Meat market

Until 1874, meat wholesaling took place at the City Meat Market – where the current Queen Victoria Market stands. In that year a group of butchers founded their own Victoria Meat Market on Elizabeth Street and demand quickly outgrew their space. Commissioning architect George Johnson, Meat Market was unveiled in 1880. The centre of Melbourne’s meat trade for almost 100 years, Meat Market was in Operation until 1974.

Originally geared for horse and cart, the building failed to meet the needs of the modern meat trade as technology and industry progressed. Petrol driven vehicles and exhaust fumes contravened health regulations and a lack of space for refrigeration equipment and cars made trading difficult. Butchers started to move out and by 1973 there were only six stallholders remaining. The once bustling market hall was rendered quiet with the advent of telephone orders.