WHY IS QVM OF NATIONAL & VICTORIAN HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE?
The Queen Victoria Market is of historical significance as one of the great nineteenth century markets of Victoria and the only one surviving from a group of important central markets built by the corporation of the City of Melbourne. It has been in continual operation as a retail market since the 1870s.
The Queen Victoria Market is of historical significance as the site of Melbourne's first official cemetery, which was in use between 1837 and 1854, and intermittently from 1854 until its final closure in 1917.
The former cemetery site, which lies beneath the car park and continues under the sheds to D Shed, is of archaeological significance because it contains an estimated 6,500 to 9,000 burials. The site has the potential to yield information about the early population of Melbourne, including Aboriginal and European communities, and their burial practices and customs.
The Queen Victoria Market is of architectural significance as a notable example of the class of produce market. It is a remarkably intact collection of purpose built nineteenth and early twentieth century market buildings, which demonstrate the largely utilitarian style adopted for historic market places combined with the later attempt to create a more appealing 'public' street frontage through the construction of rows of nineteenth century terrace shops along Elizabeth Street and Victoria Street.
The Queen Victoria Market is of social significance for its ongoing role and continued popularity as a general and fresh meat and vegetable market, shopping and meeting place for Victorians and visitors alike.
BURRA CHARTER provides a national guideline to the conservation of our social, cultural and built heritage:
‘The Burra Charter advocates a cautious approach to change: do as much as necessary to care for the place and to make it useable, but otherwise change it as little as possible so that its cultural significance is retained.’