Donald Melville

The Hon. Donald Melville (1829 – 20 March 1919) was a Scottish-born Australian politician, auctioneer, and rural broker.

Biography He was born in Aberdeen and christened on 19 November 1829; his parents were Donald Melville and Margaret Jolly. He worked as a clerk, but later migrated to Colonial Victoria, where he was a wool store traveller. Around 1871 he became an auctioneer at Brunswick; in that year he also married Kate Mackay, with whom he had five daughters.

Melville established D. Melville and Company around 1874, a firm of wool and grain brokers and auctioneers in Melbourne. He served on Brunswick Municipal Council from 1878 to 1884 and was mayor from 1881 to 1882. In 1882 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Southern Province. He was Minister of Defence and Minister of Health from 1899 to 1900. In 1904 he transferred to Melbourne North Province, and served until his death in Brunswick in 1919.

Heritage-listed grain storage building The Melville's Grain Stores are a substantial former grain storage facility located at 1–17 Colebrook Street in Brunswick, an inner northern suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. The building was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 30 July 1986.

The complex of three bluestone grain stores was erected between 1888 and 1891 for Donald Melville. The grain stores represent a substantial use of bluestone and are a reflection of the 19th century quarrying industry in Brunswick. They are a large and rare expression of 19th-century trade in grain corn, seeds, hay, etc., prior to bulk supply of grain. They are a substantial example of a grain store not related to the milling industry. In 2023, it was reported that a planning application was lodged to convert another of the former grain stores into a live music venue with capacity for up to 875 patrons.