Spraycations in Melbourne

The police have admitted that Melbourne is the national capital of graffiti and increasingly more international vandals are coming for ¨spraycations¨.

These people are spreading the plague of graffiti throughout the city, while cleaning is paid for with public money.

Last year Metro Trains spent $10 million, City of Melbourne spent $800,000 and VicRoads spent $380,000 on cleaning up graffiti attacks.

The high visibility of the graffitied laneways in the CBD have functioned as magnets, attracting local and international crews that have transformed Melbourne into a graffiti hotspot over time.

The risk of promoting graffiti in certain areas of the city is that it is an open invitation to the entire world. In the graffiti culture, it is common to want to make a reputation for yourself and this can lead to people illegally vandalizing trains and other locations with graffiti.

VicRoads has been forced to install barriers and fences in some of its infrastructure for people not to climb and tag their signs and signals. In Public areas, shrubs have been planted in front of containment walls to prevent people passing through and having access to spray paint the walls. The Metro trains have also been equipped with ink and paint-resistant interiors.

However, the city government is determined to preserve certain Lanes. In a Melbourne tourism pamphlet it says that Hosier, Rutledge and Union Lane are known worldwide as street art icons in the heart of the urban culture of Melbourne

The Government helps promote muralists such as Adnate, Sofles, Putos among many others and has also provided them with materials, tools and locations for their murals, in an effort to keep Melbourne as a hub of street art.