Street art in Melbourne

One of the underlying features that gives Australia's most populous city, Melbourne, its cosmopolitan vibes, is its street art. With many of its alleyways in the CBD designated for street art, it has proved itself to be the Australian street art capital, popular among photographers.

Street art can be political

There is perhaps no other district in Australia like that found in Australia's largest city – even Newtown in Sydney's Inner West isn't comparable. Melbourne's street art culture had humble beginnings in the 1970s–80s, after the city's socioeconomically disadvantaged were influenced by NYC's street art. Slowly but steadily, it became more popularised on the city's alleyways and railway (train and tram) lines.

Most notably, the city is very well known for its stencil graffiti – most of the CBD's street art is not low-quality graffiti that ruins the aesthetic of your local park, it is what forms the aesthetics of the CBD.

Almost all lanes/alleyways in the CBD known for street art are in Melbourne's free-tram zone, meaning that much of these can be explored at a low cost, even you're on budget travel.

While the CBD is the centre of Melbourne's art scene, you can also find street art in some of its other districts, too, such as Abbotsford, Collingwood or Fitzroy.

• 🌍 Hosier Lane – what may seem like an innocuous lane on a map is Melbourne's most iconic street for street art, with murals up to 23 metres high. Nothing on this street is permanent, though, with new pieces of art appearing within weeks apart.
  • 🌍 Rutledge Lane – being a side-lane of Hosier La has resulted in the lane being sugarcoated with street art to the 2-metre brim. Who knew that even the bins had photo-worthy street art?
• 🌍 ACDC Lane (AC/DC Lane) – named after the rock band, many murals are music-themed and of AC/DC's Malcolm Young.
• 🌍 Union Lane – the street art on this lane is perhaps some of the most low quality slap-on found in Melbourne, but much of its character has been lost to a construction site. Only the northeast of the lane still remains as it once was.
• 🌍 Caledonian Lane – although known for being the birthplace of Laneway Festival, it has many low-lying street art.
• 🌍 Centre Place – unlike other Melbourne alleyways, the street art on Centre Place is confined to the rolling doors, meaning they're only visible when the shops are closed. When the shops are open and bustling, you'll (unfortunately) have a hard time spotting street art here.
• 🌍 Duckboard Place
• 🌍 Blender Lane
• 🌍 Croft Alley
• 🌍 Degraves Street and Place – although much more well known for its street and food scene, there is some street art that can be found on the corner of Degraves St and Pl.
• 🌍 Rankins Lane
• 🌍 Presgrave Place
• 🌍 Tattersalls Lane
  • 🌍 Stevenson Lane
• 🌍 Drewery Lane
  • 🌍 Sniders Lane

• Murals and graffiti
• Sydney/Inner West – Sydney's Inner West, especially the suburb of Newtown, is Sydney's street art district, though it isn't as large nor widespread as the street art of Melbourne CBD.