Coromandel Place

Coromandel Place was classified as a public place.

Name pre-1856.

Located at or near: 134-136 Little Collins Street.

Probable or possible origin of name: Migrant ship, from Plymouth, USA.

Location is approximate.

For more information, see: Bate, W., Broome, R., Davis, N., May, A. J., & Stitt, H. (2024). The story of Melbourne’s lanes: Essential but unplanned (pp. 23, 55, 178, 38-39, 44-45). ISBN 978-1-875173-12-9.

"In the lanes of sector IV (as in the others), among many small factories, were the fledglings of a new technological phase, like the appearance in the twentieth century of Australian Rubber Mills in Coates Lane and a gramophone repairer in Coromandel Place. The ice cream giant, Peter's American Delicacy Company, was born in Meyer Place, and broadcasting began from 3LO and 3AR in Melbourne Place in the 1920s. Hidden away in 1935 were craftsmen in gold, stained glass and copper, a 'sanitary' plumber, and (in Alfred Place) Felton, Grimwade and Duerdin, makers of surgical implements. Otherwise the rag trade was dominant, as it had been from the 1880s. 'The Lane' spread through dozens of narrow inlets off Flinders Lane, especially between Russell and Exhibition streets. Many were anonymous in 1895 when only La Trobe, Ramsden, Watson, Argus, Oliver and Hosier were named. Finding people was much easier by 1935, although there may have been fewer street signs than names in Sands & McDougal's Directory-for Oliver, Hosier, Freemasons, Ellis, Chester, Hockins, Lush, Moore, Malthouse, Corporation and Higsons lanes, and for Henderson, Ramsden and Watson places, Argus Alley and George Parade. Makers of dresses, shirts, underwear, suits, uniforms, coats, mantles, and furs crowded in behind the large soft goods importers who fronted Flinders Lane itself. There were also allied trades like leather work, pleating, spokestitching, and sewing machine repairs." p. 23.

"The original roughness was not intentional. Subdivisions near the port carried high-sounding names-Coromandel, Powells, Russell, Tavistock and Victoria places, Cheethams and Wright lanes and the terrace of houses, Roach Terrace.Yet only 31 people lived in them in 1847, compared with hundreds along unnamed tracks. Off Little Bourke, there were 307, off Little Collins, 100, and off Flinders Lane 35 inhabitants living in anonymous lanes. Lanes obviously bred lanes, for the major streets had few. Only 46 people lived in offshoots from Collins Street, 34 off Bourke, 16 off Lonsdale, 4 off Flinders, and 2 each off Elizabeth and La Trobe streets. Owners of important allotments probably shared the view of James Graham, a merchant, that cutting up those frontages would devalue them by bringing unpleasant neighbours. He was dismayed that a subdivision near his property had become a perfect nest of wretched hovels and a complete den of infamy." p. 55.