building, dating from 1855.



Sport
Carlton is the home of the Australian rules football club, the Carlton Blues, who are based at their former home ground, the Princes Park Football Ground in nearby North Carlton. The club plays home games at the Docklands Stadium and The Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Lygon Street, Grattan Street and Queensberry Street were part of the route of the marathon in the 2006 Commonwealth Games which was hosted by Melbourne. Lygon and Cardigan streets are part of the seventh course of the annual cycling tour, Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Melbourne University Regiment

 * The Melbourne University Regiment (MUR) is based on Grattan Street, Carlton. MUR serves to train potential Officers in the Australian Army Reserve. MUR was founded in 1884 as D company, 4th Battalion of the Victorian Rifles, and changed to its current name and role in 1948. Famous alumni include Sir John Monash, Sir Robert Menzies, Sir Ninian Stephen, Barry Humphries, and Andrew Peacock.