Collingwood
Collingwood is one of the oldest suburbs in Melbourne, notable for its historical buildings, with ornate, historic public buildings, cottages, terraces, shops, warehouses and factories still in use. Once a not-so-family-friendly part of town, known more for being the stomping ground of infamous gangsters like Chopper Read, Collingwood has had an extensive makeover, transforming it from a characterful, sometimes sketchy, suburb into an artsy, stylish neighbourhood with a thriving bar and dining scene.While there are still pockets of grunge in the area, these days Collingwood is more about award-winning restaurants, great bars, galleries and mid-century furniture stores. The busy nightlife and close proximity to the city has attracted the independent types, the majority being young singles or more mature and older people living an inner-city lifestyle. Its redidents are comfortable with compact, convenient living, with housing ranging from workers cottages, bluestone terraces, Housing commission high-rises, converted factories housing designer apartments and live-in warehouses, to new contemporary units and townhouses.
Though Collingwood is within walking distance of the city, there is plenty around the area to keep the locals on their home turf and draw in others from surrounding areas. Smith Street hums with Japanese restaurants, fabulous bars, lively pubs and interesting vintage furniture stores. Side streets hide little parks and pop-ups like the People s Market, while Wellington Street is still home to the iconic, sticky-carpeted Tote Hotel.
Getting there: Collingwood and Victoria Park stations are on the Hurstbrigde and Epping railway line. The 86 tram runs from Bundoora to Docklands, travelling the length of Smith Street. The 109, 24 and 30 trams run from the eastern suburbs, along Victoria Parade, to the city. Buses run along Johnston Street, as well as the Eastern Freeway.
Australian author Frank Hardy set the novel Power Without Glory in a fictionalised version of the suburb, named Carringbush. The name is used by a number of businesses in the area, such as "Carringbush Business Centre". At one time a ward in the City of Yarra that includes part of Collingwood was actually named Carringbush.
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Being one of Melbourne's first suburbs, and one of Australia's first retail shopping areas, Collingwood played a major role in the development of Australian culture. Many significant heritage buildings have survived and can be seen on a walk around the compact suburb
Collingwood's Architectual Heritage >>
Victoria Park stadium was a Victorian Football League (now Australian Football League) venue between 1892 and 1999 and headquarters of the iconic Collingwood Football Club for 107 years until 2005. It was also a temporary home ground for the Fitzroy Football Club for the 1985 and 1986 seasons. At its peak, Victoria Park was the third largest of the suburban VFL stadiums after the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Princes Park. However it was abandoned by the AFL and Collinwood Footbal Club in 1999 due to its facilities not meeting the requirements of the AFL. It was to be demolished in 2000, but this was prevented by heritage status. The former home of the Collingwood Football Club, Victoria Park has been returned to the public, having been transformed in December 2011 into a major community recreation space.
The first game at Victoria Park in 1892 was witnessed by an estimated 16,000 spectators and although Collingwood lost, it signaled the amazing popularity and drawing power of the Collingwood Football Club and Victoria Park. By the end of the 1929 season Collingwood had completed the third premiership of the record breaking four in a row. The team was perceived to be invincible at Victoria Park and all rival clubs dreaded traveling there. This was in stark contrast to the prevailing economic conditions as the suburb was one the hardest hit by the Great Depression. For many in the area, to see the Magpies win at Victoria Park was the only relief from melancholy of daily life on the unemployment queue; the football club offered sustenance workers free entry to games during this period. Victoria Park had grown to be more than just a sporting arena and was now a beacon of hope in a very bleak world.
Victoria Park's current capacity is listed as 27,000. The ground record crowd for the oval was set on 26 April 1948 when 47,224 turned out to see Collingwood defeat South Melbourne by 53 points. The ground has its own railway station about 200 metres from the ground, situated on the Hurstbridge and South Morang lines.
Historically one of the most successful clubs in the Australian Football League, Collingwood has won 15 VFL/AFL premierships, the third-most of any team. Collingwood has played in a record 43 grand finals (including replays), winning 15, drawing two and losing 26 (also a record). It is the most supported club in the AFL, having consistently attracted much higher than average crowds to its home games than other clubs in the league. It had a league record of 71,516 members in the 2011 season.
Formed in 1892, the club's home ground was Victoria Park in Abbotsford; the club is now based in the nearby Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, playing its home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and with its training and administrative base at Olympic Park Oval and the Westpac Centre.
Nicknamed The Magpies (or less formally, The Pies), Collingwood's home guernsey consists of black and white stripes, matching the colours of an Australian magpie. Carlton is considered to be the club's most bitter arch-rival, with Richmond and Essendon close behind. Collingwood supporters are often stereotyped as 'bogans', poorly educated and toothless, particularly by the other Melbourne-based clubs. This is no doubt a kickback from Collingwood's main period of success in the 1920s and 30's when Collingwood was a dirty, working-class suburb, and a win by their football team was the highlight in the dreary lives of its residents.
The suburb's name is derived from Baron Collingwood, said to be Lord Horatio Nelson's favourite admiral. Surveyor Robert Hoddle, under instructions from Superintendent Charles La Trobe, named it in 1842. It is likely that the name was given because a pub - the Collingwood Hotel - already existed in the area. Back then, it was common practice to name hotels after famous military men, who were the heroes of the day, and undoubtedly that would have been the case here.
Subdivision and sale of land in Collingwood had begin in 1838, and was mostly complete by the 1850s. Collingwood was declared a municipality, separate from the City of Melbourne on 24 April 1855, the first to follow the state's major population centres of Melbourne and Geelong. Collingwood was proclaimed a town in 1873, and later a city in 1876. Collingwood's early development was directly impacted by the boom in Melbourne's population and economy during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s. This resulted in the construction of a large number of small dwellings, as well as schools, shops and churches to support this new population. Around the same time, large industrial developments such as a flour mill and the Fosters brewery were being established.
In the 1870s, Smith Street became the dominant shopping strip, with its tram line established in 1887. At the turn of the 20th century this wide avenue of commerce rivalled Chapel Street in Prahran, as evidenced by its fine old emporium buildings. Today it's still a buyer destination, with tour buses ferrying eager country shoppers to the factory outlets that line its northern end. The very first G.J. Coles store was opened in the street in 1912. These days the southern end of Smith Street has been dubbed "The Arts Precinct". It the place to find cool clothes, cooler cafes and chic cucinas.
Many of Collingwood's grand public buildings were erected in the 1880s, including the post office and town hall. Collingwood also had a strong temperance movement, with two "coffee palaces" springing up in the 1870s, including the large and grand Collingwood Coffee Palace (now the facade of Woolworths minus original classical pediment and mansard).
