Street names
Many of central Melbourne's street names are evidence of the grand vision of the city's pioneers who named the streets after explorers, colonial leaders, British nobles and monarchs.
Although streets like La Trobe, Collins and Flinders were named after key local figures – Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe, explorer Matthew Flinders and Captain David Collins of the 1803 Sorrento settlement – others were named in honour of British officials and royalty:
The streets from the west to the east were called after Lord Spencer (the Lord Althorpe of a Melbourne Administration), Governor King, of New South Wales; William Street, after William the 4th, and Queen Street after his Consort.
– Garryowen, Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1888
Finn, E 1888, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, centennial edition, 1976, Vols 1–3, Heritage Publications, Melbourne, Vic.
Versions of history that we call 'facts' have to start somewhere. At some point, someone, like Garryowen, decides what they think is true and records it in a text people can refer to in the future.
The rationale for the naming of Spring Street, however, was somewhat of a mystery. Journalist Garryowen pieced together a theory based on the testimony of locals:
The only theory that ever suggested itself to my mind, with any show of probability was that, the street, when pegged out, was so far away in the ‘bush', and it passed over such a smooth, grassy, picturesquely timbered stretch of country, up a beautiful hill from the Yarra - across towards the Carlton Gardens, that either Governor or surveyor was induced by the fragrance of the gum trees and the freshness of the day, to present a votive offering to the goddess of Spring, whose season in another country they seemed to be enjoying, and so Melbourne came to have a Spring Street. This fanciful surmise has been singularly sustained by the testimony of Mr. Hoddle.
– Garryowen, Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1888
Finn, E 1888, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, centennial edition, 1976, Vols 1–3, Heritage Publications, Melbourne, Vic.
It's hard to know exactly what happened in the past, even when you're dealing with 'evidence'. It's up to you to read between the lines of a source and decide whether the information is accurate.
