Bell Street to where it meets Hume Freeway in Craigieburn in 2006; the road in its entirety is still presently known (and signposted) as Sydney Road. Community In February 1841, George Jones opened a retail store on Sydney Road in Pentridge. The Victorian gold rush in the 1850s caused businesses to flourish on Sydney Road. Many were established to supply the miners on their trek north to the gold fields. Numerous hotels were built along Sydney Road in this period including the Brunswick Hotel, the Cornish Arms Hotel, the Sarah Sands Hotel, the Cumberland Arms Hotel, the Edinburgh Castle Hotel and the Court House Hotel. It was originally called Pentridge Road, as it connected the city with Pentridge prison. It was renamed Sydney Road in 1859. The early hub of business activity was between Weston Street and Albert Street in Brunswick, but by the 1880s businesses were rapidly being established beyond Albion Street. In the 1920s the clothing and textile industries grew; evidence of their presence in the area can still be seen in the existence of tailors shops, fabric shops and an abundance of wedding gown shops. During the 1930s the Unemployed Workers Movement held street meetings on the corner of Sydney Road and Phoenix Street. These meetings were harassed and suppressed by the police, under the direct orders of Police Commissioner, General Thomas Blamey. Young Australian artist Noel Counihan played a significant part in this campaign. The State Government, concerned about the public sympathy being generated, eventually changed the law in regard to obstruction, with no requirement of permits to speak. A Free Speech memorial was built outside the Mechanics' Institute on the corner of Sydney and Glenlyon Roads to commemorate the success of the free speech fights. Counihan's work as an artist and local resident is also commemorated by the Counihan Gallery on Sydney Road run by the City of Moreland Council. During the second world war and in the 1950s, Sydney Road came alive with late night shopping. This included late night shopping parades with floats. The construction of the Barkly Square shopping complex immediately to the east of Sydney Road in the 1980s coincided with a decline in the success of the strip. The Sydney Road Brunswick Association was formed in the early 1990s to provide a focus for action to revive the strip, utilising a range of community development and marketing techniques. With postwar