Carlton Association - Beginnings

Beginnings

The Association was formed in March 1969 by residents of Carlton and neighbouring Carlton North, in order to mobilise opposition to the Housing Commission of Victoria's (HCV) plans to redevelop large tracts of the two suburbs under its program of slum clearance. The HCV had long considered much of the housing stock of the inner suburbs of Melbourne to be unfit for habitation. The Commission’s modus operandi involved the compulsory acquisition of dwellings in a designated block, the wholesale demolition of these, and construction of high-rise flats of public housing. The commission flats, as they are known to locals, feature prominently in the skyline of Melbourne’s inner suburbs to this day. The first such complex of high-rise Commission flats in Carlton, announced in 1957, was constructed in the block bordered by Lygon, Rathdowne, Princes and Neill Streets. Despite vocal protests by residents whose houses were ‘reclaimed’ to make way for this development, the response from the Commission to these and other voices of opposition was invariably that ‘broader community goals must take preference over individual interests’.

When additional plans to redevelop 291 acres (1.18 km2) of Carlton emerged in the mid-1960s, a group of Carlton traders published a vociferous pamphlet attacking the proposal under the title “HANDS OFF CARLTON”. Whilst the long term goal of the Commission was to redevelop this entire block of land, the Commissioners focused their immediate attention on a smaller parcel of land within this selected area: the block bounded by Lee, Lygon, Princes and Drummond Streets in Carlton North, containing nineteenth century terrace housing. However, this proposal was met with significantly more opposition from locals, who, this time around, were able to organise themselves effectively.