The Origins of Smith Street

Smith Street is one of Melbourne’s oldest thoroughfares dating back to the first suburban land subdivision in Melbourne in 1838. Smith Street forms the eastern border of Fitzroy, Melbourne’s first suburb, and the western border of Collingwood; about 3 Kilometres from Melbourne’s centre. At first Smith Street split the suburb of Collingwood in two but then the eastern half of the suburb was named Newtown and then later, Fitzroy.

Smith Street originally formed part of a winding dirt track that went to Heidelberg. It was the only road out of the city into the north eastern district of the fledgling colony. Smith Street was later straightened when the area was surveyed for the city’s first subdivision and subsequent land sales and became Melbourne’s first suburban shopping strip. In Victorian times it was one the busiest and most important shopping centres in the Australian colonies.