It sits off the top end of Chinatown on Lt Bourke St near Spring St and backs onto the recently closed Palace Theatre where Chrissie played with The Divinyls.
An ecstatic Counciillor Rohan Leppert tweeted after the vote: “Amphlett Lane – endorsed! Proud to move the motion tonight and bring about Melbourne’s next music lane.”
A petition was presented to Council last July, three months after the Divinyls singer died in New York. The Future Melbourne Committee immediately threw its support behind the move. A petition set up drew 7,300 signatures.
A number of unnamed laneways were suggested for Amphlett Lane. They included one off Meyers Place near the Waiters Club, one off Westwood Place, one off Alfred Place behind the Stamford Plaza Hotel near Collins Street, one off Pink Alley near Collins Street and one off Higson Lane which is off Flinders Street.
The final site was suggested in March by Leon Wilson, team leader of Land Survey at City of Melbourne. It got the approval of Amphlett’s widower, musician Charley Drayton, and her cousin Patricia Amphlett.
The initial plan to call the laneway Chrissy Amphlett Lane was turned down by the registrar the Office of Geographic Names because only surnames can be used.
