Author: Meyer

FREE ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENT GROUPS IN THE CBD

Melbourne Walks  is often asked for suggestions as to what activities school classes can do while they are in the city centre while their peers in other classes are engaged in our thirty school tours so we have compiled this list of FREE activities below. All activities can be reached from Federation Square www.fedsquare.com 

1. Visit the Melbourne Visitors Centre now relocated to the nearby Melbourne Town Hall cnr Swanston Street and Flinders Street for free maps and trails. The Town Hall also has free exhibitions in the City Gallery next to the visitors centre.

2.1 Federation Square: Atrium has food, shelter and toilets and often hosts free exhibitions. There is a permanent free exhibition on the history of Federation on the upper gallery accessible from the Square. 

2.2. Federation Square: National Gallery (Contemporary) of Victoria is free on Federation Square. Includes 19th Century Gallery with Colonial art, 2nd floor. They also hold a large collection of Aboriginal art.

2.4. Federation Square: ACMI, Federation Square. How many cities have their own free Film exhibition, gallery and library?

2.5 Federation Square: Immediately adjacent to Federation Square is Birramung Marr park with a large children’s playground, an excellent place for lunch. Toilets are available.

3.  Ten minutes walk away on St Kilda Road is the other National Gallery (International) of Victoria.

4. Hosier Lane Street Art – opposite Federation Square, off Flinders Street, west of Russell. Australia’s most popular street art space. 

5. Yarra River
5. 1  In Birramung Marr Park adjacent to Federation Square and the Yarra River are many Aboriginal Installations and sculptures.
5.2 Walk upriver (east) from Birramung Marr Park a few minutes to William Barak Bridge entered from Birrarung Marr Park for a spectacular view over Melbourne or walk the whole bridge length to Yarra Park (MCG) ten minutes away.
5.3 Visit the 39 bronze Federation Bells on the Lower Birrarung walkway. They play 8.00am, 12.30pm and 5.00pm. You can compose a tune.
5.4 Walk downriver along the riverbank (west)  to
a. Evan Walker pedestrian bridge
b. Sandridge Bridge Multicultural Installation and
c. Enterprize Wharf and Indigenous Scar Installation at Enterprize Park
d. Further downriver takes to you past Polly Woodside and Southgate.

6. Free Tram Zone Trams in the City Zone are free from Spencer to Spring and Flinders to La Trobe. The zone includes Elizabeth St up to QV market. The old W class city circle tram goes around the CBD from Flinders Street Station, both ways.  The Melbourne Visitor Shuttle Bus (adults $5) departs every 30 minutes from Flinders Street outside St Pauls Cathedral 9.30am to 4.30pm.

7. Marvellous Melbourne  on Collins Street
– CBA Bank Great Dome 333 Collins (south side between Elizabeth and Queen).
– The ANZ Gothic Bank, 380 Collins Street (corner Queen and Collins north side) and the Old Stock Exchange Building (through the ANZ Gothic Bank to the rear)
– Former Stock exchange (rear of ANZ bank), 380 Collins Street, Melbourne


8. State Library,  Exhibition Hall, Free exhibitions in the hall to the right – just inside front entrance. Also free exhibitions on the half dozen upper floors.
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions

9. Queen Victoria Market Tuesday & Thursday 6am-2pm, Friday 6am-5pm (General Merchandise to 4pm)

10. Melbourne University. Walk the Billibellary (Aboriginal) Trail. Maps are online. Or just explore the historic university grounds. Trail Flyers can be found at the entrance office on Swanston Street opposite Elgin Street. The Ian Potter Gallery is also at the entrance and is free. No 1 or 15 tram along Swanston street

11. The Salvation Army Museum on the top floor of the Temple building 69 Bourke Street between Exhibition and Spring Streets). Free.  A great museum. Book first 9653 3270.

12. The Fitzroy Aboriginal Trail starts cnr Gertrude and Nicholson Street reached by Number 86 and 96 tram near the Exhibition building. Maps are online. Brilliant! Free maps available from Visitors centre, Federation square.

13. Tours of Parliament are free, bookings required:  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/visit/public-tours

14. The 1930 Conservatory at Fitzroy Gardens. Search in the Gardens also for the historic Fairy Tree and Aboriginal Scarred Tree. Visit the new Fitzroy Gardens Visitors Centre (schools need to book in advance).

15. Parks and Gardens. Walk south from Federation Square across Princes Bridge through the Domain Gardens towards the Shrine and take photos of the many weird and wonderful statues and artworks and identify them. Explore the fascinating Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens ten minutes walk east from Federation Square up Flinders Street.

16. Visit the range of Monuments on Spring Street from Collins to Lonsdale including the Womens Monster Petition, Adam Lindsay Gordon. Don’t forget the  Doug and Lady Nicholls statues in Parliamentary Reserve Park (cnr Lonsdale and Spring)

17. Utilise these great Apps:
Melbourne Visitors Guide: Current events in the City of Melbourne.
Lost 100: Point the phone at the nominated building and see past buildings. Yes, really!
Formative Melbourne Walk: The architecture and images of the Marvellous Melbourne buildings on and around Collins Street.
Transforming the Yarra: Architects and designers guide you to the places, images and buildings that have transformed the Yarra River.
The Sound of Buildings – one and two: Stories of and guides to Melbourne’s iconic places, images and buildings by writers, planners, designers.
City Walks: Self guided walks to Melbourne.
Our City: Stories of and guides to Melbourne’s iconic buildings by the National Trust
Open House Melbourne: Guide to building open annually to the public on Melbourne Open Day.

18.  See various self guided walks from the City of Melbourne.

19. The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art,  The landmark rust-red structure is one of Melbourne’s architectural icons.  111 Sturt Street, Southbank, Free,  9697 9999

20. Old Treasury Building Gold Museum, 20 Spring Street, Melbourne. Melbourne’s free museum inside of the finest 19th-century buildings in Australia. Ring first 03 9651 2233.

21. Melbourne Town Hall. Free one hour tours normally  11am and 1pm.  100 Swanston Street.  Telephone: 03 9658 9658.

22. See the stunning contemporary, sustainable and accessible architecture of RMIT University a few minutes away up Swanston Street: Storey Hall, Building 8, Building 80 (Academic Building with cafe on 7-8 floor and extraordinary views).

 

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Elwood History Walk: The Poets Triangle

Explore the 30 leafy and literary streets of Elwood, Melbourne among the many beautiful art deco buildings and parklands along  and near 1019Elwood Canal.
Read poems from the poets listed on the street signs above.
Or bring your own favourite poems or your own poems and read them.
View some of Melbourne’s finest art deco architecture.

Over 30 poets are immortalised in the street names particularly around the poetic triangle of Glenhuntly, Tennyson, and Barkly Streets. Street names include Wordsworth, Tennyson, Dryden, Browning, Ruskin, Milton, Addison, Cowper, Spenser, Thackeray, Southey, Lindsay, Byron, Goldsmith, Scott, Shelley, Keats, Meredith, Coleridge, Burns, Masonand Dickens, Bronte, Marlowe, Daley, Gordon and Lawson.
Elwood’s streets were named by St Kilda Council in the 1850s onwards after famous literary poets and authors in order to uplift the moral character of the residents of Elwood. Elwoodians had a reputation as a cantankerous bunch of malcontents who often refuse to pay their rates on the excuse that Elwood is mainly a repository of polluted swamplands, graveyards, human nightsoil depots and pig farms.
Today residents often use the term ‘Poets’ Corner’ the suburb of Elwood, Melbourne. Many of these poets are also immortalised in the street names of leafy Elwood, particularly around the poetic triangle of Glenhuntly, Tennyson, and Barkly Street

SEE  –  BOOKINGS AND PRICES  –   FOR INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND SCHOOLS 

s. Examples below:

SOUTHEY STREET
To a Goose by Robert Southey
If thou didst feed on western plains of yore
Or waddle wide with flat and flabby feet
Over some Cambrian mountain’s plashy moor,
Or find in farmer’s yard a safe retreat
From gipsy thieves and foxes sly and fleet;
If thy grey quills by lawyer guided, trace
Deeds big with ruin to some wretched race,
Or love-sick poet’s sonnet, sad and sweet,
Wailing the rigour of some lady fair;
Or if, the drudge of housemaid’s daily toil,
Cobwebs and dust thy pinion white besoil,
Departed goose! I neither know nor care.
But this I know, that thou wert very fine,
Seasoned with sage and onions and port wine.

MILTON STREET: On His Blindness by John Milton

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

 BYRON STREET: She Walks In Beauty by Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

 WORDSWORTH STREET: Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

 LAWSON STREET: A Song of the Republic by Henry Lawson

Sons of the South, awake! arise!
Sons of the South, and do.
Banish from under your bonny skies
Those old-world errors and wrongs and lies.
Making a hell in a Paradise
That belongs to your sons and you.

Sons of the South, make choice between
(Sons of the South, choose true),
The Land of Morn and the Land of E’en,
The Old Dead Tree and the Young Tree Green,
The Land that belongs to the lord and the Queen,
And the Land that belongs to you.

Sons of the South, your time will come –
Sons of the South, ’tis near –
The “Signs of the Times”, in their language dumb,
Fortell it, and ominous whispers hum
Like sullen sounds of a distant drum,
In the ominous atmosphere.

Sons of the South, aroused at last!
Sons of the South are few!
But your ranks grow longer and deeper fast,
And ye shall swell to an army vast,
And free from the wrongs of the North and Past
The land that belongs to you.

 BURNS STREET: My Heart’s in the Highlands by Robert Burns
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I go.

Farewell to the mountains high covered with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I go.

GORDON STREET: The Last Leap by Adam Lindsay Gordon

ALL is over! fleet career,
Dash of greyhound slipping thongs,
Flight of falcon, bound of deer,
Mad hoof-thunder in our rear,
Cold air rushing up our lungs,
Din of many tongues.

Once again, one struggle good,
One vain effort;—he must dwell
Near the shifted post, that stood
Where the splinters of the wood,
Lying in the torn tracks, tell
How he struck and fell.

Crest where cold drops beaded cling,
Small ear drooping, nostril full,
Glazing to a scarlet ring,
Flanks and haunches quivering,
Sinews stiffening, void and null,
Dumb eyes sorrowful.

Satin coat that seems to shine
Duller now, black braided tress
That a softer hand than mine
Far away was wont to twine,
That in meadows far from this
Softer lips might kiss.

All is over! this is death,
And I stand to watch thee die,
Brave old horse! with bated breath
Hardly drawn through tight-clenched teeth,
Lip indented deep, but eye
Only dull and dry.

With a flash that ends thy pain,
Respite and oblivion blest
Come to greet thee. I in vain
Fall: I rise to fall again:
Thou hast fallen to thy rest—
And thy fall is best

 SCOTT STREET: Answer by Sir Walter Scott

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!
To all the sensual world proclaim,
One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.
SHELLEY STREET: Good-Night by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Good-night? ah! no; the hour is ill
Which severs those it should unite;
Let us remain together still,
Then it will be good night.

How can I call the lone night good,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
Be it not said, thought, understood —
Then it will be — good night.

To hearts which near each other move
From evening close to morning light,
The night is good; because, my love,
They never say good-night.

 YEATS STREET: Brown Penny by William Butler Yeats

I whispered, ‘I am too young,’
And then, ‘I am old enough’;
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
‘Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.’
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.

 KEATS STREET: On The Sea by John Keats

It keeps eternal whisperings around
Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell
Gluts twice ten thousand caverns, till the spell
Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.
Often ’tis in such gentle temper found,
That scarcely will the very smallest shell
Be moved for days from whence it sometime fell,
When last the winds of heaven were unbound.
Oh ye! who have your eye-balls vexed and tired,
Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea;
Oh ye! whose ears are dinned with uproar rude,
Or fed too much with cloying melody,—
Sit ye near some old cavern’s mouth, and brood
Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs choired!

 BROWNING STREET: Meeting At Night by Robert Browning

The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

 KENDALL STREET: Bellbirds Henry Kendall
By channels of coolness the echoes are calling,
And down the dim gorges I hear the creek falling:
It lives in the mountain where moss and the sedges
Touch with their beauty the banks and the ledges.
Through breaks of the cedar and sycamore bowers
Struggles the light that is love to the flowers;
And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,
The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.

The silver-voiced bell birds, the darlings of daytime!
They sing in September their songs of the May-time;
When shadows wax strong, and the thunder bolts hurtle,
They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together,
They start up like fairies that follow fair weather;
And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden.

Often I sit, looking back to a childhood,
Mixt with the sights and the sounds of the wildwood,
Longing for power and the sweetness to fashion,
Lyrics with beats like the heart-beats of Passion; –
Songs interwoven of lights and of laughters
Borrowed from bell-birds in far forest-rafters;
So I might keep in the city and alleys
The beauty and strength of the deep mountain valleys:
Charming to slumber the pain of my losses
With glimpses of creeks and a vision of mosses.

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The Colonial Era – School Tour of Melbourne

EXPLORE Melbourne’s colonisation, European settlement and gold rush period, 1835-1901.
LEARN about the colonial settlers, their challenges, personalities and the impacts of colonisation on the First Nation people of the Kulin Nation.
VISIT historic buildings and places that tell the milestone stories of the colonial period such as exploration, ship arrivals, gold rush and boom, Eureka rebellion, Marvellous Melbourne and nationhood.
VIEW historic images and maps.
DURING the tour each student assumes a colonial identity.

STUDENTS of all ages respond enthusiastically to this challenging and stimulating journey through the plazas, streets, lanes and arcades of the Melbourne CBD. This interactive two-hour program allows them to explore the events of the colonial period through Melbourne’s history, identity and culture by visiting places which tell stories about milestones from Indigenous origins to early settlement to gold rush expansion to Marvellous Melbourne to Federation.

WE provide interactive activities e.g take students to buildings, handle artefacts, and examine images. Every student is assigned a different historic identity for the duration of the tour. They meet challenges in a fun way that promotes learning and questioning. We can also design a  specific mix of destinations and activities to meet your specific learning needs including from our many other school programs.

TOURS are normally two hours and by arrangement, usually starting and finishing at Federation Square or as required.

SEE: BOOKINGS AND PRICES
SEE: Our many other SCHOOL PROGRAMS – Explorer, Federation, Aboriginal, Early Melbourne, Lanes, Literature, ‘Runner’, Street Art and more…

‘All three groups had a wonderful time … the boys (and teachers!) gained so much from your knowledge and expertise.  It was a wonderful way to start our unit and get the boys to engage with their learning and appreciate as well the impact of white settlement on the indigenous community and the development of Melbourne in general.  They loved hearing your stories and much of what you presented is being followed up and explored even further in the classroom’.
Scotch College.

‘It was a very rich learning experience for our students and they thoroughly enjoyed it. The tour guides were professional, knowledgeable, and entertaining – the students were engaged right from the beginning.’
Our Lady of Immaculate Conception.

‘The kids loved it and really enjoyed being different characters (what a clever idea!). You have impressive knowledge and we all thought the tour was fantastic! The interactive things like lemon gum, Eureka flag, colonial tram tickets etc were a lovely touch’.
Mother Of God Primary.

SOME OF OUR LOCATIONS
Pre-1835. Birramung Marr celebrates the Birrarung ‘River if Mists’ and the original federation of the Kulin Nation. The ‘Yarra Yarra’ was the site of the first explorers and settlers’ arrival in 1835. What was their impact on the Kulin Nation?

Fed Square: Federation square celebrates the birth of the Australian nation and marks the end of the colonial period. 

St Pauls Cathedral 1854 Eureka demonstrations: – Gold rush, birth of Australian democracy and flag: 

271 Collins: The confidence of the gold boom with Collins Street as colonial financial centre gave Melbourne a boost as ‘Marvellous Melbourne.

The Block Arcade 1891: Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne’s 

Royal Arcade 1869: Goldrush, arcades,  icons of Melbourne. Expresses the early confidence gained during the gold rush.’

The GPO building 1886: The Centre of Melbourne, The GPO represents ‘the tyranny of distance’ the unusual position that Australia occupied, a vast country distant from the mother country’

The 1880s – The Coles Book Arcade 1886: Nationalism, Federation, City of Literature. 

Presgrave Lane: Federation saw the introduction of many new services such as sewerage, child care, schools and healthcare services that saved millions of lives. Gallipoli was the really the national birth of Australia where two-up was played. 

Manchester Lane 1860s: Gold rush architecture, early settlement The Gold rush inspired immigration, democracy, working people, financial capacity and new technologies. it gave confidence to a young country and inspired trade connections around the world.

Flinders Lane: Colonial heritage warehouses.

Colonial tram system.

RESOURCES

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Melbourne Ghost Signs

GHOST SIGNS are hand-painted signs and stencils preserved on buildings usually for long periods of time, lost reminders of historic enterprises, advertisements, public notices and typographies.  Sometimes they have been deliberately preserved for nostalgic or heritage reasons or temporarily revealed by construction and demolition. All these signs have an important story to tell. The artists who crafted them were ‘street artists’ long before Melbourne’s fashionable art movement appeared in the late 1990s.
EXPLORE the City of Melbourne’s oldest heritage letter-forms and learn how their cultural stories express the life of a city.
OUR 2.5-hour walking tours are a journey through time and place exploring ghost signs in iconic locations: lanes and arcades, chinatown, warehouses, street art lanes and historic buildings. Tours are by arrangement at a time and date of choice.

SEE –  BOOKINGS

SEE – also our SIGNS IN THE CITY: TYPOGRAPHY TOUR

“For our holiday jaunt, the ID/Lab crew went on a tour of historic signage (guided by Melbourne Walks) in Melbourne’s CBD. Walking through the city, it quickly became apparent how much of the city’s history is reflected in the signs people choose to adorn their buildings. The rise and fall of Melbourne during the gold-rush, the various waves of migration, the emergence of street art, and the development of the iconic laneways were all apparent in one of the most common and underrated forms of Melbourne’s cultural expression. We had a fun time and learned a good deal about the history of our great city.” Staff group, ID/Lab Melbourne.

Just dropping a quick note to say thank you so much for this morning’s heritage signs walking tour through Melbourne. We were buzzing afterwards! It was exciting to see so many hidden treasures, and to hear some of your amazing stories. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to wander around with you, share your wealth of knowledge and discover so many gems hidden in plain sight! Thank you again!  Kieran Doolan, College of Vocational Education, RMIT University 2024

Hunting Ghost Signs is part of a growing ‘retrostalgia’’ movement by young people and urban archaeologists seeking to mine the richness of our past in order to gain a greater understanding of our present. In fact, hunting ghost signs has become a worldwide pursuit, with thousands sharing photos on social media. For those who hunt them, unearthing ghost signs is as thrilling as an excavation of ancient burial grounds.  In March 2013 an international Ghost Sign Conference was coordinated by Dr Stefan Schutt of Victoria University in Melbourne to share experiences from experts across the globe. 

The impermanence of these signs has fostered debate about whether precious signs should be afforded protection for their cultural and artistic significance in the same way as important sky signs such as the Pelaco, Nylex and Skipping Girl signs have been preserved.

Further information:
 Characters: Cultural Stories Revealed Through Typography, Stephen Banham, 2011.

 

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St Kilda Schools Tour

Students undertake a walking ‘mystery history tour’ of 30  or so iconic places which tell important stories of how diversity and heritage have constructed the identity of the St Kilda community. Locations include Fitzroy Street, Acland Street, the St Kilda Esplanade and foreshore. Students learn to identify change over time and traces of the past in architecture, landscapes, symbols, monuments and key events using observations and questioning.
They visit places which demonstrate how the St Kilda community has been shaped over 170 years by influences such as artists, theatre, pastoralists, poverty, technology, protesters, churches, immigrants, restaurants, indigenous, people and entertainment. Suitable for primary and secondary students. 


See also a choice of St Kilda Walks

 See  BOOKINGS AND PRICES
Cost: $320 – $450 per day depending on whether it is a half or whole day and the number of classes. See a quote!
Phone: (03) 9090-7964 Mobile: 0408 894 72418 Email: melbwalks@gmail.com

“Thank you for the wonderful guide around St Kilda. We received great positive feedback from students, parents and teachers.” ..… Melbourne Grammar School: Grimwade House
“So stimulating and informative. The students have so many ideas they are busily following up as we speak“.……St Kilda Park Primary School

St Kilda is a fascinating suburb. The people who live there often feel a special identity. For over 150 years since settlement it has been the ‘playground of Melbourne’. It has a roller coaster history from great wealth to great poverty and back again. The diversity of its buildings, places and people tell the fascinating story of an ever changing community.

Before settlement St Kilda was Yroe Yroke, home to the Yalukit willam community of the Boonwurrung who sharpened their stone axes by the Esplanade and camped by the many wetlands. After settlers arrived, St Kilda became grazing land for sheep and cattle. Early hotels like the Village Belle provided accommodation and safety from bushrangers. In early Melbourne there was a shortage of houses; people came to the St Kilda Sea Baths to bathe often every day.

The Gold Rush bought thousands more people to the seaside on trains and cable trams. Theatres and other entertainments were built for their enjoyment. St Kilda was a popular seaside resort. The wealthy built great mansions to enjoy the healthy sea-breeze and to escape the pollution of ‘Marvellous Smellboom’.

 

 

 

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City of Literature Tour Identities

The City of Literature Tour

This tour has been voted  as one of the world’s top ten literary tours by Lonely Planet. Explore hidden bookshops, writers and literary settings in our UNESCO City of Literature with its rich history of authors, publishers, books, libraries and literary monuments. We also write  books and in 2015 two of our own books won Victorian Community History Awards.

See our CITY OF LITERATURE  WALKS

On our school tours we allocate literary identities to  each student (click link below):

1. WRITER IDENTITIES sept 10 2016

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Melbourne Innovation Tour

MELBOURNE has been voted the world’s most liveable city seven times. What are the innovations that put this city on the world map?
EXPLORE places, events and characters in Melbourne that have or are demonstrating Innovation.
EXPERIENCE an historical overview of innovative Melbourne from creation to today including architecture, sustainability, social enterprise, venues, retail, lanes, artworks, transport, sculpture, and identities.
TOURS are 2.5 hours for adults and 2 hours for student groups, usually starting from Federation Square.

WHAT IS INNOVATION?
‘Introducing new and improved ideas, devices, methods, products and processes for more efficient and effective work, creativity and social good.’

SEE  –  BOOKINGS AND PRICES  –  FOR INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND SCHOOLS 

See our OTHER TOURS including our Science Tours and School Excursions

People, events, places and themes we may explore on the day depending on location, time and age of participants:

  • Nearamnew
  • One 9 billion dollar hole
  • Walking Woman
  • Fonts, springs, triangles, fossils and tunnels
  • Mechanical emails
  • Sparrow mysteries
  • Bohemian Indexes
  • Biomimicry and Design Melbourne
  • Street art and the homeless
  • Rubbish, rats and crime to Liveability.
  • Treaty: from theft to salvation.
  • Monash, Jacka, Eastman, Stone, Cole, Deakin, Walker
  • The patriotic building and sacred geometry
  • Prophesying the future
  • Smellboom: the death of Marvellous Melbourne
  • Promenades
  • Clean energy transport
  • Salysylic acid and art deco
  • The Neoclassicist
  • Helvetica riddles
  • Anti-innovation
  • Trams, tickets and connies
  • Haydraulics
  • Evangelists and social protesters
  • Singer and Kodak
  • Chocolate frogs and bridges
  • And more…
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WALKING TOURS FOR CLUBS $30

Over fifty cultural, historic and Indigenous walking tours! The perfect learning and social event for club members of U3A, Probus, Rotary, Life Activities, Senior Citizens, Reconciliation, Meetup.

We continue our special discount rate for Probus, Rotary, U3A, Life Activities Clubs and Seniors Clubs of only $30 per person for a 2-hour tour if they have ten or more persons  Our usual maximum per group is 20-25 or more depending on which tour. Book early!

Melbournewalks.com is one of Melbourne’s oldest walking companies. We deliver over fifty highly-researched walking tours (examples below) in Melbourne’s city centre and also suburbs including Lanes and Arcades, Street Art, Unsolved Crimes, Early Melbourne, Indigenous, Architecture, Rooftop tours, Subterranean tours and many more.

“On behalf of the Sherbrooke U3A members who took the Bearbrass Early Melbourne Tour last Thursday, I wish to express our thanks and appreciation…everyone enjoyed it immensely. Most of us have lived in the Melbourne area for many years, yet know very little about its history. The facts and stories that you shared with us will whet our appetite and encourage us to research into our collective past. I hope to plan further walks in the future. Kind regards”.    Sherbrooke U3A

‘Many thanks for the tour on Monday last. We all learnt a great deal about our wonderful city from you.’   U3A Emerald

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SOME POPULAR TOURS

MELBOURNE LANES TOUR:
Explore the fascinating labyrinth of lanes in Melbourne’s historic warehouse, fashion, maritime and residential precincts with their amazing culture, shops, architecture, hidden places. More.. 

MELBOURNE WOMEN TOUR:
Retrace the historic places and significant buildings which tell the story of Melbourne’s women campaigners for equality and social justice from settlement to today including Vida Goldstein, Emma Silcock,  Saint Mary MacKillop, Clarence, Mary and Clara Stone, Helen Dugdale and others.

LIVING WILD OFF THE LAND:
Go on a foraging expedition on suburban parks, waterways, street and foreshore and learn how Indigenous people, pioneers and locals harvested wild food, medicine, tools, shelter and other resources from before and after settlement to today.. More…

MELBOURNE STREET ART TOUR:
Melbourne’s back lanes are internationally famous as creative galleries and feature thousands of amazing stencils, posters, paintings, murals, light boxes, graffiti and installations as well as historic typographies. Journey with us through the maze to learn how the radical transformation of industrial lanes into urban canvases occurred. More…

MELBOURNE DUNNY LANES TOUR:
Re-enact an 1880 dunny crew undergoing training in the maze of historic lanes and arcades exploring Melbourne’s hidden infrastructure… More…

1835. THE FOUNDING OF MELBOURNE (BEARBRASS):
Explore all the original places of settlement before the gold rush in the heart of the CBD… More   

ON TOP OF MELBOURNE TOUR:
An unforgettable history tour on top of Melbourne. Adventure to the high places of Melbourne often by mysterious access routes, to discover secret places and extraordinary views from rooftop cafes, car parks, fire-escapes, stairwells or whatever it takes.Normal fitness required.  Don’t forget your binoculars and camera! See Pictures. More…

LOST MELBOURNE TOUR
More…

MELBOURNE BOOKSHOPS AND WRITERS TOUR:
A walking tour of booksellers and books: Melbourne is the world’s second UNESCO City of Literature. Explore, with a local writer, many of the 70 CBD booksellers hidden in obscure and historic locations.  Learn about the history of Melbourne writers and read extracts from stories, poems and scenes from books set on location in Melbourne.  More…

MELBOURNE ARCHITECTURAL TOUR:
Take a tour of landmark architectural buildings in the Melbourne CBD that reflect local and international achievements. More…

MELBOURNE DREAMING:
Explore Melbourne’s Aboriginal history: the characters, events, places, landscapes, corroborees and ceremonies of the traditional owners before and after settlement. Our hunting and gathering tours are located variously in the CBD, Footscray, Merri Creek, Black Rock – or  choose a local site convenient to yourself. More…

MELBOURNE’S CRIMES TOUR (COLD CASES):
Explore the history if crimes inclouding unsolved and crimes and mysteries from settlement to today including gangland, theft, conspiracy, robbery, bombings,  fraud, bombing, Ned Kelly. More…

SOCIAL JUSTICE MELBOURNE:
Discover the packed history of left-wing oppositional troublemaking rebels in the back lanes of Melbourne – communists, ‘wobblies’, mutiny, anarchists, Chinese activists, bombers, rebellion, rioters, suffragettes, feminists, gays, stirrers, eccentrics and madmen. More…

MADAM BRUSSELL’S MELBOURNE:
Explore the 19th century life and times of Marvellous Smellboom during the reign of the city’s greatest ‘Madam’ visiting the slum sites of former opium dens, brothels,  music halls, joss houses, sweatshops, dance halls, gold rush theatres, lodging, houses, ‘salvation janes’ and ‘slum sisters. More…

AROUND AND UNDER QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET:
Did you know that there are 9000 bodies of early settlers, Aboriginals, Quakers and bushrangers buried under the Queen Victoria Market Car Park and nearby Flagstaff Gardens?  Walk the market and learn their astonishing stories using maps, photos and records. Find the last monument standing. Read the many grave inscriptions on record. We remember, honour and pay our respects. More…

SIGNS IN THE CITY – A MELBOURNE CULTURAL TYPOGRAPHY TOUR:
Explore the City of Melbourne’s oldest historic neon and electric signs as well as other heritage letterforms in architecture,  infrastructure , murals, puzzles and stencils and learn their cultural stories. More…

MELBOURNE ARCHAEOLOGY TOUR:
Explore the archaeological sites of magnificent Half Moon Bay, Black Rock including pre-history wells, ochre site, stone scatters, shell middens, fossils, lookouts and stone tool ‘knapping’.

THE LAST MAN HANGED – THE RONALD RYAN TOUR
More…

MELBOURNE HALLOWEEN TOURS
On the evening of Hallows Day the boundaries  with the Otherworld fade and the dead can cross to the world of the living. Experience the lost cities of the dead at Flagstaff Gardens and Queen Victoria Market. Or travel though the haunted back world of St Kilda at night. More…

SQUIZZY TAYLOR TOUR
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SQUIZZY TAYLOR TOUR

Take a walking tour through the CBD of places associated with the notorious ‘Squizzy’ Taylor. The diminutive ex-jockey was a self-promoting gangster,  bootlegger, jury rigger, blackmailer, thief and on occasion, a killer. His notorious vendetta with the Fitzroy ‘push’ eventually resulted in his death in mysterious circumstances in 1927. Squizzy’s life has been highlighted by a new TV series and the brilliant novel ‘Runner’ by Robert Newton. Taylor was a product of the 1893 depression, life in Struggletown (Richmond) and the rise of the christian temperance movement which led to prohibition gave rise to lucrative criminal markets in sly grog, drugs, betting and brothels.

Our walk is a voyage through the incredible era and architecture of Squizzy’s Melbourne (1888-1927):  In his short forty years he witnessed the birth of planes, motor cars, electric lights, telephones, radio, talking pictures, vaccination programs,  electric trams (1919), Federation (1901), the flu and polio epidemics, the women’s vote, VFL, World War One, the Roaring Twenties, the Labour Party, the Jazz Age, Art Deco, Prohibition, the 1893 depression and the 1923 police strike.

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SCHOOLS: See our Squizzy Taylor School Tour based on The Runner by Robert Newton.

RESOURCES:

‘SQUIZZY LOCATIONS IN CENTRAL MELBOURNE:

Little Lonsdale Street:
While Taylor was in Melbourne Gaol, his girlfriend Dolly Gray (she was 30, he was 19) supported herself by operating a venue from her house in Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

189 Lonsdale Street:
In 1929, a former Squizzy gambling venue was bombed.

120-122 Lit Lonsdale Street:
Former Squizzy sly grog shop and brothel occupied by girlfriend Dolly Gray part of a mini heritage precinct between Bennetts and Exploration Lane.

Cnr Exhibition and Bourke Street: Eastern Market
A notorious location where the Gun Alley murder  occurred in 1921 and where the mysterious Madam Ghurka told fortunes, analysed your head shape and sold clothes and cosmetics. Squizzy was rumoured to stand over traders at the market.

39 Collins Street:
In June 1918, Kilpatrick & Co, the fashionable Jeweller was robbed, triggering the Fitzroy  Vendetta. A carefully planned and audacious robbery of £1,435 worth of diamond rings

540 King Street, Melbourne:
In June 1921 Taylor’s luck ran out  when was caught  red-handed one night in A W Scales Bond Store  He was committed to stand trial for breaking and entering  and released on bail of £600. However, when Taylor’s trial date arrived, he disappeared. For more than a year the police searched for Taylor without success. He was eventually acquitted as the jury ‘couldn’t make up its mind’.

Little Collins Street:
In 1922 a violent confrontation between gang heavies Stokes and Slater  ended in Slater’s admission to hospital with five bullet wounds  and Stokes under arrest for attempted murder. Stokes claimed he shot Slater in self defence and when tried was found not guilty.

St Kilda Road:
In May 1924, in a hit and run, Squizzy ran down and killed Daphne Alcorn who was alighting from a tram. He lied about his whereabouts successfully.

336 Russell Street:
Squizzy publicly surrendered to Police HQ  in 1922 in front of a crowd and reporters after a year of hiding

377 Russell Street:
Angus Murray, Tyalors accomplice in the Berriman killing was hanged in 1924.

Melb Mag Court, Russell Street:
In Feb 1924 charged with assisting the escape from Pentridge of Angus Murray.

Melb Mag Court, Russell Street:
When two of their members were arrested and faced trial over robbery, the Fitzroy gang became suspicious that someone from Richmond had tipped off the police and suspicions were raised further when Stokes, a member of the Richmond gang, gave evidence for the prosecution in exchange for the police withdrawing charges against him. The two men were found not guilty, but that was not the end of the matter. Outside court after the trial, angry words above were exchanged by the opposing factions and both Stokes and Taylor were struck by punches.

Flinders Street:
In 1921 posters for the arrest of Taylor and Pender were circulated to all police stations across Victoria. Pender was arrested by police in July 1922 after she was spotted window shopping in Flinders Street, Melbourne.

Flinders Street:
Hatters Shop, Flinders St Station: Bullet hole in window. Claims that Squizzy fired from Young and Jackson.

Flinders Street:
Young and Jackson: Witness claims he was run over by horse and cab.

Victoria Parade:
Trades Hall, Victoria Street: Taylor accused of involvement in murder of a policeman due to a failed burglary. Probably innocent.

186 Bourke Street: Cnr Russell and Bourke:
In 1921 Joseph Lennox Cotter shot Squizzy in the leg  in the crowded street as he was entering the Bookmakers Clerk Association.

111 Bourke Street:
The Eastern Market In 1921 Squizzy donated a reward re the Gun Alley murder that occurred there. The wrong man was hung. (See also p103 The Runner).

Palace Hotel, Royal Lane, Bourke Street, (Gaiety Theatre):
A hidden basement was discovered reported to be Squizzy’s hideaway.

Waratah Lane, Chinatown:
Notorious for gambling rooms

St Vincents Hospital:
On 27 October 1927  an automatic pistol was found in Taylor’s pocket after he arrived at St Vincents hospital and two other pistols were discovered in the vicinity of Cutmore’s house, one was hidden in the cistern of a toilet in the backyard and the other was found in a right-of-way some distance away.
– Squizzy treated after Bourke Street shooting
– Scene from The Runner – p.151 nostril treated

Melbourne Hospital, Lonsdale Street:
15 Oct 1919. Three shooting victims were admitted. Squizzy charged and acquitted. Oct 20 1927 Bridget Cutmore was treated and interviewed.

403 George Street:
Home of Arthur trotter murdered by Squizzy Taylor in a robbery in 1913 by Bush Thompson.

31 Fleet Street:
Squizy seen running from house after 3 people shot in the Fitzroy Vendetta, 1919.

Corrs Lane:
Gaurdian office of the Community office (Berlin Bar) where Frank Hardy type-set Power and Glory depicting Squizzy Talor as Snoopy Tanner who committed the murder of a constable at Trades Hall.
Gertrude and Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. ‘The Narrows’ centre of Fitzroy Gang, today Housing Commission.

CHRONOLOGY JOSEPH LESLIE THEODORE TAYLOR, ‘SQUIZZY’ (1888-1927)  

Squizzy’ was a colourful figure in the drinking and gambling clubs of Fitzroy, Richmond and Carlton. A dapper little man who dressed loudly=”http://melbournewalkss, race-courses and theatres. While hiding from the police, he wrote letters and verse to the press. Yet he had few redeeming qualities. Taylor won lasting notoriety by imitating the style of American bootleggers; he never matched their influence or immunity from the law, and at the time of his death made the mistake of cutting into the cocaine trade without commanding sufficient fear or loyalty from the underworld Convicted eighteen times mainly for minor offences, his efficient and lucrative business in jury rigging was used with great effect.

Known as ‘The Turk’ for his hiding in dugouts, his harem and his strategy (Kemal Ataturk was regarded as a military mastermind). Squizzy resulted from one drooping eyelid making him ‘squint’.

Squizzy lived in era of depression, war and the rise of the moral majority. The era saw the rise of profitable illegal industries such as race-fixing, illegal gambling, sly grog and cocaine and prostitution. Bourke street east was a flourishing red light district a recruitment area for his gang of Bourke Street Rats and a network of informers to provide blackmail and theft opportunities. Terror was essential for jury fixing, stand over and blackmail.

1906-08: Apprenticeship – minor thefts and crime

1910-16: Rise to power: blackmailing and mastermind

1917-27: Gangster: cunning underworld figure

St Kilda connections:

  • Hideout 1921 at 60-66 Glenhuntly Road Elwood
  • Hid girlfriend and future wife Irena Kelly at brothers home in Albert Park
  • Mother living in 1923 at 54 Empress street East St Kilda
  • Lived at a flat in Alma Road with Ira Pender.
  • Angas Murray and Richard Bentley his alias robbed the State Savings Bank in Middle Park
  • Lived with Ira and Angas Murray and Richard Bentley who murdered Berriman in 1923 where 12 police in 3 cars raided 443 Barkly Street.
  • Appeared at St Kilda Court House corner Grey Street and Barkly Street, St Kilda
  • On the night of the murder 1927 responded to Snowy Cutmore abusing girls at his sly grog shop in Tennyson Street.

29 June 1888
Born on 29 June 1888 at Brighton, Victoria, son of Benjamin Isaiah Taylor, coachmaker, and his wife Rosina, née Jones, both Victorian born.

1893
The family moved to Richmond as a result of the 1893 depression and Leslie tried to make a career as a jockey on the inner city pony circuit where he came to the notice of the police. Corruption in racing gave Sqiz the taste.

1902
Pint sized at 5’2”, he became a jockey apprentice and it was while mingling with the shady characters of the pony circuit realized the easy money to be made in crime.

1906
At 18 he was convicted of assault. Other convictions followed, mainly on minor charges of theft.

1908
The longest he spent in jail was two years’ imprisonment for pickpocketing a watch at Burrumbeet racecourse near Ballarat in January 1908. Leader of the ‘Bourke Street Rats’ – a rough mob of brawling thieving hooligans who abetted Taylor in his audacious deeds of extortion; a popular plan was to use female decoys to lure a married man of money into a private room, and when in a compromising position, one of Taylor’s lieutenants acting as the ‘husband’ would burst in threatening repercussions unless a tidy payment of silence was made.

1913 to 1916
Taylor was linked to several more violent crimes including the murder and robbery of Arthur Trotter, a commercial traveller and the burglary of the Melbourne Trades Hall, in which a police constable was killed. He was probably innocent of this latter crime. After all he was accused of rigging the Grand final at the MCG several years after his death!

  • In spite of the sensational claim in “Power Without Glory” (1950), Taylor was not apparently involved in the burglary of the Melbourne Trades Hall in which Constable David McGrath was killed.
  • 28 February 1916.The cunning of Taylor was evident in his acquittal of the infamous ‘Bulleen Road’ murder of William Haines a cab driver who refused to participate in the hold-up of a bank manager on A doxen witnesses Witnesses who before the trial positively swore the identity of Squiz had been ‘got at’ and found themselves suffering memory loss

1917
Although rarely convicted after 1917, Taylor remained a key figure in an increasingly violent and wealthy underworld. His income came from armed robbery, prostitution, the sale of illegal liquor and drugs, as well as from race-fixing and protection rackets. With Paddy Boardman, he conducted an efficient and lucrative business in rigging juries, a service of which he made regular use.

1918
Not long after his enforced holiday in Pentridge prison, Squiz masterminded his most successful robbery, that of Kilpatrick’s jewellery store in the city in which £2,000 worth of diamonds were audaciously stashed away under the nose of the shop assistant;

1919
Squiz ‘shelved’ associates in the split of proceeds, upsetting the Fitzroy faction and thus beginning what became known as the 1919 Fitzroy vendettas. The real ‘war’ began one winter’s night when Taylor’s ‘moll’ Dolly Grey was sent to a sly-grog place at 27 Webb Street to test the feeling of the Fitzroy faction only to have her jewels whisked away and left semi-naked; within three weeks some eighteen bullets had been extracted from men who could think of no motive.  

 1920
Taylor had married Irene Lorna Kelly at the manse of St James’s Congregational Church, Fitzroy, on 19 May 1920. He stashed her in Albert Park at his brother’s home to keep his former girlfriend off the track but she located her and dragged her to see Squizzy.

1921
The artful dodger provided the public with first-class entertainment when he absconded bail after being caught red-handed for breaking into a warehouse on 16 June 1921.  For the next fourteen months he eluded the entire detective force taunting them with letters to the press (“…I have not quite fixed up my private business yet, but as soon as I have I will pop to the C.I.D, knowing that I will be quite welcome…” and “…I trust that others who are wanted by the police will follow suit and join in the “Back-to-Pentridge” celebration, which they will find under better conditions than of old…”). Reputedly hid at 66 Glenhuntly Road, Elwood.

1922
Gave himself up in September 1922. He was acquitted after two trials. It was while awaiting a decision of the courts he attended a race meeting at Caulfield but was ordered off resulting in the mysterious burning of the administrative offices on the night before the Caulfield Cup.

1923
On 8 October bank-manager Thomas Berriman was robbed and murdered in underpass at Glenferrie railway station. Angus Murray and Richard Buckley were charged with the murder. Taylor faced charges of aiding and abetting the crime, and of assisting Murray’s escape from Pentridge prison. On both counts he again escaped conviction. 12 police cars raided 443 Barkly Street St Kilda where Ira Pender, Taylor, escapee Angas Murray and Richard Bentley were holed up.  He was eventually found guilty of harbouring Murray and sentenced to six months imprisonment. 7 January 1913; Taylor was at first charged with being an accessory along with Angas Murray and Richard Buckley but won a nolle prosequi. Subsequently tried twice to break Murray out of gaol. Murray  was eventually hung.

1999
In 1923 they had Muriel Pender co-starred in a film about Taylor’s life, Riding to Win; banned by the Victorian censor, it was released in Brisbane in 1925 as Bound to Win.

1924
Taylor had married Irene Lorna Kelly at the manse of St James’s Congregational Church, Fitzroy, on 19 May 1920. On 6 May 1924 they were divorced. On 27 May again at St James’s he married Ida Muriel Pender, the woman with whom he had shared much of his adult life

On the eve of the 1935 Football Grand Final, Bob Pratt (the champion full forward of South Melbourne Football Club) was getting off a tram when he was hit by a brick truck. He  blamed “the Collingwood Gangster” (ie Squizzy Taylor) for arranging the accident. Squizzy’s greatest achievement considering he’d been dead for seven years.

27 October 1927
On his release from prison Taylor continued thieving, but concentrated his efforts on race-tracks. Involved in selling cocaine, he came into conflict with several Sydney gangsters. He was wounded in a gunfight with one of them, John ‘Snowy’ Cutmore, at a house in Barkly Street, Carlton, and died in St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy, on 27 October 1927. Survived by his wife and by a daughter of his first marriage. Taylor was buried with Anglican rites in Brighton cemetery. The circumstances of the shooting have become shrouded in mystery even though the coroner settled the matter by finding a simple fatal gun duel between two opposing criminals.  This was in spite of the Eibar “Destroyer” .32 calibre used to shoot Squiz being found under the picket fence of a house in McArthur Square some 200 paces from the house while the Melbourne Truth contended that three more bullets than what could have been discharged by the revolvers of Cutmore and Taylor were fired.  Were Squiz and Cutmore knocked off in one go?

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Squizzy Taylor – extracts from ‘The Runner’ novel

These are some readings  used by students on our popular Runner/Squizzy Tour of the CBD exploring the novel by Robert Newton. See  Squizzy Taylor school Tour

STOP ONE: PARLIAMENT
Down near the Treasury Gardens he was with Parliament House up on the right…Approaching the Spring Street intersection I saw the blue and green runners some ten feet to my right. .. Like a madman I threw myself across the intersection between tooting cars and made it to the other side. I stepped into the Spring Street gutter and ran. (p 15)
 STOP TWO:  THE THEATRE DISTRICT
At school I quickly grew bored with my books. I dreamt of Bourke Street with its flashing theatre signs, ‘Bijou’ and ‘Gaiety’ and the sly grog joints and brothels of Little Lonsdale.. The street was my classroom now… (page 4)
STOP THREE: ROMEO AND JULIET LANES
Seeing me she broke into a smile. Charlie! Gawd, fer a minute I thought ya was one of me customers. There’s some right nutters among ‘em. ….’ I know ya don’t need me tellin’ yer, after all we all go ta make a living but there’s some nasty types in that Richmond push. Take it from me.’
STOP FOUR: ROMEO LANE
As soon as the parcel hit my hand I looked at the address. 200 Bourke Street, Melbourne. Immediately I knew it to be The Orient, a popular drinking den where a criminal record guaranteed you entry.
STOP FIVE: EASTERN MARKET, ALBERT FOX GREENGROCERS
At the Eastern Market in Bourke Street, I slowed to a walk and unfolded the list in my pocket. The first entry said, Albert Fox — Greengrocer 111 Bourke Street, £3.
‘I’ve come ta collect Mr Taylor’s money,’ I said
‘And what makes ya think I’d be willin’ ta fork over me ‘ardearned ta a pipsqueak like you?’ ‘
I can think of one good reason, Mr Fox. If Mr Taylor has ta come down ‘ere with Knuckles in tow, they won’t be sittin’ down fer tea and biscuits. I’ve just come from Mr Taylor’s place and I can tell ya, he’s itchin’ ta do ‘is block.’    (p 102-3)
 STOP SIX: BOURKE STREET – THE FITZROY VENDETTA
‘It’s just what I ‘eard, Squiz. They’re sayin’ ya short changed ’em with the takin’s from the jewellery job …’
‘Too bloody right I did. It was me and Matt Daly what did the joint over. I only let Cutmore shift the stuff ta get ‘im off me back. Sniffin’ around like a shit’ouse rat, ‘e was.’
 STOP SEVEN: THE ORIENT HOTEL, 200 BOURKE STREET
7A The Orient was fast approaching and I knew well that time was against me. I was gaining. Fast. The path ahead looked clear so I tucked my head and bolted. Twenty yards became fifteen. Fifteen became ten. I was near flying. Five yards. Barlow was almost there. As he raised his hand to the door, he turned and saw me lunging. Too late. Together we fell through the door and crashed to the ground in a heap, much to the delight of the crowded bar.
7B ‘Not so fast, gents,’ he said. ‘Are ya not fergettin’ somethin’?’`Fergettin’ somethin’?’ asked Dasher. ‘Like what?’
‘The eggs, Dasher, the eggs.
7C ‘Don’t let on, Charlie Feehan,’ he whispered, ‘but yer eggs  I ‘ard boiled ‘em meself this mornin’. Welcome aboard, lad.
 STOP EIGHT WARATAH LANE, GAMBLING TWO-UP DENS
For the residents of Richmond, only one person came to mind whenever Goodwood Street was mentioned. That person was Henry Stokes. Stokes was a self proclaimed Good Samaritan….The truth? Stokes was an SP bookmaker and sly grogger who’d done so well at his trade that he’d managed to build up a small fortune. As part of his tireless charity work, he ran Melbourne’s biggest two-up school (p59)
 STOP NINE: THE MELBOURNE HOSPITAL
Snowy Cutmore was well known as a man with a violent streak. Blue-eyed and blond-haired, he was one of the kingpins of the Fitzroy push — an unpredictable man with a liking for a scrap. Put simply, messing with Snowy Cutmore was bad for your health.
STOP TEN CORRS LANE – RUNNING SLY GROG
‘Jenkins?’ asked Nostrils. ‘That’s me.’ ‘We’re Squizzy Taylor’s lads, sent fer the liquor.’ ‘Come through, lads, I’ve been expectin’ ya… “Ere it is,’ he said. ‘Let’s see. . . two whisky, one gin and a ‘alf dozen bottles a beer. Must be some shindig.’ Carefully Jenkins loaded the beer into an old cement bag then fetched the whisky and gin. (p62)

 

 

 

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Melbourne Archaeology and History Tour


EXPLORE the ‘Little Lon’ and surrounding precinct in Melbourne’s CBD where five of Australia’s urban archaeological digs have taken place, including Wesley Place, Casselden Place and Bennets Lane.
VIEW and handle archaeological artefacts.
DISCOVER what archaeological and heritage investigations have revealed about the lifestyle of early Melbourne residents from the 1850s – 1930s and their lessons for today.
VISIT the heritage sites of pubs, missions, schools, factories, Chinese cabinet makers and learn about characters who occupied them such as Madam Brussells, John Maloney, Mary MacKillop and Chong Cheok Hong.
LEARN the fascinating story of the buried blocks or “Melbourne’s Pompeii’.
YOUR guide, Meyer Eidelson,  is the author of ‘The Melbourne Dreaming. A Guide to Important Places Past and Present’ produced by Aboriginal Studies Press. In 2002 he was employed by the Melbourne Museum to run guided tours to the Casselden Place (Little Lon) excavation site. A detailed exhibition based on that dig can be viewed at Melbourne Museum.

 

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ALTERNATIVE OPTION WALKING TOUR B
PRE-HISTORY ARCHAEOLOGY TOUR :
EXPLORE the Pre-history archaeological setting of magnificent Half Moon Bay at Half Moon Bay, Black Rock half an hour south of Melbourne CBD. |
LEARN about archaeological sites such as, freshwater wells, ochre, stone, shell middens, fossils, lookouts and stone tool ‘knapping’. Learn about technologies of survival, including fauna and flora used for food, tools and medicine in the pre-history seasonal calendar.

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BACKGROUND
The Casselden Place Archaeological Dig of 2002:
‘In 2002, digging commenced to expose the secrets of Casselden Place, part of the city block bordered by Lonsdale, Exhibition, Little Lonsdale and Spring Streets. Industry Superannuation Property Trust, the owners of the site, sponsored the project. The project was managed by Heritage Victoria. On-site archaeolgy was co-ordinated by Godden Mackay Logan and Austral Archaeology to a research design provided by La Trobe University Archaeology Program. Though covering a smaller area than that excavated in 1988, the size of the fieldwork team and the detail in which excavation work was conducted made the Casselden Place dig the largest archaeological project ever undertaken in Victoria. Over 135,000 artefacts were uncovered over a 12 week period. These artefacts were initially stored at La Trobe University, where several reports about each type of object – clay pipes, buttons, bones, etc. – were written. The majority of artefacts uncovered were later transferred to Museum Victoria, where analysis is ongoing.

A selection are held by Industry Superannuation Property Trust, and are displayed in the foyer of its new building in Little Lon. Analysis of these artefacts and subsequent historical research have enabled us to challenge the ’slum’ stereotype that typifies Little Lon. The story we can now show is that under adverse conditions, individuals and families managed to make homes, raise children, and establish businesses’. (Museum Victoria).

“Archaeological sites in Melbourne provide evidence of life in the region over the last 50 000 years, from the time of the earliest Aboriginal peoples, through the period of European contact, to inner-city working-class neighbourhoods as well as farms on the expanding suburban fringe. Some archaeological sites are buried and require excavation to recover the information they hold, while others include artefacts or structures visible on the ground surface which can be recorded by surveying. Most excavations within Melbourne are carried out for salvage purposes, when earlier sites are located during the construction of new buildings. Information from archaeological sites is first-hand evidence of the activities of people who have not left written records to tell their stories, and provides perspectives that are unobtainable from other sources.

The oldest archaeological site in the greater Melbourne area, and one of the most important, is at Keilor on the Maribyrnong River. A human skull discovered there in 1940 was later found to be around 13 000 years old, older than any other human remains found in Australia up to that time, and the find attracted worldwide attention. After small excavations in the 1960s and 1970s, in 1977 archaeologists from La Trobe University and the Victoria Archaeological Survey (VAS) began an excavation that continued for five years. The excavations found a sequence of stone tools and butchered animal bone buried beneath up to 5 m of silt washed in by floods over a period of 50 000 years. When the site was first inhabited by Aboriginal peoples, the region was still home to Tasmanian tigers (Thylacine) and to species of giant kangaroo and wombat, all of which are now extinct, although their bones have been found at the site. There were four major layers of deposited soils within the site, and artefacts were found in all of them, but most of the artefacts were found in the upper layer of the site and were less than 6000 years old. Many were also found in the same layer as two ancient campfires which have been carbon-dated to approximately 13 300 years old.

Other sites were used more recently by the Kulin people, the Aboriginal people in the Melbourne region. Brimbank Park, a few kilometres downstream of Keilor in the Maribyrnong River valley, has within its boundaries several archaeological sites, including quarries where stone for stone tools was mined, burial sites, and scatters of stone tools. As a result of the discovery of the burial site in 1965, the State Government acquired the site, which is now known as Kulin Wetlands. Some of these sites are approximately 17 000 years old.

Several large earth rings at Sunbury were also used by Aboriginal people, probably as places to hold ceremonies. The rings are low mounds of earth, less than half a metre high, that enclose circular spaces between 15 and 25 m in diameter. Similar structures, known as Bora grounds, were commonly used by Aboriginal people in Queensland and New South Wales but are rare in Victoria. Scarred trees, where the Kulin people used stone tools to remove bark for use in shelters, canoes, containers and shields, can still be seen in many places, including Fitzroy Gardens, Heide Museum of Modern Art and Brimbank Park. Shell middens – piles of discarded shell, charcoal, chipped stone and animal bones – once lined the edge of Port Phillip Bay. Traces of them remain on some suburban beaches. Many other places in Melbourne were and continue to be significant to the Kulin people, including the former Coranderrk mission at Healesville, the former Native Police Camps at Dandenong and Dights Falls, the Bolin Bolin Billabong meeting place in Bulleen, and corroboree trees in St Kilda and Burnley Park. No archaeological excavations have been carried out at these places.

Within Melbourne City, salvage excavations have taken place on sites at 300 Queen Street, on Little Lonsdale Street in the working-class neighbourhood of ‘Little Lon’, and at Cohen Place in Chinatown. The Queen Street site was once a private house, built in 1849 and occupied by an early mayor, John Thomas Smith. From the 1860s the building was used as offices. Archaeologists excavated a cistern behind the house which was filled with rubbish, first from Smith’s household and later from the offices. Smith’s rubbish was that of a middle-class household. It included toys, clay pipes, medicine and perfume bottles, and food and dishes used at family meals and when entertaining: expensive tableware, relish bottles, and seeds from peaches, plums, grapes, and other fruits. The office workers, in contrast, threw out cheaper cups and saucers used during their tea breaks, empty pickle and salad oil bottles from their lunches, and countless empty ink bottles.

In contrast to the lives of the middle-class people at Queen Street, the Little Lon site reveals the lives of people in a poor, ethnically diverse neighbourhood. There too, however, decorative crockery was used and children’s toys were found. At Cohen Place, Chinese families were using new English crockery as well as dishes and foodstuffs imported directly from China. All three sites encapsulate changes to the Central Business District in the 19th century, as homes gave way to commercial premises and as inner-city neighbourhoods were characterised as slums and subsequently targeted for destruction“…… More

From eMelbourne. The city past and present

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Melbourne Science Tour

EXPLORE Melbourne places connected to science, technology and innovation including geography, prehistory, palaeontology, cosmology, physics, geometry, gravity, geology, archaeology and sustainability, bio-mimicry, architecture, chemistry, mathematics and biology.
PARTICIPATE in an entertaining and informative study of the science behind Melbourne’s historic and current infrastructure, places and buildings.
LEARN about the numbers, design and geography that have helped to inform the evolving technology of the CBD grid.
TRAVEL through Australia’s biggest concentration of lanes and arcades as well as new and old buildings using historic maps and images.
TOURS can be any length but are normally up to two hours for students and 2.5 hours for other groups. They usually commence from Federation Square  www.fedsquare.com    

See also our Innovation Tour.

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SEE: SCHOOL PROGRAMS –  Explorer, Federation, Colonial, Indigenous, Early Melbourne, Marvellous Melbourne, Architecture, Street Art, Squizzy (Runner) and 30 more.

‘We all thoroughly enjoyed the tour’ 
Melbourne Home School 

Great science starts with great questions. Below are some of the questions we may pursue with students on the day.
What was Australia’s first manufactured product?
How could our sparrows help to save bird species around the world from climate change?
Why are there shellfish in the Melbourne desert?
Were Aboriginal people cosmologists?
What can Indigenous drawings tell us about climate change in Melbourne?
Can a fossil find your true love?
How did the Pythagoras theorem build Fed square?
What and where is a thermal labyrinth?
Where can we find biodiversity, biophilia and biomimicry?
Why are bees on the city rooves?
Why did Batman Avenue disappear?
The Crest of Melbourne 1842: why did the settlers come?
Why are Melbourne lamps in the cloud?
What vast and secret migration of animals happens in Melbourne every Autumn?
How many seasons does Melbourne really have?
What is a solar tree?
What is a rain garden?
What is Australia’s largest trampoline?
Can we build cities in the sky?
Who made the first feature film in the world?
What is an Agglomeration economy?
What is a miniature street artist?
How was our city built of lava? Why are there ‘fingers’ in it?
How could we power the biggest tram network in the world?
Why and where were 1000 human teeth recently found in an archaeological dig?
What pioneering drug made from bark funded a 1926 building?
How do you deliver mail by gravity?
Why are there iron shutters on wheels on the windows of Manchester lane.
What is Aurora Australis and where do we find it in Melbourne?
What Smart technologies are used to make Melbourne sustainable?
What popular food was known as Spanish sheep poo?
What old Melbourne technology us being revised by Elon Musk?
Two up, what are your chances?
The Hoddle Grid. Why 99 feet wide?

 

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Melbourne Wildflower Walk

Pay homage to the Spring season by taking a walk through the Canterbury Road Urban Forest and learn how to recognise the surprising diversity of wildflowers to be found in the urban areas of St Kilda,  Middle Park and Albert Park.

Over 20 twenty years ago the radical idea of an indigenous urban forest was implemented for two kilometres on the verge of Canterbury Road beside Albert Park Reserve. The species of plants were originally planted in sections, each section representing a different habitat from across Victoria including Box Iron forest, Otways, Mallee, Cann River and Mallacoota region and the Grampians region. As a result an extraordinary number of wildflowers can be found in this area ideal for artists who wish to paint them or for those who just love the beauty of plants.

These walks are usually conducted in the months of August to October each year.

When: By arrangement at a time of your any day choice with a minimum of 3 people.
How long: Normally 2.5 hours or a period that suits you.
Cost: $55 each up to 5 persons;  $39 each if you organise 6-10 persons; $25 each for organising more than 10 persons.  Discounts for special needs groups and schools.

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor Environments & Indigenous Relationships – School Tour

This tour explores the extraordinary outdoor area around the confluence of Dights Falls, Merri Creek and the Yarra River. This was the greatest meeting and trading area of the Kulin Nation in the 1840s. It was also the location of the Native Police, the Yarra Aboriginal School, the Aboriginal Protectorate and Dights Mill. Students can explore the trails, fauna and flora, lookouts, Indigenous locations by foot or by bicycle with an expert guide. The area (Yarra Bend Park) is popular for outdoor activities such as cycling, walking, canoeing, fishing and birdwatching.

The tour looks intensively at historical relationships with the environment, specifically:

  • Perceptions, Interactions and Impacts that the Wurundjeri people had with the Melbourne environment before and after European settlement.
  • How the physical outdoor environment of Yarra Bend Park has influenced relationships with Indigenous people and Europeans.
  • Relationships with Australian outdoor environments as influenced by the first non-Indigenous settlers’ experiences.
  • Our changing relationships with outdoor environments before and after settlement.
  • The unique nature of Australian outdoor environments..

SEE  –  BOOKINGS AND PRICES  –   FOR INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND SCHOOLS 

“For the past 3 years, Catholic College Bendigo Outdoor and Environmental Studies students have met Meyer at the Merri Creek Junction for a tour of Merri creek and Yarra River on bikes. It’s the most informative tour they do throughout the year!! During the tour the students are glued to Meyer’s stories as he discusses the relationships that that the Wurunjeri people had with the landscape. He conducts hands on activities that give students an insight into how Indigenous people lived in harmony with the landscape for thousands of years. He also explores (in detail) how their culture changed after the arrival of Europeans and the different approach that white people have towards the environment. The knowledge that students get from this tour prepares them so well for SAC’s and the end of year exam. If you focus on the Wurundjeri people for Unit 3 – Outdoor and Environmental Studies, this tour is a must!! Thanks Meyer and Melbourne Walks.”
Catholic College Bendigo.

 

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