Melbourne Australia

Take a stroll through St Kilda and it won t be long before you come across Acland Street. One street back from the Esplanade and St Kild, the suburb s original street. Acland Street was named in 1842 after Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, who owned the schooner Lady of St Kilda between 1834 and 1840. The street was named by James Ross Lawrence, who had been master of the vessel until 1842.

Acland Street was later to be the centre of the Jewish community of Eastern Europe from around the 1930s. Today it is known for its food outlet, in particular, its cake shops. A decadent array of mouth-watering treats await, satisfying those with a sweet tooth.

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No visit to St Kilda is complete without seeing Melbourne s Luna Park, an historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda. It opened on 13 December 1912 and has been operating almost continuously ever since. It was the first of the five Luna Parks that were built in Australia, of which only Melbourne and Luna Park Sydney are still operating. The other three, now defunct, Luna Parks were at Glenelg, South Australia (1930 1934); Redcliffe, Queensland (1944 1966) and Scarborough, Western Australia (1936-1972).

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A Melbourne landmark, the cosmopolitan St Kilda Pier offers panoramic views of the Melbourne skyline and Port Phillip Bay, and is a popular destination for a stroll, cycling, rollerblading and fishing. St Kilda Pier has nearby barbeque, picnic and playground facilities. Whatever your preference, St Kilda Pier provides an unforgettable experience right in the heart of Melbourne.

Part ofg the pier's attraction is its iconic kiosk, designed by James Charles Morell and built in 1904 by John W. Douglas. The kiosk was proposed and operated by Francis Parer. Until the 1930s the structure was widely known as Parer's Pavilion however its actual name was the Austral Refreshment Rooms. On 11th September 2003 the structure was destroyed in an arson attack. After massive public support to rebuild the kiosk, it was reconstructed to the original 1903 plans, utilising some of the salvaged components, such as the cast iron roof, decorative cresting and weather vane. The kiosk re-opened in March 2006.

St Kilda Town Hall

St Kilda Town Hall is an impressive building by William Pitt. Directly opposite is the St Kilda Public Library built between 1971 1973 at 150 Carlisle Street. It is a notable brutalist design by architect Enrico Taglietti, uniquely designed to open like a book. Also includes Ashton Raggatt McDougall s award winning extension (1994).

Theatre and Cinemas: St Kilda has three main theatres, each catering to a different niche use, all are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The National Theatre (formerly the Victory) on the corner Barkly and Carlisle Streets is a Beaux Arts styled performing arts venue built in 1920 which is home to the oldest ballet school in Australia (established 1939). The Palais Theatre is located on the Esplanade and was built in 1927 to the design of Henry White as a cinema (formerly Palais Pictures). It is now used as a live music and concert venue. The Astor Theatre on Chapel Street is a modern/art deco styled cinema built in 1935 to the design of Ray Morton Taylor. It features the largest screen in southern hemisphere and operates as an arthouse cinema with its own year-long film festival and private functions.

Churches: St Kilda is home to a large number of places of worship built over the years to serve primarily the Christian and Jewish faiths, although many of the churches have since been converted for other uses. The St Kilda Hebrew Congregation built between 1872 and 1880 in Charnwood Road was one of the earliest. The present building, diagonally opposite the original site (now a block of flats) but located in Charnwood Grove was consecrated on 13 March 1927.
The former Baptist Church, built in 1876 at 16 Crimea Street served as a masonic hall before being acquired by St Michael's Grammar School. The St Kilda Parish Mission Uniting Church, built in 1877 on the corner Chapel and Carlisle Streets is notable for its polychromatic brick and slate roof design. St Kilda Presbyterian Church, built in 1878 on the corner of Alma Road and Barkly Street was designed by Wilson and Beswicke architects. The Sacred Heart Church is a St Kilda landmark with its tall tower built on Grey Street in 1890 to the design of renowned colonial architect Reed in partnership with Henderson & Smart architects. The former St Kilda Uniting Church on the corner Fitzroy and Princes Streets became part of an apartment complex in the late 1990s.
The Holy Trinity Church built between 1882 and 1889 on the corner of Brighton Road and Dickens Street is another church by Reed of Reed & Barnes. All Saints' Anglican Church, on the corner of Dandenong Road and Chapel Street, was designed by Nathaniel Billing with the foundation stone laid in 1858, becoming what is believed to be the largest Anglican parish church in the southern hemisphere, able to seat 1400 people, All Saints' is also known for its male choir which is the only parish church choir of its kind left in Australia. Other notable churches include the Christ Church Complex on the corner Acland Street and Church Square.

The St Kilda Sea Baths is a Moorish themed building built in the late 1920s and demolished in the 1990s leaving only the front facade. It was redeveloped in keeping with the original style and continues a history of sea baths in St Kilda which dates back to the 1850s.

Hotels: St Kilda features many notable grand old hotels, some which still operate as licensed premises and others that function as accommodation, most of which are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The most famous is the Esplanade Hotel on the Esplanade. Built in 1878 and later modified, the Esplanade is an iconic pub and live music venue known by locals simply as the 'Espy'. The St Kilda Coffee Palace, built in the 1870s was once the St Kilda's main coffee palace. It is now a busy backpackers hostel. The George Hotel built in 1887 on the corner of Fitzroy and Grey streets. From 1979 to the mid '80s the "Crystal Ballroom" at the George (briefly the Seaview Hotel) became the heart and soul of Australia's Punk-inspired music scene, launching artists such as Nick Cave, Hunters and Collectors, Models and many more. In the 1990s, it was converted into studio apartments. Many of the interior and exterior features are in need of restoration. The Prince of Wales Hotel is another famous hotel which was built in 1940 in the moderne style on the site of the first Prince of Wales which was built in 1920. It has been used as a cabaret venue and is now another live music venue.

Catani Gardens

St Kilda is known for its many parks and gardens, many featuring combinations of the predominant Canary Island date palms, which are synonymous with the area and Californian fan palms. Some of the notable gardens include St Kilda Botanic Gardens on Blessington Street, which has heritage features and gates, a conservatory, rose garden, lake and sustainable Eco Centre building. The gardens were once surrounded by mansions, but was subject to unit development in the 1960s.

The St Kilda Foreshore and Catani Arch are on Jacka Boulevarde, while the upper Esplanade reserve where the Sunday markets are held features the Catani Clock Tower, heritage toilets and vaults. The Catani Gardens which sit between the foreshore, Beaconsfield Parade and the Esplanade includes a War Memorial, Liet. James Cook statue and Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron Buildings. O'Donnell Gardens is adjacent to Luna Park on Acland Street and features an art-deco monument and tall palms.

Alfred Square on the upper Esplanade has numerous war memorials, which include the South African War Memorial (1905) listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Albert Park is a large park which spans many suburbs, including St Kilda on Fitzroy Street and hosts a number of sporting fields and a recreational lake. The St Kilda Town Hall features a small public Victorian garden facing the corner of busy Brighton Road and Carlisle Street.

St Kilda is also home to one of Melbourne's few remaining Indigenous Australian landmarks, the Corroboree Tree. The red gum eucalyptus, estimated at being between four and seven hundred years old, is located next to Queens Road, close to the junction with Fitzroy Street. A plaque close to its base reads "Aboriginals of early settlement days congregated and held their ceremonies under and in the vicinity of this tree". These ceremonies celebrated important events, told traditional stories and promoted unity between communities, and are commonly known by the generic term, corroboree, or ngargee in the local language. The site continued to be used, both for ceremonial purposes and as a fringe camp, for some years after British settlement in 1835, as is evidenced by Jacob Miller who told his son how he had witnessed the remnant Kulin population "perform their dancing about the old tree" after moving into the area during the 1850s.

The "Veg Out" Community Gardens at the former St Kilda Bowling Club in the Peanut Farm reserve is another popular public garden. The gardens are primarily rented by residents of apartments in the area and offer local residents the opportunity to express themselves in a small plot of dirt, which results in many colourful artistic displays.

St Kilda has run Melbourne's first major arts and crafts market which has been run on the Esplanade every Sunday since the 1980s. It has been rivalled in Melbourne in recent years by the Southbank art and craft market on Southbank promenade.

St Kilda is also home to many major annual events. The largest of these is the St Kilda Festival, which since 1980 has grown over recent years and now attracts over half a million young people to the area each year. St Kilda also hosts the annual gay Pride March, which starts at Lakeside Drive and heads down Fitzroy Street to the Catani Gardens. St Kilda is also home to the many venues of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

Until 2009, St Kilda was home to the Community Cup festival which celebrates grassroots Australian rules football having attracted record attendances of up to 23,000 and raising money for local charity the Sacred Heart Mission. A similar annual celebrity cricket match known as Batting for the Battlers is played at the Peanut Farm opposite Luna Park and attracts a crowd of up to 2,000. Other local events include the St Kilda Film Festival and St Kilda Writers Festival.

During the Edwardian and Victorian eras, St Kilda became a favoured suburb of Melbourne s elite, and many palatial mansions were constructed along its hills and waterfront. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, St Kilda served a similar function for Melburnians as did Coney Island to the residents of New York City and its history draws an interesting parallel.

Densely populated postwar St Kilda became Melbourne s red-light district, home to low-cost rooming houses. Since the late 1960s, St Kilda has become known for its culture of bohemianism and as home to many prominent artists, musicians and subcultures, including punks and techno scene. While some of these groups still maintain a presence in St Kilda, in recent years the district has experienced rapid growth and has been embraced by the wider community, pushing many lower socio-economic groups out to other areas.

Before being officially named St Kilda in 1841 by Charles La Trobe, who was superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, the area was known by several names, including Green Knoll andThe Village of Fareham. It was named after the schooner the Lady of St Kilda, which was owned between 1834 and 1840 by Sir Thomas Acland. In 1840 Thomas Acland sold the vessel to Jonathan Cundy Pope of Plymouth who sailed for Port Phillip in Melbourne in February 1841. While there the vessel was moored at the main beach for most of that year, which was soon known asthe St. Kilda foreshore. 

St Kilda was named after a schooner 'Lady of St Kilda' (which moored at the main beach for much of 1841) by Charles La Trobe and the ship's master and early settler Lieutenant James Ross Lawrence. There was never a 'Saint' Kilda. The schooner Lady of St. Kilda  was named in honour of Lady Grange, who was imprisoned on the island of Hirta, the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, on the western edge of Scotland, by her husband in 1734-40. According to the United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre the name 'St Kilda' derives from Skildar, the Viking name for shields, reflecting the outline of the islands which resembled shields when viewed from the sea.