Heritage honour for Queen Victoria Market

City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp today joined Federal Minister for the Environment Josh Frydenberg to announce the listing at the bustling market.

The Lord Mayor said the significant $250 million investment by the City of Melbourne in the Queen Victoria Market renewal will complement the National Heritage List by protecting the values and history that underpin the market's heritage recognition.

"Through renewal, we will be protecting the very things the National Heritage List recognises and the significant place the market now holds in Australian history. This means preserving the market's long history, restoring its heritage buildings and securing its place as a traditional open-air market, which our research has reinforced, is incredibly important to everyone who experiences the market.

"It is also about getting the balance right and investing in safe, efficient and sustainable trader and customer facilities so we can secure the market's viability, while ensuring the market continues to always remain authentic.

"We are committed to protecting the heritage of the market and the respectful acknowledgment of the former cemetery, so that's why we nominated the market for the National Heritage List in the first place. The heritage listing and renewal can exist side-by-side and both are incredibly important.

The City of Melbourne first nominated the market for inclusion on the National Heritage List in 2015, and Lord Mayor Sally Capp said she was delighted that the market now had the recognition it deserved.

"The Queen Victoria Market is the largest intact 19th century market in Australia and also the site of our city's first cemetery. The national listing is well deserved and recognises the significant role and value that both play in our national history."

"We hope today's announcement provides certainty to people once and for all, that the renewal will stay true to what people love about the Queen Victoria Market, but we need to make significant investment now to secure its future," the Lord Mayor said.

The National Heritage List puts the market alongside 113 other Australian icons from the Melbourne Cricket Ground to the Great Ocean Road.

The National Heritage List recognises the market's links to the early colonial population of Melbourne and its ability to demonstrate the principal characteristics of a 19th century metropolitan produce market.

Stan Liacos, CEO of the Queen Victoria Market said that he was delighted with the National Heritage List.

"All who work, shop and visit the market know how special it is. This is welcomed recognition for our traders and market community of the important role that the market has had throughout Melbourne's history and continues to play in our community."