Fitzroy, Victoria

Fitzroy is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, three kilometres (two miles) northeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra local government area. Fitzroy recorded a population of 10,431 at the 2021 census.

Planned as Melbourne's first suburb in 1839, it later became one of the city's first areas to gain municipal status, in 1858, then known as Fitz Roy. It occupies Melbourne's smallest and most densely populated area outside the CBD, just 100 ha.

Fitzroy is known as a cultural hub, particularly for its live music scene and street art, and is the main home of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Its commercial heart is Brunswick Street, one of Melbourne's major retail, culinary strips. the intersection of Smith and Gurtrude street has become a nightlife hub, especially for queer venues and events.

Long associated with the working class, Fitzroy has undergone waves of urban renewal and gentrification since the 1980s and today is home to a wide variety of socio-economic groups, featuring both some of the most expensive rents in Melbourne and one of its largest public housing complexes, Atherton Gardens.

Its built environment is diverse and features some of the finest examples of Victorian era architecture in Melbourne. Much of the suburb is a historic preservation precinct, with many individual buildings and streetscapes covered by Heritage Overlays. The most recent changes to Fitzroy are mandated by the Melbourne 2030 Metropolitan Strategy, in which both Brunswick Street and nearby Smith Street are designated for redevelopment as Activity centres.

The suburb was named after Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, the Governor of New South Wales from 1846 to 1855. It is bordered by Alexandra Parade (north), Victoria Parade (south), Smith Street (east) and Nicholson Street.

The area that is now known as Fitzroy and Collingwood was part of the territory of the country of the Woiwurrung people of the Kulin nation. The area that is now known as Fitzroy was the land of the Wurundjeri people.

Anthropologist Alfred William Howitt recorded Ngár-go (meaning "high ground") as the Woiwurrung word for Fitzroy in working notes rediscovered in 2018, likely sourced from conversations with elder William Barak between 1897 and 1901. However, it is unclear whether this referred to a broader area (possibly a clan boundary) or an individual hill. In another document, Howitt wrote that Ngár-go referred to a net bag worn by men over their shoulders.