Queen Victoria Market

Queen Victoria Market has traded on the northern edge of the Melbourne grid since 1878 and still covers several city blocks. The open sheds hold fruit and vegetable stalls under long iron roofs, with traders calling prices down and discounting hard in the last hour. Under cover, the Dairy Produce Hall is a row of delicatessen counters selling cheese, smallgoods, olives and bread, much of it reflecting the Italian, Greek and eastern European traders who built the market's postwar character. Separate halls handle meat and seafood. A general merchandise section sells clothing and souvenirs and is the least interesting part. Night markets run on Wednesday evenings in summer and again in winter.

History

Melbourne's first official fruit and vegetable market, the Western Market, opened in 1841 and was overtaken by the Eastern Market of the late 1840s, and the Queen Victoria Market was built over the Old Melbourne Cemetery, the city's first burial ground, where John Batman lies among early settlers. Small markets grew round the partly closed cemetery from the late 1850s, a brick meat hall went up in 1867, and in 1876 the government reserved the cemetery site for markets; the Queen Victoria Market officially opened in March 1878, adding sheds, shops along Elizabeth Street in 1880 and the façade of the Meat and Fish Hall in 1884 (Wikipedia, Queen Victoria Market).

What you'll find

• The Dairy Produce Hall - the enclosed row of cheese, smallgoods and bread counters, the best eating in the market.
• The fruit and vegetable sheds - long open aisles under iron roofs, cheapest in the final trading hour.
• The meat and fish halls - tiled interiors with whole fish on ice and butchers working to order.
• The night markets - evening runs of food stalls and music in summer and winter seasons.

When to go

The market is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays during the day, which catches out a lot of visitors. Saturday morning is the fullest and the most crowded; Tuesday and Thursday mornings are calm. Produce traders discount heavily in the last hour before closing. Summer and winter night markets run on Wednesday evenings and are more about street food than shopping.

Good to know

The general merchandise sheds are full of cheap imported goods and sunglasses and are worth skipping entirely. Saturday crowds make the produce aisles slow going with a trolley or a pram. Prices are not uniformly cheap; some stalls charge tourist rates near the entrances. Long-running redevelopment works mean sections are fenced off and layouts shift. Parking is expensive and the free tram is better.

Nearby

The Melbourne grid, Chinatown and the State Library are a short walk south.

Key facts