Carlton Place, Carlton, C.1936
This photo is one of a series taken by social reformer Frederick Oswald Barnett in the 1930s to highlight the slum conditions that existed in Carlton at the time. His comments are attached to the photo. Through the use of photos like this, Barnett aimed to raise public awareness of inner-city poverty and the need for improved housing conditions. In 1936, he was a prominent member of a group called the ‘Housing Investigation and Slum Abolition Board’ that set about conducting a survey of housing within a five-mile radius of the GPO and making recommendations to the government on rehousing people living in slum conditions. Their lobbying was one of the factors that led the Victorian Government in 1937 to establish the Housing Commission of Victoria. Barnett was one of three part-time members appointed to the Commission.