Author: Meyer

MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE – THE GOLDEN MILE

Journey along the ‘The Golden Mile’ of  Collins Street and experience almost 190 years of iconic Melbourne places. Explore the iconic architecture from the 1850s gold rush to the 1880s land boom until today. Starting from the Treasury at the eastern ‘Paris’ end, we explore downhill to the city’s spiritual, commercial and retail heart and continue on to the early village settlement at the western end. 

When visiting writer George Sala coined the term ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ in 1885, the ’Queen of the South’ was the biggest and wealthiest city in the British Empire after London. Terms such as New Gold Mountain and the Land of the Golden Fleece described a city only 50 years old yet bustling with palaces of commence, theatres, hotels, cathedrals, galleries, banks, artists, and stock exchanges.

Starting Points: We usually start from the Old Treasury on Spring Street corner Collins Street. However we have run also these tours for conferences, staff events, tour groups and schools (two hours) from different starting points such as Melbourne Museum, The Immigration Museum, the Hyatt Hotel, Sofitel, City CYC and Flinders Street Station.

See: BOOKINGS

‘A wonderful way to get an overview of the best of this beautiful city as well as its history and buildings. It was also great fun’.
Henry and Marcia, Philadelphia.

‘Our kids had a wonderful walk. For years its has been a highlight of our annual city camp.
Karoo Primary School.

Melbourne was established in 1835 at the height of a globalised wool industry. Only sixteen years later it became known as New Gold Mountain with a tremendous gold rush. Named for Lieutenant-Governor David Collins, the western end near the port developed quickly but the eastern end initially was bushland, and the centre section between Swanston and Elizabeth was a haberdashery district. The gold rush funded a boom of neo-Gothic and Italianate bank and insurance buildings, handsome stone churches, and the most fashionable shops in the country. Doctors built townhouses at the Spring Street end and grand hotels like the Federal went up. Artists lived in studios in the west end and businessmen hung their artworks in their private clubs.

The street’s fortunes plunged after the 1890s Depression, then boomed in the roaring 1920s and plunged again during the 1930s Depression.  An extraordinary renaissance has come since the late 1990s with heritage restorations, new CBD residents, soaring modern architecture and an egalitarian mix of shops and street-level cafes.

SOME KEY HERITAGE AND CIVIC BUILDINGS ON COLLINS STREET

  • Cnr Spring Street, Old Treasury, 1862, JJ Clark
  • 137 Spring Street, Windsor Hotel 1888, Charles Webb
  • 1 Collins Street, 1983 Denton Corker Marshall Peck
  • 5-7 Collins Street, merchant’s houses, 1888
  • 61 Spring Street House of Hon William Campbell 1871, Leonard Terry
  • 2 Collins Street, Alcaston House 1930, A and K Henderson 1930
  • 9 Collins Street, Grosvenor Chambers (Heidelberg School and Angry Penguins) 1887
  • 15 Collins Street, WCTU Rooms
  • 35-55 Collins Street Towers, Sofitel 1975,  I M Pei, Bates Smart McCutcheon (BSM)
  • 36-50 Collins Street, Melbourne Club, 1858, Leonard Terry
  • 81 Collins Street  Alexandra Club (oldest women’s club).
  • Collins Place 1980 cnr Exhibition Street, Cobb, Bates Smart, McCutcheon
  • 101 Collins Street 1986-90, Denton Corker Marshall
  • 107 Collins Street, Francis House 1927, Blackett and Forster,
  • 115-119 Collins Street, Austral Building 1890, Nahum Barnet
  • 100-104 Collins Street, Gilbert Court 1955, John A La Gerche
  • 110-14 Collins Street, Collins Professional Chambers 1908, Ussher and Kemp
  • 120 Collins Street 1991, Daryl Jackson
  • 122-6 Collins Street, St Michael’s Church (first polychromatic), 1866, Reed and Barnes
  • 140-54 Collins Street, Scots Church, 1873 Reed and Barnes.
  • 156-160 Collins Street, Scots Church Assembly Hall 1915, Henry Kemp.
  • 162-168 Collins Street, Georges Store 1883, Grainger and Kemp.
  • 140-174 Collins Street Baptist Church 1845, John Gill.
  • 141 Collins Street, T & G Building 1938, Anketell And Kingsley.
  • 167-73 Collins Street, Auditorium Building, 1913 Nahum Barnet.
  • 191-7 Collins Street, Regent Theatre 1930, Cedric Ballantyne.
  • 188 Collins Street, Athenaeum Theatre 1839.
  • 90-130 Swanston Street, Melbourne Town Hall 1867, Reed and Barnes
  • 109-117 Swanston Street, Capitol Theatre 1924, WB Griffin and M Mahoney
  • 91 Swanston Street, Manchester Unity1933, Marcus Barlow
  • 250 Collins Street, Lyric House 1930, A and K Henderson.
  • 252 Collins Street Kodak House 1935, Oakley And Parkes.
  • 247-49 Collins Street, Newspaper House 1933, Stephenson and Meldrum, Napier Waller.
  • 259-63 Collins Street, Centreway Building 1912, H And F Tompkins, 1987 Cocks, Carmichael, Whitford.
  • 287-301 Collins Street, Royal Banking Chambers 1941, Stephenson and Turner.
  • 282-284 Collins Street, Block Arcade 1891, Twentyman And Askew, Buchan Group 1983.
  • 115-117 Elizabeth Street, Paton Building 1905, Nahum Barnet.
  • 333 Collins Street CBA Bank, 1891, Taylor And Dunn, Nelson Architects 1990.
  • 376-380 Collins Street, Melbourne Stock Exchange 1891, William Pitt.
  • 390 Collins Street, ES&A (ANZ Gothic) Bank Collins 1884, William Wardell.
  • 389-399 Collins Street, AC Goode House, former Bank NZ 1891, Wright Reed and Beaver.
  • 401 Collins Street, Trustees Building, HQ General Macarthur 1941-3.
  • Bank Place Mitre Tavern 1860s, Savage Club 1894,
  • 419-429 Collins Street, Former AMP Building 1931, Bates Smart And McCutcheon
  • 412 Collins Street, Collins Hill 1941, Percy Everett PWD.
  • 422-448 Collins Street, Temple Court 1924, Grainger, Barlow and Hawkins.
  • 430-44 Collins Street Royal Insurance Building 1965, Yuncken, Freeman
  • 435-55 Collins Street, National Mutual Life 1965,
  • 477 Collins Street, Olderfleet 1889, William Pitt, 1985 Von Hartel Denton Corker Marshall.
  • 497-503 Collins Street Old Rialto 1889, William Pitt.
  • 525 Collins Street, Rialto Towers 1986, De Preu And Mathieson
  • Cnr Collins and King Streets, Enterprize House, former Federal Coffee Palace.
  • 546-566 Collins Street, McPhersons Co. 1937, Reid Pearson and Calder
  • Cnr Collins and Spencer Street, Southern Cross Station 2006, Nicholas Grimshaw.

FURTHER INFORMATION

BOOKS ABOUT MELBOURNE

  • Bearbrass, Imagining early Melbourne, Robyn Annear, Melbourne : Black Inc., 2005.
  • Liardet’s water-colours of early Melbourne, Introduction and captions by Susan Adams, edited by Weston Bate, Melbourne University Press 1972.
  • Old Melbourne Town, Before the Gold Rush, Thomas Nelson , Australia, Limited. Cannon, M., 1991,
  • Essential but Unplanned: the story of Melbourne’s Lanes, Bate, Weston, Main Ridge: Loch Haven Books 1994
  • The Land Boomers, Michael Cannon 1966: Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
  • Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1835-51 E. Finn, 1888, 2007 (CD); www.gould.com.au/Chronicles-of-Early-Melbourne-1835-51-p/au7030.htm.
  • The Old Melbourne Cemetery 1837 – 1922, Marjorie Morgan, Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies in 1982.
  • Old Pioneers Memorial History of Melbourne, Isaac Selby, 1924.
  • A City Lost and Found. Whelan The Wrecker’s Melbourne, Robyn Annear, Black Inc. 2005.
  • Melbourne The Biography of a City, W.H. Newnham, F.W. Chesire, 1956.
  • The Birth of Melbourne, Tim Flannery, The Text Publishing Company, 2002.
  • A Walking Guide to Melbourne’s Monuments, Ronald T. Ridley, Melbourne University Press, 1996.
  • A New City: Photographs of Melbourne’s Land boom, Ian Morrison, The Megunyah Press, 2003.
  • Melbourne’s Yesterdays, 1851-1901, A Photographic Record, Don Bennetts, Souvenir Press (Australia) Pty Ltd 1976.
  • A Guide to Melbourne Architecture by Philip Goad Watermark Press.
  • A Pictorial Guide to Australian Architecture, Styles and terms from 1788 to the present by Richard Appleby, Robert Irving. Peter Reynolds, Angus and Robertson.
  • Walking Melbourne, A National Trust guide to the historic and architectural landmarks of central Melbourne by Rohan Storey.
  • Melbourne: The City’s History and Development Lewis, Miles, City of Melbourne, 1995
  • The Streets of Melbourne From Early Photographs, Peter McIntosh, published by H&WT c1988
  • The James Flood Book of Early Melbourne, H H Paynting (ed)
  • Photographs of Melbourne’s Land Boom, Ian Morrison (ed), A New City: Carlton (Victoria) 2003.
  • 150 Years of Australian Architecture, Philip Goad, ‘Bates Smart: Fishermans Bend, 2004.
  • A Short History of Melbourne Architecture, Philip Goad, Pesaro Publishing, 2002.
  • Sun Pictures of Victoria Fauchery & Daintree, Reilly & Carew Currey O’Neil Ross, 1983.
  • 1835: The Founding Of Melbourne And The Conquest Of Australia by James Boyce 2011.
    Melbourne by Sophie Cunningham 2011.
  • Characters: Cultural Stories Revealed Through Typography by Stephen Banham 2011.
  • The Place for a Village. How Nature has shaped the city of Melbourne. Gary Presland.
  • Melbourne Remade. Seamus O’Hanlon. The Inner city Since the 1970s. Arcade Publications 2010.

INDIGENOUS HISTORY

  • Aboriginal Melbourne: the lost land of the Kulin people, McPhee Gribble, Ringwood, Vic. 1994.
  • The Melbourne Dreaming. A Guide to the Aboriginal Places of Melbourne, 1997, Aboriginal Studies Press.
  • Aboriginal Victorians. A history since 1800, Richard Broome, Allen and Unwin 2005.
  • I Succeeded Once. The Aboriginal Protectorate on the Mornington Peninsula, Marie Fels 2011.
  • Meerreeng-an. Here is my Country. The Story of Aboriginal Victoria told through art. Chris Keeler and Vicky Couzens 2010.
  • 1835: The Founding Of Melbourne And The Conquest Of Australia by James Boyce 2011.
  • The Australian Aborigines, A. P. Elkin. Angus and Robertson, 1986.
  • Wild Medicine in Australia, A.B. and JW Cribb, Collins, 1988.
  • Wild Food in Australia, A.B. and JW Cribb, Collins, 1988.
  • Archaeology of the Dreamtime, J Flood, Angus and Robertson, 2001.
  • Remains to be Seen. Archaeological insights into Australian pre-history. David Frankel.
See Prices & Bookings

Melbourne Tunnel Underground Mysteries

Melbourne Walks is one of Australia’s oldest walking tour companies operating since 1991. This  is an information page only in response to frequent public requests about Melbourn’s underground infrastructure. We do not run underground tunnel tours as it is illegal and unsafe to enter many of these structures. However for those interested, our LOST CITY OF MELBOURNE TOUR  explores Melbourne’s lost and vanished buildings, surviving infrastructure, archaeology and architecture.

100 MYSTERIES
As historians, we investigate and assemble evidence files on lost infrastructure stories obtained from our walkers’ memories and other records including the 100 mysteries listed below. We have investigated most of the infrastructure mysteries below and believe we have a good idea of what is true or not. Or do we? Truth is often stranger than fiction. Do you have a story to add? Or can you provide the answer to a mystery?  Let us know at melbwalks@gmail.com

See photographs 

1. Fact or Fantasy? The Degraves Lost Tunnel:
“A hidden passageway leading to a lostELIZ 15
bowling alley is under Degraves Street’ .
‘There is an ancient phone booth. You can walk though it into a huge basement normally unseen.’
“I can remember, not that long ago, when the basement was ‘The Paperback Bookshop of Charles Dickens’  of the CAE(!) You could go downstairs from Degraves St into the bookshop, and then into the subway.”
’‘The building on the eastern side of Degraves St at the Flinders St end was a post office, and could also be accessed from the subway.”    ”
”There was once a large hardware store under Degraves Street., the area sealed off now.” 2016.
‘There was once a big tavern there run by a friendly Egyptian guy”. 2016.
There was a bowling alley under Degraves Street. In the 1960s.  I was the highest scorer on that alley.’ 2016.
 Fact or Fantasy? Lost mansion? ‘There was once a huge mansion part of which is still underground called Hodgsons Folly or Yarra House in Flinders Street. The mysterious Hodgson was a kind of early Donald Trump. 2016.

  1. Fact or Fantasy? Lost Turkish baths? ‘There were Turkish baths for half a century under Royal Arcade. The space that held the apparatus is still there under the Arcade.” 2001.
  2. Fact or Fantasy? Lost art deco rail station: ‘Long ago I worked at Mitchell store cnr Degraves St and Flinders St. My manager took me underground to show me an art deco rail station there with two narrow rail lines. It was extraordinary.’ Dominic 2014.
  3. Fact or Fantasy? Armageddon: ‘If the egg-timer ever falls from Chronos  the God of Time in Royal Arcade, Melbourne will be destroyed.’  MCC 2001
  4. Fact or Fantasy? Lost flour mill: ‘The Degraves brother’s gold rush flour mill 1850s, after which Degraves Street is named, still exists with its gigantic underground bluestone cellar.’myers tunnels 5
  5. Fact or Fantasy: Lost River. ‘There is an underground river under Elizabeth Street which is an Aboriginal sacred site.’
  6. Fact or Fantasy: Lost waterfall  ”The Yarra Yarra waterfall, after which the river was named, is still there under the water.’
  7. Fact or Fantasy? The Great Shaft ‘Australia’s largest constructed 19th hole – a 120 year-old, twelve-story shaft –  lies under the corner of Flinders Lane and Elizabeth Street.’
  8. Fact or Fantasy?  Lost Gold Cellar: ‘There are lost hidden spaces under Manchester House in Flinders Lane where huge amounts of gold were stored and may remain’
  9. Fact or Fantasy?  Lost Mace: The 1891 stolen parliamentary mace is buried under Madam Brussell’s brothel.  Truth Newspaper 1891.
  10. Fact or Fantasy? The Crown Casino Corpse Tunnel: ‘People say that the casino has its own morgue, down in the basement, to deal with the constant stream of corpses (from 3-40 suicides a year) – or at the very Newsreel cinema and theatre underground Australia Hotel Tatlersleast a secret underground tunnel to the hospital’s morgue. What’s more, particular bathroom cubicles are said to have such a high suicide rate that they’re actually engineered to rotate for quick body disposal. Presumably, this is so the next visitor to the bathroom isn’t deterred from further gambling by discovering two Crown employees wheeling a corpse down the hallway. No word yet on the number of ghosts in these cubicles, but it’s safe to assume that it’s in the double digits. As you might expect, the aforementioned Crown Casino plays a role in these speculations. It’s said that, years ago, the casino dug into the riverbank outside so that there’s an underwater lip. The casino’s victims collect under this lip, rather than floating to the0 N surface, and pollute the surrounding water. ‘By now there should be a cemetery’s worth of bones, just waiting to be pulled into view by freak tides or police divers’.  Sean Goedecke , June 19, 2012.
  11. Fact or Fantasy? The Collins Street Secret Tunnel: ‘There is a secret private underground tunnel running from Collins Street to Flinders Lane, west of Elizabeth Street’. . ‘Melbourne’s “Secret” Tunnels, 7 News, Sept 5th 2011. ‘
  12. Fact or Fantasy? The Gold Transport Tunnel: ‘My Grandfather told me that there was a tunnel system running under Melbourne that ran from Spring Street to the banks. It was put in to enable the transport of gold to be taken in security off the streets. This information was provided to him back in the 1930’s from a bloke that did the wiring.’
  13. Fact or Fantasy? The Underground Rat Kingdom: ‘Once Elizabeth Street was flooding and I was standing in Flinders Court.  Suddenly hundreds even thousands of rats poured out of the drains, the lane was a moving carpet of rats. There is vast rat kingdom under Melbourne. I felt sorry for them actually, their homes suddenly invaded’. Peter 2016.
  14. Fact or Fantasy? ANZ tunnels. ‘Old tellers of the ANZ Gothic bank say there are tunnels  now sealed, under the bank used to transport valuables to other branches.‘ ANZ staff member  SQUIZZY BOURKE (2)2014.
  15. Fact or Fantasy? The Ancient Vault: ‘A huge old bank vault up to 150 years old, large enough to house an office, is under Emirates Arcade. It stored large amounts of gold bullion’.  Claire 2015.
  16. Fact or Fantasy? The Myers to Collins Street Tunnel: ‘My late father being a manager in the NAB H/O Collins St in the Sixties told me about a tunnel running between Myers and the bank, for depositing cash into the vault.’
    Fact or Fantasy? The Myers Tunnels: ‘1st September 2012, workers were smuggled into the Grocon construction site through hidden Myers tunnels to evade a CFMEU picket line.’ The Age 2012.
  17. Fact or Fantasy? The Myers Tube Network: ‘Myers is riddled with a network of hidden vacuum tubes’.
  18. Fact or Fantasy? The Underground Water Canals: ‘Water canals run underground from Lonsdale Street to the Yarra River’.
  19. Fact or Fantasy? The William Street Tunnel: “There is a 90 metre tunnel that runs from the former SECV building in William St to Swann House directly across the road. From there it runs across the road to what is now the Suncorp building.”  Kevin Crook.
  20. Fact or Fantasy? The Swanston Street Bunker: ‘During WW2 a boat was always moored near Swanston Street on the Yarra River, and in the event of an air raid, the occupants of the War Room at Victoria Barracks would be whisked away up the Yarra River to this bunker.’
  21. Fact or Fantasy? The Young and Jackson Tunnel: ‘A tunnel runs from St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral under Swanston Street to the Young & Jackson’s Hotel (Princes Bridge Hotel).’There was a fire and the beer barrels were rolled to St Paul’s through the tunnel.
  22. Fact or Fantasy? The Ghost Train: ‘A Ghost Train runs through a hidden tunnel under Swanston Street’.
  23. Fact or Fantasy? The Spencer Street Bunker: ‘There was a military “bunker” under Spencer Street Railway Station as well as Swanston Street’.
  24. Fact or Fantasy? The Spencer Street Mail Tunnel: ‘There was a special underground rail tunnel to transport mail from Spencer Street Station to the Mail exchange across the road in Bourke Street.’   ‘Melbourne’s “Secret” Tunnels, 7 News, 6pm. Mon Sept 5th 2011.
  25. Fact or Fantasy? Tunnel from Spencer Street to the GPO, Elizabeth Street:
    ‘The subway (mail route) from Spencer St to the GPO certainly does exist; I saw it when I was in the basement of the GPO during its refurbishment in 2004.  The entrance was bricked over. 21 July 2009. The GPO is on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke St (or was, the building is now a shopping centre)…’
  26. Fact or Fantasy? Tunnel from Spencer Street to the GPO, Elizabeth Street:  Wrong! – There was never a subway from Spencer St station to the GPO! I worked there!’
  27. Fact or Fantasy? There are former pedestrian tunnels under from the  Southern Cross Station to the east side of Spencer Street both at Collins Street and Lt Collins Street.
  28. Fact or Fantasy? The Underground Firing Range: ‘There was a pistol range under Spencer St Station.’ Melbourne’s “Secret” Tunnels, 7 News, 6pm. Mon Sept 5th 2011
  29. Fact or Fantasy? The Spencer Street/Royal Melbourne Tunnel: ‘When I was an Orderly at RMH it was “common knowledge” that there was a tunnel running from Spencer Street to RMH. Apparently it comes out behind a lecture theatre at RMH’. James Doulis April 14, 2013
  30. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Bullock Team: ‘An entire bullock team lies buried under the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Collins Street.’ Garryowen 19thC
  31. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Pub. ‘An entire pub in Melbourne is two flights underground in Collins Street.’
  32. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Horse Train: ‘An underground railway pulled by horses COLLINS 1 STREET VAULT cbc victoria bankconnected government buildings on Spring Street and the Treasury Gold Vault’.
  33. Fact or Fantasy? The Flinders Street Corpse Tunnel: ‘I have heard rumors of a tunnel running From Flinders Street Station to the Hospital (For transporting bodies during WW II), perhaps old or current station masters might have some information?’ 2013.
  34. Fact or Fantasy? The Spring Street Gold Tunnel: ‘My Grandfather told me that there was a tunnel system running under Melbourne that ran from Spring Street to the banks. It was put in to enable the transport of gold to be taken in security off the streets. This information was provided to him back in the 1930’s from a bloke that did the wiring’.
  35. Fact or Fantasy? The Parliament Tunnel Network: ‘A secret underground tunnel system crosses the entire city centre liking Parliament House and the Exhibition Building and with a number of exits under the CBD including Southern Cross Station’.
  36. Fact or Fantasy? The Little Lon Military Tunnel : ‘In 2002 an archaeological dig on a Government block unearthed a steel and concrete tunnel that was part of a bomb-proof underground network built by US General “Dugout Doug” MacArthur.’
  37. Fact or Fantasy? The Supreme Court/Titles Office Tunnel: ‘One of the many enduring stories at the Titles Office is that there was a tunnel between the Titles Office and the Supreme Court, cnr  Lonsdale & William St. These mythical tunnels date from around 1890 when the Queen/Lonsdale section of the Titles Office was constructed. The story was that there were cells in the TO and that prisoners would be taken underground to the Supreme Court. Whilst there is at least one cell, the rest of it sounds like pure BS to me.’ 2007.
  38. Fact or Fantasy? The Supreme Court, tunnels, bullets and bones: My name is Ian Hogan. I worked on the Supreme Court building for a company named Van Driel LTD. The Supreme Court was established in 1852 on the corner of Lonsdale and William Street on a foundation of bluestone and cast iron stumps. When we were constructing tunnels for the removal of the old communication wiring we came across old bones- these were said to be kangaroo bones! There was a bullet hole in a window in Lonsdale Street. Who put it there? Prisoners would be led down to the holding cells from a brick tunnel leading to number one court room. June 2016
  39. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Tree Car Park. ‘A surrealist Mad Max car park designed for trees is under Melbourne University’.
  40. Fact or Fantasy? The Victoria Parade Tunnel: ‘There is a hospital tunnel under Victoria Parade from St Vincents to Eye and Ear.
  41. Fact or Fantasy? The GPO Tunnels: ‘A network of tunnels fans out from the former Chief Telegraph Office on Littleanzac cave clan4 (2) Bourke Street next door to the GPO.’
  42. Fact or Fantasy? The Gondwanaland Cave: ‘There is a cave in the Silurian bedrock of the city, the home of the Yowie,Aboriginal supernatural being. ‘
  43. Fact or Fantasy? The Shell Cavern: ‘The Shell building, 1 Spring Street is considered milestone architecture by Harry Seidler and praised for its setback but it had no choice as the Underground runs under the forecourt.
  44. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Toilets: ‘A famous toilet lies completely intact, sealed under tons of stone beneath Russell Street’ I once broke in to find the toilett rolls, mop and bucket are all there  as they just walked out and left it all in place.’
  45. Fact or Fantasy? The North Melbourne Cable Car Tunnel. ‘A cable car tunnel was found under Abbotsford Street in 2007’.
  46. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Headquarters: ‘The Cave Clan headquarters is in a huge cavern under Melbourne High School.
  47. Fact or Fantasy? The Squizzy Taylor Strong Room: ‘Squizzy had a strong room with gold scales and safe SOUTH LAWN CARPARK - Copyunder Presgrave Lane. There was also a tunnel leading to the Mint.’
  48. Fact or Fantasy? Break-in: Thieves once broke into the vaults under Manchester Unity from adjacent passageways in the Capital building. It is a warren of tunnels in there.‘ 2014
  49. Fact or Fantasy? The Squizzy Taylor Bourke Street Hideout. ‘Squizzy Taylor had a hideout for under a year under Bourke Street from which he wrote taunting letters to the police.’ Whelan the Wrecker.
  50. Fact or Fantasy? The Squizzy Richmond Hideout: ‘A secret Richmond tunnel believed to be used by Squizzy Taylor to escape police raids on his gambling den opposite has been located under 11 Goodwood Street, Richmond.’ The Age 2015.
  51. Fact or Fantasy? The Squizzy Taylor Elwood hideout: ‘Squizzy Taylor had his 1921 hideout and escape tunnel under 66 Glenhuntly Road, Elwood.’
  52. Fact or Fantasy? John Wren Collingwood Tunnel. ‘John Wren had an escape tunnel from a Collingwood coffee shop to the nearby pub called The Bendigo.’
  53. Fact or Fantasy? The Royal Parade Bunker: ‘My mother and her sister were both brought up in a boarding school in Parkville (the building is still there), and as older teenagers would often run errands for the soldiers,I returning polished boots and washed uniforms back to MacArthurs headquarters etc. From what I understand, there’s quite a northcote TUNNELnetwork of bunkers and store-rooms, that were simply “filled over”, leaving the bunkers still in place or perhaps even still in use today???? I’m also told other bunkers of this nature STILL contain several vehicles, small artillery, weapons/ammunition, filing cabinets/paperwork etc etc, and were simply blocked in when the war finished…. There are groups attempting to dig back into the bunkers to confirm their contents, but that’s another story ( i haven’t heard of any success yet). From what I’m told so far, there was simply no money or time to bother emptying the bunkers of their contents, the easiest solution was to pour concrete into the entrance and it’s done! I can’t help feeling there’s an absolute goldmine of information & equipment left there, that should be in a museum.’
  54. Fact or Fantasy? The Royal Melbourne Air Raid Tunnel:  ‘There was a large public WW11 air raid shelter in a tunnel under the Royal Melbourne Hospital.’  In the seventies I had a student job where I drove the laundry underground from the RMH to the Childrens Hospital in a buggy’. 2015
  55. Legends: The Army Hospital Tunnels
  56. a. ‘An unseen network of underground tunnels links together four hospitals as well as Melbourne University.’
    b. ‘The US Army occupied these tunnels under during World War Two.’
    c. ‘A secret tunnel under Flemington Road linked the hospital to the US Camp Pell in Royal Park.
    d. The tunnels extendanzac mhs secretly under the CBD south to Victoria Barracks and west to Mt Alexander Road.’
  57. Fact or Fantasy? The Rialto Towers Cavern” A great subterranean space exists under the Rialto.
  58. Fact or Fantasy? The Tunnel Big Cats: ‘Alien Phantom Big Cats’, Pumas and cougars, live in the Western suburbs, sleeping in hidden places like tunnels during the day and padding into backyards at night.’
  59. Fact or Fantasy? The Lost Cafe: ‘In the 1960s an exotic South Seas Cafe with palm trees and a crocodile was in the basement of the Manchester Unity building’.
  60. Fact or Fantasy? Secret vaults: ‘Under the Manchester unity buildings are secret vaults where the jewelers keep their valuables’.
  61. Fact or Fantasy? Pistol range under Bourke street?  The State Bank of Victoria had a training school at 186 Bourke Street, between Swanston and Russell. It had a pistol range in the basement which I used when I was training as a teller. Colin 2015.
  62. Fact or Fantasy? Tunnel under Government House? ‘I have actually seen what I believe to be the western end of the tunnel under the St Kilda Road gardens which probably leads to Government House. These days it only goes a metre or two and is walled up.’ Colin  2015.
  63. Fact or Fantasy? Access through the bookcase. ‘There is  an underground cellar bar in Collins Street where you enter by pulling a book from a bookcase.’
  64. Fact or Fantasy? Underground cheese cellar. ‘There is a specially cooled underground cellar with fabulous cheeses entered from above by a narrow spiral staircase….It was once a carpark that connected to the secret tunnel network to the parliament across the road... 2015.’
  65. Fact or Fantasy? Underground Cinemas. My first employment experience, whilst still at school during school holidays, was to  `switch’ the reels between the Century News Theatrette and the Tatler News Theatrette. They screened the same programs each week on the same 35mm prints. (as did the Albany and Times). As each reel came off the projector at the Century it was rewound and placed in a calico (I think) bag and I set off down Swanston Street, through an arcade and down Collins Street to the Tatler (basement Hotel Australia, 262 Collins).. I am not sure if I had to do the return `switch` or if there was a second kid on for that. This was during the Melbourne Olympic Games and we were switching the coverage that Pacific Films produced of the latest events and I remember well the line (from up in Swanston Street) going down the stairs into the Century Theatrette waiting to see this weekly production. As this was the year that television was introduced to Australia very few had the luxury of watching it at home.  Brian J, Jan 6, 2011.
  66. My mother would drop me off at the Century underground cinema in Swanston Street to see the cartoon reels for an hour while she went shopping. It always irritated me when she came back to early for me to finish seeing all the cartoons I wanted to see. August  2015.
  67. Fact or Fantasy? Lost tea room: ‘There was a huge tea house under Manchester Unity , could hold 200 people  in the 1930s called Tate’s. Many gay people had assignations there…;
  68. Fact or Fantasy? Underground cinemas:‘ The oldest running cinema in the CBD showed Olympic Games newsreels  and is still under Flinders Lane…     ‘There was a newsreel theatre under Swanston Street for many years  called Century, Capitol 2 or Swanston Theatre where they showed hourly newsreels in the war years and later.’
  69. Fact or Fantasy? Underground dance hall:’ I used to go dancing in an underground space under the former Capitol Theatre called the Dugout or the Bowl in the  1960s.. it was very hip and cool.’  2015
  70. Fact or Fantasy? Underground palm trees and crocodiles: ‘There was a swish 60s style cafe underground cafe called South Seas or Tropicana. It exited to Collins Street near Swanston Street.  It had underground palm trees and big fish tanks everywhere. They were also live crocodiles. Yes, seriously!         Ron Houlder,  2015.
    ‘Did you by any chance read the Age Traveller today, Saturday, 30th January 2016 page 34? The Letter of the Week: Luxe Nomad (Traveller, January 16-17) refers to the Tiki bar in Melbourne in the 1960’s called the South Seas Restaurant or cafe in the basement.  You went down the stairs from Collins Street into a tropical wonderland with big fish tanks and palm trees….People said there were three crocodiles (live ones)”. Dianne, 30 Jan 2016.
    ‘I remember the crocodile in the South Seas restaurant. It was 5 ft long and near the kitchen at the north end. The palms were fake.” 2016.
    ‘I went there as a kid. The crocs were big, at least a metre.’  Mary 2016.
    ‘My grandmother was a waitress in the Spot Cafe in Elizabeth Street. She had a crocodile handbag given to her by Squizzy Taylor.  Perhaps that’s how the South Sea Cafe crocodiles ended up? 2016.
  71. Fact or Fantasy? Underground tunnel network: ‘ In 1956 I was a 14-year-old Telegram Delivery Boy at the Post Office on the corner of Russell St and Little Collins St and in our lunchtime, we used to travel all over the CBD in the tunnels from the basement. We sometimes entered the old Bourke and Spencer Street’s Post Office through their basement. There are many off-chute tunnels and stairs to various other buildings from the main tunnels. All the tunnels ran like streets under the real streets up above. We were allowed to take these walks because in the Fifties, Australia was easy-going and innocent to the problems we have today and we were in uniform so it was no problem to do it then. It was exciting for a 14-year-old boy. Regards, John Williams’   1 June 2015.
  72. Fact or Fantasy? Princess and Regent Theatres tunnels
    ‘My husband is incredibly curious about the tunnels between the Princess and Regent theatres (he is a musician),’  June 2015.
  73. Fact or Fantasy? tunnels under Smith Street.My mother worked in Smith Street shops for many years and said that there are many tunnels linking shops under Smith Street.
  74. Fact or Fantasy? Dights Falls Bunker: ‘There used to be a large underground “bunker” near Dights Falls at Abbotsford. It is believed that this large underground “bunker” was an old WW2 air raid shelter and could hold a few thousand people.’
  75. Legends: The Melbourne Boys High (MHS) School Tunnels:‘ I was there (MHS) in the late 70’s and we explored any off limit areas (another story) in the school’s vicinity, inside and out …
    some tunnels originate from the old Q-store and armoury …. Many walls have been erected ..usually brick and concrete … these areas or vaulted rooms were used.’
  76. ‘Melbourne’ Boy’s High School was used by the US Army during WW2. A tunnel leads from the school to the Yarra River, to provide General Douglas Macarthur with a potential escape route because his Headquarters was at the school. It was later continued by the school cadets’
  77. There is a large steel door in the army cadet room at the rear of the armory (MHS) which is welded shut, which is the entrance to this escape tunnel that was used during WW2.’
  78. ‘Any student found to have entered this tunnel will be automatically expelled.’
  79. ‘A trap door in the Principle’s office (MHS) leads to the tunnel’.
  80. The Principal (MHS) Michael Bukraba found a tunnel under the School Library’.
  81. Fact or Fantasy? The Subterranean Big Cats: The study of ‘phantom cats’, more amusingly called ‘Alien Big Cats’, Pumas and cougars, for instance, have been reported around the Western suburbs. It’s a scary thought – huge silent predators, subsisting on possums and the occasional hapless human. Or there could actually be a colony of big cats, sleeping in hidden places like tunnels during the day and padding into your backyard at night. Predators like that move very quietly, and very fast. Oct 2012.
  82. Fact or Fantasy? The Merri Creek Tunnel: ‘A former military ammunition tunnel exists with an entrance near Merri Creek.’
  83. Fact or Fantasy? A Missing Train Station Under Melbourne Airport: ‘In 1970 a train station was built under LONSDALE (2)Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine) – It’s sitting there waiting to be connected.’
  84. Fact or Fantasy? US 1940s Army boat was found under a Ringwood house.
  85. Fact or Fantasy? Tunnel under Northcote Town Hall: ‘There is a street in Northcote called Wardrop Grove. The history behind this is that secret tunnels were built on the Hill which is called Ruckers Hill near High Street where tunnels exist but hidden under the Northcote Town Hall and the current Santa Maria Private Girls College and surrounding Nun complex.’  2015.
  86. Fact or Fantasy? ‘There is a large underground crypt where bodies are still interred, entered by a trapdoor under the pews  at the NW end Paul’s Cathedral. ‘ 2015.
  87. Fact or Fantasy? Tunnel: ‘There is a tunnel from St Pauls to Parliament..’ 2015. 
  88. Fact or Fantasy? Underground cinema:  ‘The Times Newsreel Theaterette in Bourke St. (from my research) was part of the Odeon & was located in the Odeon basement at 283 Bourke St.  Both theatres closed in 1978 giving way to the Centrepoint Arcade., It seems that The Melba Theatre may have commenced there in 1911, The Liberty in 1939 & The Odeon  around 1950 after a fire destroyed The Liberty.’  Peter 2015.
  89. Fact or Fantasy?  Drowned car parks. ‘The original two levels of the underground casino car park were flood-prone and so were abandoned and lie as ghostly watery spaces.”  2015.
  90. Fact or Fantasy?  Underground pistol range?  In my younger days I was with the ANZ bank and we used to go to pistol practice in a building that I think was on the cnr. of Bourke and King street.’ Rob, 2016.
  91. Fact or Fantasy?  Lost squash court: ‘The old CAE building was in Flinders street and I think it had previously been a retail store in 1940/50’s. (it’s now apartments)….about 20 years ago when working at CAE Flinders Street, I recall finding a small flight of stairs that lead up to an intact but weather-damaged squash court that I understand was for the use of the executive staff at the store .it might have been Maples store pre CAE.‘ Rob, 2016.
  92. Fact or Fantasy? Hideout under church: ‘About 20 years ago I was watching a news feature about a workman’s find of  a dusty but well-equipped cubby house under St Therese’s Church, Essendon.  In the 1960’s it was us 10 years olds who found our way into a very narrow opening in the church and constructed the cubby house. We went there during lunchtime in grade 6.  Access was via a small door that looks as if it was locked but if you pushed the door the other way, it opened..we then crawled through even smaller openings in the foundations over dirt and rubble until we found a bigger opening…we dragged in chairs, books and God knows what else …of course we had candles. It was fortunate that we didn’t burn the church down. The things you do as kids’.  Rob, 2016.
  93. Fact or Fantasy?  Under the park:   As kids, we found an underground pipe in the local Woodlands Park in Essendon that allowed us access and we ended up quite some distance away in nearby Strathmore.   Rob, 2016. 
  94. Fact or Fantasy?  Espy Tunnel:  ‘I worked at the Espy and there was a door in the basement. which apparently ran to  a tunnel ran from the hotel basement under the St Kilda Esplanade to the foreshore which was used by smugglers.  2012.
  95. Fact or Fantasy?  Richmond Tunnels: ‘ I’ve heard there is a maze of tunnels under Richmond used by the American Army’.  2016.
  96. Fact or Fantasy?  Underground  Cherry: ‘Just east of the Regent Theatre in Collins Street, I used to go with my mother to a below-ground teahouse called the Ripe or Wild Cherry. Anyone heard of It? ‘ 2016.
  97. SUBWAY (2)Fact or Fantasy?  First coffee underground? As a teenager, I worked serving food and drink at The Bowl which was a musical theatre venue with meals under today’s Capital Arcade. It also did other events such as dances. During the war it was a popular venue for American soldiers. The soldiers brought the coffee habit to Melbourne. So The Bowl would have been a first to make and regularly serve coffee in Melbourne.’ 2016.IMG576
  98. Fact or Fantasy?  Evacuation tunnel: I was a staff at St Vincents and saw the entrance to the tunnel which ran to Flinders Street Station to evacuate soldiers  if necessary.’ 2016.
    www.melbournewalks.com
    falls6 1839    DEGRAVESDEGRAVES NFlinders_St Station 1927_intersection_1927
    BRIDGE    BRIDGEBRIDGE (4)
  99. SUB 1965Fact or Fantasy?  Mauled electrician: SQUIZ (2) When my aunt was 19 she worked in the underground South Seas restaurant. The crocodiles in the cafe’s pond escaped so the staff fled and locked up. An electrician came unknowingly at night and was bitten in the leg by an escaped crocodile. 2015.
  100. Fact or Fantasy?  Lost Chief: SQUIZ (2)Underground near the junction of the Merri Creek and the Yarra is the body of the Chief of the Yarra Tribe. Its location was lost after the nearby freeway construction. 
  101. Fact or Fantasy?  Magician’s Hidden Secrets:  Only professional magicians can access the AWG Alma Conjuring Collection in the Sate Library. There is  a hidden vault with the most secret magician tools.
    www.theurbanlist.com  2016
  102. SOUTHB Fact or Fantasy? WhereSOUTHB ? ‘When I was a small child we used to go to a cafe underground. Through the windows you could see just the legs  of people walking past . Does anyone know where this cafe may have been? ‘ 2016SOUTHB (3) .RUSSELL
  103. Lost Turkish Baths Royal Arcade 1870-1929?  Nellie Haig the granddaughter of the owners of the baths wrote a manuscript 1992 about its history which is in the State Library.  The Baths closed in 1929 after the old boilers burst and flooded the Arcade and surrounding areas. 
    Louisa Ellum 2017
  104. Fact or Fantasy: The Elizabeth Street diagonal crossing? I pioneered the diagonal crossing outside the Elizabeth Street / Flinders Street Station when, as a new 1962 Australian, I diagonally approached a policeman directing traffic by hand in the middle of the intersection. I misunderstood the hand signal and thought he was beckoning me. He grabbed me by the collar and said ‘Are you a comedian?’ Yes I was the first.  Paul, 2017
  105. ELIZ (13)ELIZ (12)Capturefile: C:Program FilesCapture Onejob filesp253h96 200-720.Trashed CaptureSN: BQ011906.005232 Software: C1 PRO for WindowsELIZ (5)
  106. BLOCK 4BLOCK (2)SUBWAY (4)MU

 myers tunnels 2HYDRAULIC LIFTSELIZABETH STREET SHAFT 49 1889-1980Elizabeth RIVER DEC 1862

 

northcote TUNNEL MEERI CREEK MARK RAWSON BEFORE FILLIG IN FEB 2013

See Prices & Bookings

DOCKLANDS HISTORY & ARCHITECTURE TOUR

Docklands is Beautiful | Docklands News

OUR WALKING TOUR tells the story of Melbourne’s Docklands precinct from its Indigenous heritage to colonial settlement to shipping wharves to a new suburb containing some of Australia’s most spectacular buildings, public spaces, artworks, waterfrontages, library, recreational and hospitality venues designed by leading Australian architects.
EXPLORE why Docklands has many of Australia’s leading NABERS-rated buildings with 5-6 Star ratings for energy, water, waste and interiors.
TOURS for school groups (2 hours) and adult groups (2.5 hours) leave and finish at Southern Cross Station by arrangement.

SEE  –  BOOKINGS –  FOR INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND SCHOOLS.

According to the City of Melbourne, more than 16,000 residents now call Docklands home. The waterfront sits on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Eastern Kulin.  This lower delta of the Birrarung or Yarra River was once a wetland rich with natural resources. After European settlement, industry crept to prominence. By 1908, Victoria Dock was handling around 90 percent of Victoria’s imports represented by buildings today such as the giant Cargo Sheds. But by the 1970s the dock and wharves were in decline. Urban renewal began in the 1990s. When Docklands was absorbed into the City of Melbourne, it doubled the size of Melbourne’s central city and returned a significant area of waterfront to the city.  The suburb now stretches out over 200 hectares of land and water just west of the CBD, hugging Victoria Harbour.  By 2024  Docklands had evolved into a spectacular waterfront precinct. It is increasingly in dialogue with the central city through the use of iconic Melburnian themes, such as laneways, new parks and bluestone pavers.

See Prices & Bookings

PUBLIC HISTORY AND CULTURAL TALKS

Take one of our tours without leaving the room! We have provided many illustrated ‘Virtual tours’ using speaker, images and historic artefacts for many conferences, forums, AGMs, public meetings, historical societies, universities, schools and launches.
Your speaker is Meyer Eidelson, former president of the St Kilda Historical Society, film-maker and the author of fifteen books about Melbourne including the award-winning Melbourne Dreaming. Meyer has designed over 100 cultural and heritage tours across Melbourne for his walking tour company Melbourne Walks.

Virtual Tours can be created from the many listed Melbourne Walks or include those below.  

Examples of popular talks!
Bearbrass – Discovering Early Melbourne
Melbourne’s Secrets  – A hidden history of the CBD 
The Life and Adventures of William Buckley

OTHERS

  •  The Wild White Man. Exploring the Footsteps of William Buckley
  • Unsolved Crimes of Melbourne (Delivered ACMI, Fed Square)
  • Indigenous sustainability in Design and Architecture (Delivered Melbourne University School of Architecture). 
  • Milestones of Melbourne’s history (Delivered Monash University)
  • Fantastical St Kilda
  • Designing interpretation for Cultural trails (DelivTertiary Students)
  • The Melbourne Dreaming: Aboriginal Places of Melbourne (Reconciliation Groups, City Port Phillip)
  • Aboriginal History of St Kilda
  • Aboriginal History of the Yarra (Reconciliation Groups)
  • Bourke and Wills: Tragedy or Conspiracy? (CAE)
  • The History of Little Lon (Melbourne Old Pioneers Society)
  • The History of Luna Park (Port Melb, Middle Park HS, various)
  • History of Middle Park (City Port Phillip)
  • Living Wild in Melbourne – resources used by indigenous people and settlers. (Northcote Library)

‘Meyer will discuss the life of the Melbourne CBD from its indigenous origins, early settlement, boom and bust to a now thriving modern centre of art, architecture and culture. He has written more than 14 books and published a number of others dealing with the natural, cultural and social history of Melbourne. He is the founder of Melbourne Walks, which hosts walking tours to impart social and historical knowledge.
Carnegie Library public talk

See Prices & Bookings

Melbourne Tourism School Tour


UNDERTAKE an interactive tour of Melbourne to discover:

WHAT makes a city a successful cultural tourism precinct?
ROLE of a tour guide
HOW tourism and tours are organised.
CHARACTERISTICS of iconic sites and tourist destinations in Melbourne .
INTERESTING facts about various tourist destinations.
HIDDEN gems of the city (lane ways, street art, architecture etc.)
CHALLENGES, current and future, to Melbourne tourism.

Places and themes may include:
  • Federation square/ Visitors Centre/cultural tourism –  NGV, ACMI etc/ Indigenous tourism;
  • Yarra River/ parks/Southbank;
  • Street Art/role in tourism/history;
  • Lanes and Arcades and their design and role in the city’s tourism;
  • What was Melbourne voted  times the world’s most liveable city;
  • Transport- station and trams/ the new underground
  • Shops, retail and fashion;
  • UNESCO City of Literature;
  • Marvellous Melbourne era;
  • Significant buildings in terms of heritage, architecture, sustainability;
  • Role of artists;

SEE: Our other SCHOOL PROGRAMS

In June 2017 the Age newspaper calculated that cultural tourism and creative industries were pumping 23 billion dollars annually into the Victorian economy. The severe impact of the Covid pandemic 2020-21 on visitation both locally and globally was documented in the Victorian parliamentary report August 2021 and numerous recommendations made. Despite these severe challenges, with its internationally-renowned laneways full of street art, one of the globe’s most highly-concentrated music scenes and world-beating arts institutions, many Melburnians still (unbiasedly!) consider their city one of the greatest cultural destinations on earth.

The NGV’s 2014 Melbourne Now exhibition was its most popular, bringing more than 750,000 people through its doors.  The National Gallery of Victoria is by far the most-attended public gallery in Australia. It has spent several years fundraising for a new  NGV Contemporary, without attracting government funding.

Melbourne’s street art was among the biggest drawcards for domestic and international tourists after Melbourne Museum and the NGV. The museum’s 2011 Tutankhamun exhibition was a ecord for highest attendance, attracting 796,000 visitors, followed by the NGV’s Melbourne Now showcase of local contemporary artists in 2014, which drew 753,071 people.

CULTURAL CAPITAL

  • Melbourne ranked first in Australia, third in Asia and 12th globally in index of creative cities;
  • Cultural tourism accounted for 32 per cent of Victoria’s 10m international and domestic visitors;
  • International cultural visitors could be worth $2.5 billion by 2025;
  • Cultural visitors stayed 25 per cent longer and spend 20 per cent more per trip;
  • Creative industries generated a significant percentage of employment in Victoria;
  • Creative industries and cultural tourism contribute $23 billion to state economy.

BIGGEST DRAWCARDS

  • Live music performances: 5.4 million;
  • National Gallery of Victoria: 2.6 million;
  • Melbourne Museum: 1.8 million;
  • Australian Centre for the Moving Image: 1.45 million;
  • Comedy Festival: 800,000;
  • White Night: 600,000.

STATE OF THE ARTS

  • Melbourne has more than 100 art galleries;
  • Victoria hosts around 400 cultural festivals;  
  • Greater Melbourne has 465 live music venues;
  • There are 630 artist or rehearsal spaces available for rent; 
  • Victoria is home to 5800 visual arts and craft businesses.


     

See Prices & Bookings

ALL OUR TOURS (50)

We provide over 50 different walking tours as well as designing and combining tours to meet special requests. Choose your theme  and suggest a time and date of your convenience.  

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

SEE  –  SCHOOL EXCURSIONS e.g. Explorer, Sustainability, Architecture Federation, Geography, Indigenous Landscapes, Colonial, Lanes, Literature, ‘Runner’, Street Art, Science and many more…

AMAZING LANES AND ARCADES TOUR
Explore the fascinating labyrinth in Melbourne’s historic warehouse, fashion, maritime and residential precincts. More….

MELBOURNE STREET ART AND GRAFFITI 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.  More…

BEARBRASS: THE FOUNDING OF MELBOURNE      
Explore the original places of colonial settlement in the heart of the CBD. More…

‘LOST MELBOURNE’ TOUR
More…

MELBOURNE CITY OF LITERATURE TOUR
A walking tour of booksellers and books: Melbourne is the world’s second UNESCO City of Literature. More…

MELBOURNE INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPES TOURS
More…

MELBOURNE CRIME TOUR
Explore crimes, cold cases and mysteries in the heart of the city. More…

MELBOURNE ARCHITECTURAL TOUR 
Visit landmark architectural buildings that tell the story of Melbourne. More…

MELBOURNE SUSTAINABILITY TOUR
More…

MELBOURNE SOCIAL JUSTICE TOUR
More…

MADAM BRUSSELL’S MELBOURNE
Explore the places, times and 19th-century life of the city’s most infamous ‘Madam.’ More…

SQUIZZY TAYLOR TOUR
Visit CBD sites places associated with the notorious gangster, bootlegger, jury rigger, thief, murder, blackmailer and gambler. More…

MELBOURNE DUNNY LANES TOUR   
Join an 1880 dunny crew and undergo training in the maze of historic lanes and arcades exploring Melbourne’s hidden infrastructure. More…

ST KILDA MURDER AND MYSTERY TOUR
More…

GREAT MARKETS OF MELBOURNE TOUR
Explore the historic locations, images and stories of famous markets from 1842 to 2020. More…

LOST CEMETERIES TOUR (including QV market) 
Did you know that there are 9000 bodies of early settlers, Aboriginals, Quakers, and bushrangers buried under the Queen Victoria Market Car Park? More…

SIGNS IN THE CITY – A MELBOURNE CULTURAL TYPOGRAPHY TOUR
Explore the City of Melbourne’s oldest heritage letterforms. More…

OP SHOPS BY THE BAYSIDE BY BICYCLE
Cycle to bargains at Op shops in the beautiful basyside suburbs of St Kilda, Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. More…

LAST MAN HANGED – THE RONALD RYAN TOUR
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. More…

MELBOURNE HALLOWEEN TOURS
Experience the lost cities of the dead at Flagstaff Gardens and Queen Victoria Market. More…

WALKING TOUR OF MELBOURNE’S MONUMENTS 

THE CREATIVE CITY TOUR
More…

LIVING WILD OFF THE LAND
More…

MELBOURNE WILDFLOWERS TOUR
More…

YARRAVILLE  WALKING TOUR
Explore the delightful village of Yarraville with its fascinating mix of railways, picture theatre, traders, clubs and community groups. See Pictures.

PORT MELBOURNE WALKING TOUR
More…

ELWOOD WALKING  TOUR
Explore the extraordinary built and natural heritage of Elwood with the author of the ‘History of Elwood’ including the canal, the Ormond Road village, the foreshore, architecture and indigenous sites. More…

ELWOOD POETRY TOUR
More…

RIPPONLEA WALKING TOUR
Ripponlea’s historic places from indigenous times to heritage village by the author of ‘Ripponlea. The Village’ (2010). More…

FOOTSCRAY WALKING TOURS
Take a stroll through the heart of Footscray and explore the fascinating history of its, people, homes, hotels, businesses, immigration, warehouses, transport and changes over time and the Heritage Wharf  precinct. See pictures…

MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE
Explore the golden age of the Melbourne boom of the late nineteenth century: the mansions, palaces of commerce, civic buildings, churches, great hotels, vaults, cathedrals, galleries, banks and stock exchanges.

MULTICULTURAL MELBOURNE   
Explore iconic cultural places of Melbourne influenced by waves of immigrants.  More…

WILLIAM BUCKLEY’S MELBOURNE
In the footsteps of the ‘wild white man’: Retrace the escape route of convict William Buckley who lived with Aboriginal people for thirty-two years before settlement in 1835. 

MELBOURNE GEOGRAPHY TOUR
More…

YARRA BEND
Explore the archaeological and natural history of the Yarra River and Merri Creek junction. 

THE MARIBYRNONG VALLEY
Explore the archaeological and natural history of the Maribyrnong Valley, one of Australia’s great pre-history locations.

ST KILDA, THE DARK SIDE
Walk the back lanes of St Kilda at night to discover 175 years of murder, arson, prostitution, slygrog, cannibalism, bushrangers, theft and the redoubtable Squizzy Taylor. More…

ACLAND STREET
Walk the length of legendary Acland Street to visit the amazing architecture, history, cafes, cake shops, pubs, mansions, theatres, churches, artists, writers, and more.

LITERARY ST KILDA
St Kilda is Melbourne’s greatest setting for thrillers, books, screenplays and writers.  Experience places used in up to fifty Australian books and films.

ELWOOD: FLOOD, FIRE & FEVER
Explore the Elwood village and streets to discover the history of its early settlers, wetlands, poets, landscapes, homes, transport, businesses and local identities.

ST KILDA HILL
Walk St Kilda Hill from the Astor down to the Carlisle Street village to explore a crowded landscape of theatres, churches, army base, cottages, mansions, synagogues, pubs, parks, post office and drains. Explore St Kilda’s architecture since settlement from its wealthy seaside mansions, great hotels, amusement palaces, seabaths, boarding houses, flats, brothels, punk venues and immigrant cafes.

ART DECO ST KILDA
Visit the great art deco buildings of the St Kilda foreshore.

ART DECO ELWOOD
Visit the delightful art deco flats and buildings of Elwood

BUSHRANGERS TO BIOPOLIS
Explore the fascinating history of the St Kilda Road precinct.

MARVELLOUS MIDDLE PARK
Discover the fascinating range of architecture, streets, building styles and historic personalities revealed in the landscape.

POETRY STREETS OF ELWOOD
Take turns to read the poetry of the thirty or so authors and poets whose names are borne aloft on street signs such as Dickens, Tennyson, Byron, Browning, Barrett and Gordon.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
Relive the events and personalities of the Crimean War by traveling the score of war-named streets such as Odessa, Malakoff, Nightingale, Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman.

THE SPIRIT OF ST KILDA
Discover 180 years of the spiritual heritage of St Kilda’s places of worship established by Aboriginals, settlers, refugees, today’s communities and the persecuted for ‘matching, hatching and dispatching’.

HISTORIC PUB CRAWL ST KILDA
Discover fascinating stories behind St Kilda’s great 150-year-old hotels including The Gorge, Esplanade, Elephant and castle, Prince of Wales and others.

ELWOOD CANAL
Explore the Elwood canal (formerly Elster Creek) at Point Ormond near its junction with the sea and discover the history, wildlife, flora, early settlement, and indigenous places of this ancient swamp and coastline.

MERRI CREEK MEANDER
Travel down the Merri creek valley from Northcote to its confluence at the Yarra and discover the amazing, natural, indigenous and cultural heritage of this urban waterway

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE DUNNT MAN
Explore the maze of 19th century lanes in historic Albert Park as a night soil worker and discover extraordinary workers’ cottages, bluestone, chimneys, characters and the great Australian outhouse. A time travel journey to the rear end of Victorian architecture and working life.

HOUSING THE POOR AND THE PRIVILEGED
Garden City is home to five extraordinary housing estates including ‘Baghdad’ or Fishermens Bend and the heritage Bank Houses built to an English visionary ideal.

Further Reading about Melbourne’s history

See Prices & Bookings

Marvellous Smellboom

In the 1880s, ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ was outwardly one of the wealthiest cities in the world. The truth was that it was facing a disaster of its own making: extreme pollution  of water and air, poor infrastructure, high mortality, hidden poverty, and the great crash of 1893.  Many jeering referred to the City as ‘Marvellous Smellboom’.  With no taxation, medicare, pensions, workcover or benefits, many citizens fell between the cracks to dunnman2become hawkers, buskers, street workers and residents of Little Lon and Little Bourke. But the lowest class was probably the nightsoil workers.

This is the world we enter, just seeking to make an honest wage as the lowly sanitation worker or Dunnyman. We follow the 1880s routes of the dunnycarts competing in teams to recognise and find the ancient infrastructure of the city.

“You have applied to join a Dunny’ (Sanitation) Crew in 1884. After training in the Dunny arts and skills, you will compete to locate dunnies through the ancient infrastructure of Melbourne’s historic lanes. Successful members will graduate with a Dunny License and a great career.  This is Melbourne as you have never seen it before: industrial signage, factories, warehouses, brussells webstables, pipes, underworld portholes, bluestone, sanitation traps, hydraulic plates, timber guards, horse troughs and outhouses. “

Where we go: About 20-30 lanes starting at Flinders Lane via Desgraves and Manchester Lanes, north to the former Coles Book Arcade and the Bourke Street Mall, then east into the myriad back lanes of Chinatown towards Exhibition Street. 

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

                                               YOUR MISSION
‘Congratulations. Your application for a trainee as a member of a newly formed sanitation crew, servicing the lanes of Marvellous  Smellboom’ in 1884, has been accepted.
To gain your  full licence, you must be one of the elite few that pass our training session today . But don’t’ despair!  We provide you with expert training in both dangers and dunnyskills. Pay close attention. Some of you will graduate today with a real dunnymans licence and a fabulous career. Others will fail. 
The first hour we train in Toffsville the wealthy fashion and shopping district.  In the second hour we move to Slumsville or Little Lon and Chinatown and put your training into practice. You will be tested. You will also be trained to recognise the other outcasts working the streets. We need them badly. They provide us with our day jobs. We share the lanes with them. Their carts provide us with food, light and heat.
You will work in two competing teams each with your own foreperson. There is the Number Ones Team and Number Twos team. Your mission is to count dunny traps, dunny pipes and outhouses. The winning team will have the highest score. The lane system is growing rapidly and the last crew was sacked for missing too many dunnies.
Do not miss any.  Don’t get lost.Do not fail. Remember you have eleven hungry bairns at home! So up with your cans and on with your shift.’

Melbourne dunnyman tour www.melbournewalks.com

 
Further Reading about Melbourne’s history
 
 
See Prices & Bookings

EARLY MELBOURNE (COLONIAL ERA) SCHOOL TOUR

LEARN about the early explorers and founding settlers on the Birrarung or Yarra Yarra River and the events that led to a settlement in defiance of British law.
VISIT landmarks that tell stories of the colonisation period such as settlement explorer locations, Indigenous, shipping, gold rush, Eureka, Marvellous Melbourne.
DURING the tour each student assumes an early Melbourne identity
VIEW early paintings, maps, and documents e.g. historic pictures, timelines.
DISCOVER the impact of settlers on the Indigenous people and landscapes of the Kulin Nation.
WHEN: School excursions are normally up to two hours by arrangement at a time of your convenience.
WHERE: Our tours usually start and finish at Federation Square or from the Immigration Museum.

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

See also our other Early Melbourne School Excursions below:

  • MELBOURNE CITY DISCOVERY TOUR. More.
  • MELBOURNE INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPES TOUR. More
  • A NEW LAND – PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT 1830-1860. More.
  • MELBOURNE GEOGRAPHY TOUR. More.
  • TRADERS AND EXPLORERS. More.
  • MELBOURNE EXPLORERS SCHOOL EXCURSION. More.
  • THE GOLDEN MILE – MARVELLOUS MELBOURNE. More.

Students of all ages respond enthusiastically to this challenging and stimulating journey by the Yarra River to early Melbourne locations and buildings in the Melbourne CBD. This interactive two-hour program allows them to explore the events of the early settlement periods and the impact on the history, identity and culture of today’s Melbourne by visiting places that tell stories about historic milestones. We provide interactive activities such as bushtucker, visit building buildings,  handle artifacts, and examine images. 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.

Once again thank you so much for our series of Early Melbourne walks, the students loved them and they were so informative and engaging.
Lumen Christi, Point Cook

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 the impact of white settlement on the indigenous 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

SOME LOCATIONS WE MAY VISIT

  • Pre-1835. Federation Wharf, Birramung Marr Park and the Yarra Yarra. Birrarug Marr celebrates the Birrarung ‘River of Mists’ and the original federation of the Kulin Nation. The ‘Yarra Yarra’ was the site of the first explorers and settlers arrival in 1835. Who were the European founders, why were they here in 1835 and what was their impact on the Kulin Federation?
  • Flinders Station. First steam train in Australia 1857
  • Federation square celebrate the birth of the Australian nation as well as First Nation.
  • Flinders Statue. The explorer that named Australia
  • St Pauls Cathedral 1854:  Early church services. Goldrush Eureka demonstrations: – Birth of Australian democracy and flag.
  • 271 Collins former Bank of Australasia: The confidence of the gold boom with Collins Street as world financial centre gave Melbourne a boost as ‘Marvellous Melbourne’
  • The Block Arcade 1891: Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne.
  • Royal Arcade 1869: Goldrush, arcades,  icons of Melbourne.
  • The GPO building 1886: The Centre of Melbourne
  • The Coles Book Arcade 1886
  • Presgrave Lane: Federation saw the introduction of many new services such as sewerage, child care, schools and healthcare services that saved millions of lives.
  • Manchester Lane 1860s: Gold rush architecture, early settlement
  • 1890s – Flinders Lane: The great heritage warehouses, subterranean Melbourne immigration pathway from the docks

 

 

See Prices & Bookings

Growing an Indigenous Garden

At Melbourne Walks, we are perpetually harvesting wild Indigenous food, medicine, tools and other resources from our local Melbourne environment using the Indigenous seasons.

We encourage the growing of native food and medicine plants as a wonderful asset for home gardens, schools, recreational spaces and workplaces. These are easily grown, drought resistant and provide habitat for wildlife.

This is an information page only (see below).

However, for those interested, we do provide a tour in Albert Park Reserve which explores harvesting and identification of ‘bushtucker’ i.e. our Living Wild off the Land Tour.

LIST OF MELBOURNE BUSHTUCKER FAUNA AND FLORA:

Murumbal or Blueberry Lily/Flax Lily – Dianella: Purple berries have a sweet flavour, which becomes nuttyonce seeds are chewed. Leaf fibres were used to make strong string and baskets.Ti-tree –Melaleuca: – Oil is used for disinfectant, sanitiser, insect repellent, infection, acne, nail fungus, skin inflammation, athlete’s foot, dandruff.

Beal or River Red Gum – Eucalyptus camaldulensis: Possibly Australia’s most popular native tree. Possum and bird habitat. Bark used for housing, shields, coolamon, and canoes.

Kino for burns.

Hop Goodenia –Goodenia ovata: An infusion of leaves and twigs has possible anti-diabetic properties. Indigneous mothers infused leaves for their babies to encourage sleep.

Hop Bush –Dodonaea viscosa: Used by European settlers as “hops” in beer making. Aboriginal people used parts of the plant as a local anesthetic, chewed the leaves to relieve tooth-ache and bound them to skin to treat stings.

Mookitch or Kangaroo Apple – Solanum lanciniatum: A tall shrub with leaves resembling a kangaroo paw with purple flowers and fruits changing from yellow/green to orange when ripe. An important food for Aboriginal people when eaten completely ripe. Sometimes placed in sand to ripen. Farmed in the Soviet Union to extract an alkaloid for oral contraceptives. Same genus as the potato, tomato, and eggplant.

Billabongs: Common reed, Cumbungee, knobby club rush, tubers, tortoises, eels, bluetongue, aquaculture, fish stunning.

Taark or Common Reed- Phragmites: Edible roots. Edible young shoots. Necklaces/beads. Spearshafts. Snorkels. Septum decoration. Weaving bags, baskets.

Native bees: Sugarbag/honey

Katwort or Pigface: Burns and stings. Water supply. Antioxidant. Water supply. Fruit (salty strawberry). Groundcover. Bluetongue habitat.

Warrigal Greens/Botany Bay Spinach: Spinach, pesto, scurvy, vitamin C, anti-oxidant. Early food and scurvy cure of Captain Cook.

Eucalyptus oil: Confectionary, disinfectant, wool wash, cold relief – coughs, chest etc, joint pain, insects. Oil is the first Industry in Australia made in Botany Bay 1788.

Kangaroo/Wallaby Grass –Themedatriandra.  A perennial grass forming dense masses, one of Australia’s most widespread grasses.  In summer, Indigenous people gather seeds and grind them into flour which, when mixed with water, was cooked to make damper. Dense clusters of shiny bright brown spikelets form on wiry stems which were used to make twine for fishing nets. Tussocks recover vigorously after fire and this grass was a staple food of kangaroos on the basalt plains.

Lemon myrtle: Antioxidant. Antiseptic. Mosquitos. Anti-inflammatory. Tea. Very popular lemon food flavouring. Coughs, Perfume. Soap.

Munyeroo or Purslane: A ‘super food’ eaten raw for salads or sautéed, It contains very high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. It can be eaten in salad, stir-fried, or cooked like spinach. It can be applied topically to relieve sores and insect bites on the skin.

Moreton Bay Fig or Banyan Tree: Fig fruit is edible, also used for jam. Fibre is used for nets. Fruit attracts flying foxes in Albert Park Reserve.

Bunya pines: nuts

Wagnarra or messmate: Tools, clap sticks.

Lemon Gum: Tanderrum welcome to country. Smoking ceremonies. Citronella – mosquitos, candles.

Lilly Pilly: Fruit is used to make jam and is beneficial for colds and flu. It has astringent properties and is utilized in anti-aging skin care.

Paperbark Tree – Melaleuca: This tree has about 300 species. The nectar from the flowers is edible, while the bark (wilam) is used for making rugs, bandages, mattresses, roofs, cooking, nappies, letter writing, and thatching. Oil from the leaves is used to treat coughs, colds, and can be made into tea. The wood is used for crafting spears and digging sticks.

Matrush or Basket Grass – Lomandra: This plant is used to make nets, baskets, and decorations. Its nuts are edible, and it is also used to make salad, sugar, and edible flowers.

Birrna or Coast Banksia Tree: The flowers are used as a filter and to soothe sore throats. They can also be used to make a fermented drink. Additionally, the flowers are used to create candles, combs, torches for fishing, pipe cleaners, and cotton buds.

Coastal Saltbush: Popular among chefs as a flavoring for meat, such as in saltbush lamb and chips. It also serves as a habitat for the blue wren and can be used in soups.

Easip or Yellow Gum/Red Flowered Gum: The nectar of this plant is edible.

Kabin or Kennedia: This plant is used for making twine and the nectar is also edible.

Burgan or White Tea Tree: This plant is used for treating coughs and colds and signals the presence of snapper.

Burgil Burgil/Honeypots: The flower nectar is edible.

Seaberry Saltbush: Used as a dye and in cosmetic lipstick.

Seablight: Employed as a garnish, in salads, and as a pickled vegetable.

Lerp: Used as a sugar substitute.

Cicadas: Eaten and sometimes referred to as land shrimp. They are a seasonal trigger for the high summer season.

Spider Web: Used as a coagulant.

Wayetuck – Black She-oak – Allocasuarina littoralis: The cones are used for fishing, and the wood is important for making implements such as boomerangs, shields, and clubs. A boomerang from the Drooping She-oak was found in South Australia and is believed to be 10,000 years old. The mat of fallen needle-like foliage is considered a safe place to leave children as snakes are said to avoid these areas. The wood is also highly valued as fuel for bakers’ ovens.

Kabin or Running Postman – Kennedia prostrata: Aboriginal people would suck the sweet nectar from the flowers and use the stems as twine.

Nepturne’s Beads: Edible seaweed, pickled by early settlers.

Sea Parsley (Sea Celery): Found along the southern coastline of Australia, this plant has shiny dark green parsley-like leaves. Its appearance and dimensions vary from place to place.

Charcoal: Used for treating poisoning and stomach illnesses.

Ochre: Used in ceremonies, as paint, and for treating wounds.

Warrarak or Wattle: There are about 1,000 species of wattles out of the world’s 1,350 species. Wattle seeds provide protein and carbohydrates. They were crushed into flour and cooked into damper, or eaten after baking in hot coals. Wattleseed is rich in potassium, calcium, iron, and zinc, and has a low glycemic index, making it suitable for diabetics. It is often roasted for use in cakes, bread, muffins, and as a coffee substitute.

Wattle Gum: This highly nutritious gum, gathered from wattle trees, can be stored for long periods. When mixed with lime (such as ash), it is used as an adhesive to connect stone, wood, and string. Gum can be dissolved in water to make a mildly sweet drink and mixed with ash for use as resin.

Wattle Bark: Used for tanning and to find grubs.

Muyan or Silver Wattle – Acacia dealbata: The wattle blossoms cover the Yarra River and are consumed by eels that feed on a specific grub found in the flowers. The plant symbolizes Elders and is used in tanderrum ceremonies. Every part of the wattle is used – blossoms, gum, seed, bark, and wood. The gum can be dissolved in water to make a mildly sweet drink or mixed with ash for resin.

Burnalook or Blackwood – Acacia melanoxylon: The fiber of this plant is used for fishing lines. Its leaves are used for dyeing materials, and an infusion of the bark treats rheumatism. The bark also has tanning properties, while the hardwood is used for making clubs, spear throwers, boomerangs, shields, and more recently, fine furniture.

Harvesting Tools:

Shells: Used for cutting and cleaning skins.

Bone Awls: Used to pierce hides for sewing, using sinews from a kangaroo tail.

Stone: Certain kinds are collected and chipped to make a variety of implements for cutting, weapons, and cooking.

Flint: Exchanged by barter for tools to make microliths through knapping.

Greenstone: High-quality axes are traded from Mt William Quarry in Lancefield with permission from Ngurungaeta/Chief Billibellary.

Grinding Stone: Used to sharpen axes at Yuro Yuroke – St Kilda Esplanade.

Wells: Supplying water at West Beach.

Coolamon: Wooden bowls used for water, cradles, and carrying produce, made from bark or gall/burl.

She-oak Cones: Used for fishing.

Baler Shells: Used for water.

Harvesting Animal Protein:

Common Long-necked Turtle – Chelodina longicollis: Turtles were caught and eaten, and their eggs collected from the edges of rivers and wetlands during spring.

Shellfish and Middens: Includes abalone, turbo, limpet, mud oyster, pippi, whelk, and mussel.

Freshwater Mussel: Consumed for protein.

Mutton Birds/Penguins: Fatty food source.

Brushtail Possums: Common in Catani Gardens, St Kilda, with species including Grey Brushtail and ringtail possums. They are caught, killed, gutted, skinned, and cooked in coals before being eaten. The skins are sewn together to make cloaks or rugs, and possum fur is used to make twine.

Fruit Bats or Grey-headed Flying Fox: Found in Albert Park Reserve feeding on fig trees. They are an appreciated food source for Aborigines and some colonists, usually roasted whole in coals with the wings removed. The flesh is noted for its excellent flavor, resembling chicken.

Ducks, Swans, Waterfowl: Commonly found on Albert Park Lake, where traditional owner campsites were recorded. Ducks were an important food source and were caught in various ways, often speared or brought down with boomerangs. Katherine Parker describes the trapping technique used by the Ualayai people of the Barwon River Wetlands in the 1890s. Ducks were also caught by stealth, involving a swimmer grabbing their feet and pulling them under water.

Bogong Moths: Rich in fat and protein.

Short-finned Eel – Anguilla australis: Caught using traps woven from mat rush. In freshwater, men muddy shallow water and feel for eels with their feet. Hand nets are used in salt water, and spears are sometimes employed. Fresh skins of eels are wrapped around joints for pain relief. Eels are nocturnal fish with a complex life cycle, migrating long distances to spawn and undergoing significant transformations during their lives.

Harvesting Edible Weeds:

Nettle: Despite its sting, young parts of the plant are edible when blanched or otherwise prepared. It is used as a nutritious tisane and in herbal medicine. Historically, it was grown for its fiber and used in cheese-making and dye.

Burdock: The root stimulates detoxification of the lymph and liver, known as a “blood purifier,” and has diuretic and diaphoretic properties.

Dandelion: The leaves serve as a tonic to the kidneys and do not deplete potassium, unlike other diuretics. The whole plant, especially the root, detoxifies the liver and acts as a digestive stimulant.

Shepard’s Purse: Used to stop bleeding.

Chickweed: Nutrient-dense and full of antioxidants. It is beneficial for skin conditions when infused into oil and can dissolve cysts and lumps.

Native Plantain, Ribwort, Pig’s Ear: Known for wound healing, it relieves pain, stops bleeding, draws out foreign matter, prevents allergic reactions, kills bacteria, and reduces swelling. The seed husks are used in psyllium laxatives.

Mallow: The whole plant is mucilaginous, soothing internally for sore throats, upset tummies, heartburn, irritable bowel, colic, and constipation, and externally for bug bites, burns, sprains, and sore eyes.

Nasturtium: All parts of this plant are edible, and it benefits crops around it while being used for salad decoration.

Ground Ivy: Used in traditional European medicine for inflammation of the eyes, tinnitus, as a diuretic, astringent, tonic, and gentle stimulant.

Further Information:

  • Melbourne Museum Plant Information Sheet (online)
  • Koori Plants Koori People by Beth Gott
  • The Aboriginal Use of Plants of the Greater Melbourne Area by Maribyrnong
  • A Guide to Indigenous Plants by Zena Cumpston, Melbourne University (online)

See Prices & Bookings

Melbourne LGBTIQ+ Historic Places

The Pride movement is a positive stance against discrimination and violence to the Pride community and promotes their self-affirmation, dignity, equality, visibility and celebrates sexual diversity and gender variance. 

Val Eastwood at Val's Cafe, Swanston Street, 1950s

Val Eastwood at Val’s Cafe, Swanston Street, 1950s

 The Australian Queer Archives formerly Lesbian and Gay Archives  is based in Melbourne. They aim to actively collect and preserve LGBTIQ+ heritage material from across the country, and make it readily accessible.  

Self-guided walks of the Melbourne CBD can be found in the ALGA history book ‘Secret History of Queer Melbourne’ by Willot, Murdoch, Marshall, ALGA, 2011. AGLA occasionally runs walks for the public – contact  mail@alga.org.au

 Historic sites in Melbourne CBD include:

Manchester Unity Building – former Tate’s tea house meeting venue.gay lib flag

Redmond Barry statue, State Library. He hung Ned Kelly whose gang was rumoured to be gay. Sidney Nolan painted Steve Hart in a floral dress on his horse.

Old City Square. Victoria Building. The first female gymnasium set up by ‘The New Women’ Harriet Elphingstone Dick and Alice Moon in the 1880s.

Chapter House. First meeting of CAMP (later Society Five) – Campaign against moral secret historypersecution.

Tasty Club, 311 Flinders Lane. Site of the notorious drug raid by police in 1994.

Woolshed Bar, Australia House 262 Collins Street. Site of the first Kiss-In, 1970s`.

Tivoli Theatre, Bourke Street. Gladys Moncrieff, Elsie Wilson and the Gallery Girls.

Vienna Café, Collins Street, 1908. Arrest

Val’s Café, Swanston Street. Legendary bohemian venue by the extraordinary Val Eastwood in the 19050s.

Royal Arcade Hotel, The famous Boilers commenced here in 1959.

Koko Black, Royal Arcade. Home of the former Turkish baths back to the 1870s.

 Centreway Arcade’s basement, gay male only sauna from the 1970s. SQs [sauna queens]  attended Bucci’s Sauna (formerly Californian Health Studio).

Tatler Newsreels Theatrette opened in May 1939 and the Australia Feature Cinema in October, a month after World War II was declared. In their foyer was the Coffee Lounge. In 1961, the Tatler changed its name to the Curzon, and from August 1968, when the Australia Cinema became Australia I, it became Australia II, until it closed in October 1989.19 The Tatler was a pick-up place for camp men. On 17 February 1951 Truth reported an ‘Offensive Act At Newsreel’. Despite looking ‘the manly goods’, Edward Meyer, 27, of Fitzroy Street, St Kilda was apprehended grabbing the thigh of a policeman, then ‘moved his hand here and there’ and said: ‘I haven’t much time today. We’ll have to hurry. I’ve done enough for one day and time is short‘.

Myers, Bourke Street. Freddies Boys, the reign of Freddie Asmussen, head of the Display Department. and chief window dresser.

Alcaston House, 1 Collins Street. Home of birth control advocate and sex educator Dr Storer.

Queensland Travel Agency, collins Street opp Hotel Australia, site of gay led protests when the despotic Joh Bjelke-Petersen ruled Queensland.

Corner of Swanson and Lonsdale Streets. Society Five operated at a nearby building.

Manchester Unity building on the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, nude ground floor murals.

Café Gunsler’s (to the left of the Block Arcade, Collins Street) was bought by Austrians who renamed it the Vienna Café (1890-1915). On 22 September 1908, Alan McKail (aged 20), Douglas Ogilvie (22) and Tom Page (25) were charged with behaving indecently in a public place dressed as women in the Vienna Café.

Sargents café, Elizabeth Street (east side) near Flinders Lane and Lt Collins St.  Womens Parliament 1910, Mary Fullerton and Mabel Singleton.

And lets not forget St Kilda, home of The Annual Gay Pride March

See Prices & Bookings

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).

 

See Prices & Bookings

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.

See Prices & Bookings

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

See Prices & Bookings

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.

 

See Prices & Bookings