Melbourne Books acquires Buckrich history
Melbourne Books has acquired world rights to Fitzroy North: People, Place, Protest by Judith Buckrich.
“[Beginning with] the local Aboriginal communities prior to European colonisation, Fitzroy North: People, Place and Protest reveals the personal lives of early colonists, gold rush era migrants, people displaced by war and conflict, and young revolutionaries in the 60s and 70s,” said the publisher. “Buckrich explores the changes to infrastructure, transport, demographics and employment opportunities available to the people of Fitzroy North over a period of 155 years.”
Buckrich was born in Budapest in 1950 and emigrated to Melbourne in 1958. Her book The Village of Ripponlea, won a Victorian Community History Award in 2016, and Acland Street: The Grand Lady of St Kilda won the 2018 Fellowship of Australian Writers Award for nonfiction. Her previous titles include The Long and Perilous Journey: A History of Port Melbourne in 2002 and Yarra Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River in 2024.
She said, “Fitzroy North is not what you think. In its recent iteration as the most liveable and community minded suburb of Melbourne (and very middle class), its built environment hints at a complex history. Not really a suburb until the late 1860s, it has seen great social and demographic changes. From the Brunswick Street oval to the Merri Creek, it had empty uninviting parts that were not settled until the 1920s. Its mansions have been the homes of the rich and struggling boarding house tenants. It is where impresario and philanthropist George Coppin built the Old Colonists and Old Actors Homes in the 1870s and European migrants poured in during the 1950s and 1960s only to be replaced by the trendies who made it a politically aware hotspot. It provides a surprising and moving account of life in Melbourne during the last 155 years.”
Melbourne Books publisher David Tenenbaum said, “After the success of Dr Buckrich’s recent book, Yarra Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River, we are pleased to announce her upcoming work on the unique suburb of Fitzroy North, with its distinctive history and community.”
Melbourne Books plans to publish Fitzroy North: People, Place, Protest in March 2026.
Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions
