wd_western_market

 The Western Market 
 * In 1839 the government in New South Wales passed an act allowing towns to build markets. The Western Market, also as known as the General Market, was built in 1842. The market was huge. It took up the whole block stretching across Market Street, Collins Street, Williams Street and Flinders Lane. In the early days the market sold nearly everything but by the end it only sold fruit.

The market was open every day of the week but they called Wednesdays and Saturdays "Market Days". Every morning in the summer they would ring a bell at 6 o'clock to open the market. The market was closed at sunset every day but on Market Days people could still come in at any time of the night to setup there store. The shape of the market was a square. The north-west part of the market sold fruit, vegetables and other garden products. The south-west corner sold potatoes only. The south-east part was for meat, dairy products and fish. The north-east part of the market was for hardware and groceries. People had to pay fees for keeping a stall or a stand in the Western Market.

Fees were five shillings per week for a stall and two shillings and sixpence per day for a stand. Penalties applied when the post and the chain fence which surrounded the Western Market was damaged. The penalty was really harsh; it was twenty shillings or the equivalent of four weeks' fee for keeping a stall.**

**In 1930 the Melbourne City Council decided to knock down the Western Market and build stalls at the Queen Victoria Market instead. Tenants of the Western Market were transferred to the Queen Victoria Market. By 1934 the Western Market was completely gone and it became a carpark. All that was left were the ruins of the Western Market but now there are high rised buildings built on there. **

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