MELBOURNE - Bourke St

Melbourne Street Art on the 86 Tram Route: City of Melbourne

Note: Click on any image to see an enlarged version

The City of Melbourne page of Melbourne Street Art 86 features street art between stop 5 (Elizabeth Street) and stop 9 (Spring Street | Parliament House). This includes a number of extensive street art sites in lanes and alleys: The long, narrow Union Lane, leading off Bourke Street Mall, one of the best known street art sites in Melbourne; Caledonian lane near the intersection of Swanston and Bourke Streets; and Croft Alley, off Little Bourke Street.

There is a great deal more street art to be found across the city, but the works listed here reflect the site criteria of focusing on what there is to see in streets or lanes leading off the tram route, or the first street parallel to it. Very little is to be found along trams stops 1 to 4, the part of the city consisting mostly of office buildings and graced with greater security and perhaps greater zeal from building occupants to remove art and graffiti almost immediately - I found workmen erasing the nighttime work of others with the application of brown or black paint a couple of times during early morning explorations with my camera.

When there are extensive sites in roads parallel with the route of the 86 it is always difficult to know the best sequence to present them. In this case I have chosen to put them in strict order as the 86 travels up Bourke Street from its starting point in the Melbourne Docklands, towards the Victorian Parliament House.

A pdf version is available here: Melbourne Street Art 86 - City of Melbourne street art locations map

A 10 page pdf abridged version of this web page, together with the map above, is available here to download or print: Melbourne Street Art 86 - City of Melbourne mini guide and street art locations map. 

I have not featured all the works on this part of the route; selections are based on what appeals to me. It is well worth making your own explorations to see what you can discover and might like. Street artworks do get replaced, added to or removed sometimes, so what you see here as of January 2013 may be different in some instances at a later date. If you are interested in other street art locations across central Melbourne, a downloadable map is available below, and you can see photographs of the locations on the CENTRAL MELBOURNE - street art catalog and map page.

A pdf version is available here: Melbourne Street Art 86 - Map of main street art locations in Central Melbourne 

1.  McKillop Street
86 Tram Stop 5 (Elizabeth Street)

Artists: Phibs, Lister

2.  Union Lane
86 Tram Stop 5 (Elizabeth Street)

This narrow lane is about 100m long and is covered with art for its entirely from the pavement to above 3m on both sides,  merging into a kind of uninterrupted spray paint tapestry. The photographs below are only a tiny selection of the extent of what there is to see here.

Artists: Herakut

3.  Turners Alley
86 Tram Stop 6 (Swanston Street)

You will see this alleyway a little way up Swanston Street, just past the bag shop on the corner of Swanston and Bourke Streets.

Artist (large facial image): Stabs

4.  Caledonian Lane (near corner of Swanston Street and Little Bourke Street, Bourke Street mall side)
86 Tram Stop 6 (Swanston Street)

Artists: AWOL crew

Artist: Stabs

Artists: Makatron (monster); Debs (female figure); Phibs (totem)

Artist (faces): Michael Porter

Artist: Baby Guerilla

5.  Bourke Street near tram stop
86 Tram Stop 6 (Swanston Street)

Artists: Alison Weaver and Paul Quinn

6.  Bullens Lane (off Little Bourke Street, close to Russell Street)
86 Tram Stop 7 (Russell Street)

7.  Above shop front near the corner of Russell and Bourke Streets
86 Tram Stop 7 (Russell Street)

Artist: Biro

8.  Coverlid Place (off Little Bourke Street, Parliament House side of Russell Street)
86 Tram Stop 7 (Russell Street)

Artist (left): Shida

9.  Corrs Lane (a little further up on the left)
86 Tram Stop 7 (Russell Street)

Artists: Da Mental Vaporz -  Blo, Brusk, Dran, Gris1, Jaw, Kan, Sowat and Butterfly

Snapshots - DMV - Chinatown - Melbourne : Invurt article on the work below

10.  Croft Alley (a little further up on the right)
86 Tram Stop 7 (Russell Street)

This alley turn left at the face at the end of this shot, and then right. Most of the walls are covered with art and most of what is to seen in January 2013 was repainted by commission from a Ironlak, a paint company, in 2010. A video can be seen here.

Artists include: Reals, Does, Sirum, Tues, Sofles, Vans the Omega, Meks, Linz and Okeas

11.  Westwood Place
86 Tram Stop 9 (Spring Street | Parliament House) or 86 Tram Stop 7 (Russell Street)

Westwood Place is accessed from Bourke Street through the narrow alleyway below. It is on the right looking up Bourke Street towards Parliament House, about 50m up from Exhibition Street.

12.  Crossley Street
86 Tram Stop 9 (Spring Street | Parliament House)

Artist (lion head): Sunfigo

Artist: Sunfigo

13.  Liverpool Street
86 Tram Stop 9 (Spring Street | Parliament House)

14.  Windsor Place
86 Tram Stop 9 (Spring Street | Parliament House)
This is a City of Melbourne commissioned public art piece (details in third photograph down).

15.  Spring Street (In narrow alley)
86 Tram Stop 9 (Spring Street | Parliament House)

The purple artwork below is on the left of this alley, which is a short distance up Spring Street on the corner of The Imperial pub.

Artists: Simz & Mishap

Artists: Simz & Mishap

Return to top of page

Next page