Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane is Melbourne’s most famous street art location. 

In years gone past it deserved this reputation, unfortunately now it often does not. 

Now it is dirty and untidy and any artists work that is created there is unlikely to last very long at all, the blatant disregard by taggers for valuable art created by artists is disheartening, it is little wonder artists do not want to use their materials and time to paint here as much any more.

Melbourne City Council’s decision some time ago to remove the “legal” painting status from a number of other laneways in Melbourne, leaving Hosier Lane as the only legal laneway in the CBD has certainly contributed to this messiness. Hosier Lane is now often just a laneway of tags rather than anything worthy of being called art.

Many artists feel unsafe in the laneway now and many will not go there alone to paint. There has been abuse and assaults in the laneway, I myself have been abused and chased out of the laneway a couple of times, I know of a number of artists who have been abused and assaulted. There is rarely any police or council presence in the laneway, I am a frequent visitor and rarely see any. My advice is to visit during busy times when there are larger number of people around.

Matt Adnate’s “Marlu” and a couple of other artworks that are “up high” are a saving grace, but other art does not last long.

On 10th April, 2026 the Mariner Group (Forum Melbourne) removed the She Matters - Stop Killing Women mural from the wall in Hosier Lane and have told it's creator Sherele Moody that it cannot be put back.

This mural, which has survived in Hosier Lane for over 13 months was in my mind the most important mural in Melbourne. It commemorated the lives of 203 Australian women and children killed by domestic violence since January 1, 2024.

This wasn't just a mural. It was a work of love and hope. It needs to be there, and the Mariner Group should be ashamed of their attitude, and need to understand how people feel about this decision and it's likely impact on their venue. If they have this attitude about domestic violence against women and children their venue does not deserve people's support.

Forum Melbourne have also painted "Emergency Exit Do Not Obstruct" signs on three of the alcoves in the lane. In late June an artists mural was power-washed off the alcove nearest to Flinders Lane despite the fact that it respected the signage (was only painted under the signage). So apparently we now have three of the prime mural locations in Melbourne's only legal laneway off-limits.

We have recently seen some of our best graffiti writers return to Hosier, like Dvate, Bailer, Ling, Sofles and others, but even their brilliant graffiti writing does not last very long.

The Melbourne Street Art Collective regularly run events in Hosier Lane, such as “Christmas in Hosier” and “Halloween in Hosier” where a dedicated group of artists try to bring colour and life back to the laneway with their murals, stencils and paste-ups, but as with most art in the lane these efforts are quickly subsumed by the tagging and crappy painting.

Over the last couple of years the lane seems perpetually filled with badly painted hearts and music notes, these often seem to be an attempt to claim other artists work by painting them around smaller and larger works. It is such a shame that there is no attempt by the Melbourne City Council to stop this destructiveness.

So, while Hosier Lane is still busy and vibrant with tourists it is such a shame that people are visiting our most famous street art location and finding it in it’s current state. We can only hope that the Melbourne City Council makes some effort to restore Hosier Lane to it’s former glory.

Recent construction upgrades to the laneway by the council are now complete so the laneway is now fully open again after many months. The replacement of the old cobblestones has increased accessibility but has also reduced the character of the laneway significantly.

On the 10th September to mark Melbourne's first ever NFL game with the LA Rams and San Francisco playing at the MCG, the Las Vegas Raiders (another NFL team that has marketing rights in Australia) sponsored a “takeover” of Hosier Lane. Matt “Ling” brought together a 29-person paint-up, transforming the lane with the Raiders’ iconic silver and black from many of our best graffiti writers. You can see the works created at this link.