OUR tour takes your Primary or Secondary students to iconic places that tell the evolving STORY of Federation, the creation of the Australian Nation as expressed through Melbourne’s history, buildings, culture, identity and people. Our city’s structures reflect our aspirations as Australians and the impact of on nationhood of significant events, characters and cultural groups. Milestones included the impact of settlement, gold rush, war and depression, economic cycles of boom and bust, social movements, immigration and changing technologies. Send us your learning outcomes and we will adapt this tour specifically for your classes. Our published book Nation Builders includes biographies of 45 key Melbournians representing Australian nationhood.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students respond enthusiastically to this challenging and stimulating journey through the streets, lanes and arcades of the Melbourne CBD. This interactive program facilitates them to explore the events of Federation through Melbourne’s history, identity and culture by visiting places that tell stories about milestones from Indigenous origins to early settlement to gold rush expansion to Marvellous Melbourne to a modern centre of art, architecture, and culture e.g. milestones.
TOURS are two hours or as requested by arrangement. They normally start and finish at Federation Square. Alternatively, they can commence from Parliament House.
IDENTITIES: Each student is allocated an identity of an influential Melbournian – see Identities
We provide interactive activities accessing laneways and buildings, handling artefacts and many images. Students meet challenges in a fun way that promotes learning and questioning. We can design a specific mix of destinations and activities to meet your specific learning needs including from our many other school programs.
SEE: BOOKINGS AND PRICES – FOR INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND SCHOOLS
SEE: Our many OTHER SCHOOL PROGRAMS – Explorer, Indigenous, City Discovery, Colonial, Squizzy, ‘Runner’, Street Art, Economy and more…
Alfred Deakin, Federation campaigner, Melbourne journalist, animal rights activist, reformer, spiritualist, poet and thrice Prime Minister. We start outside the Deakin Building in Federation Square. His wife Patti Deakin was a reformer and founder of childcare services.
‘Once again thank you so much for this series of walks, the students loved it and they were so informative and engaging.”
Lumen Christi Point Cook
“Eve guided my group and was nothing short of amazing. She was engaging and interacted with the students in a fun way helping to maintain their interest the whole time.’
St Bernadette’s.
Our students loved the excursion and are still raving about it. Thank you for your enthusiasm and knowledge that you imparted to the students.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (Epping).
WE VISIT A VARIETY OF CITY CENTRE LOCATIONS DEPENDING ON TIME, WEATHER, CONSTRUCTION AND SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES. WE HAVE A CHOICE OF TWO MAIN ROUTES. THE FIRST STARTING AND FINISHING FROM FEDERATION SQUARE OR ALTERNATIVELY STARTING FROM PARLIAMENT HOUSE, SPRING STREET.
ROUTE A: FEDERATION SQUARE START AND RETURN
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 Federation and how did that influence Australia?
1901 – Fed Square: Birth of Federation: Federation square celebrates the anniversary of the birth of the Australian nation. The Deakin Building celebrates Victorian Alfred Deakin 3 times Prime Minster and the ‘father of Federation’ in Victoria. The plaza has nine visions of Federation in the 400,000 stone tiles in the plaza. The Womens Vote, monster petition and Vida Goldstein.
St Pauls Cathedral – Australian democracy and flag. Eureka paved the way for the national ideal of ideals of a new nation, a democratic ‘working mans paradise’ and created the national flag.
1990s – Degraves Street – Commercial transformation of the Hoddle Grid, the people river. With Federation Australia began to look to America instead of England as the model for a free and independent nation. Harry Norris visited America each year and created 27 American buildings based on exciting skyscrapers eg The Majorca and the Nicholas building.
1920‘s – National Bank Collins Street – Marvellous Melbourne imbued Victorians with unlimited confidence in the New World and the ambition for Federation. The confidence of the gold boom and Collins Street as a world financial centre gave Melbourne a boost as ‘Marvellous Melbourne’, attracted international attention though the great exhibitions of the 1880s and inspired the Federation movement. Mary Reibey on the 20 dollar note. Immigration and opportunity. Ned Kelly.
1890‘s – The Block Arcade 1891: Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne. Australia’s use of world technologies eg Singer and Kodak shops set Melbourne on the path to self-sufficiency and the confidence to create a new nation. The great crash of 1893 set back the federation movement however and the first referendum failed. The second was successful.
1860‘s – Royal Arcade 1869: Gold rush, arcades, icons of Melbourne. Expresses the early confidence gained during the gold rush and the cry arose everywhere from new Australian businesses arising due to consumer purchasing power to ‘buy Australian.’
1880s – The GPO building 1886: The Centre of Melbourne, changes in technology, nation-wide communications. The GPO represents ‘the tyranny of distance’ the unusual position that Australia occupied, a vast country distant from the mother country and the urgent priority of communication and inventions like the telegraph and later the phone.
1910s – Bourke Street, Myers and Buckley and Nunn: Early Commerce. Sidney Myer who arrived in the 1890s showed a retail empire can be home-grown and Australians can be world leaders. He represented the ideal of multiculturalism. A Jewish peddler, the youngest of nine children with no English can be successful and also a philanthropist to art and science.
1880s – The Coles Book Arcade 1886: Nationalism, Federation, City of Literature. Coles saw education and books as the saving of the Australian Nation and opposed the White Australia policy. He also supported the equality of women, a world region and a world federation.
Presgrave Lane: Federation saw the introduction of many new services such as sewerage, child care, schools and healthcare services that saved millions of lives. Gallipolli significance to Australian nationalism. Federation gave the Commonwealth get the power to print Australian money for the first time.
1930s – Manchester Unity building 1933: Depression Art Deco. Nationalism
2010s – Centre Place 2011: Art, graffiti and transformation. Art industries drive Melbourne as much as sport. Graffiti is an international movement,
1850s – 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.
1890’s – Flinders Lane: The great heritage warehouses.
1920s – Nicholas Building 1927: Turning to America. One of the earliest of the American-style art deco buildings, turning people from the traditional British ideals to the New World of America, another ex-British republic.
ROUTE B: PARLIAMENT HOUSE START AND RETURN. Student transport is available via Parliament Station or bus park at Spring Street opposite Windsor Hotel.
Parliament House: Federal Parliament for 26 Years 190-1927
Princess Theatre: Federation celebrations 1901
Windsor Hotel: Draft constitution completed. Lodging of PMs. Federal Temperance Movement
Treasury. Federal Treasury 1901. Eureka. Democracy.
Monster Petition. Women and the vote
Memorials Adam Lindsay Gordon, William Stanhope. Convicts, federation poets and artists
1 Collins Street: Office of first five Prime Ministers.
RSL: Anzac House
Portland House: MP Money Miller settlement ideals
Grosvenor House: Tom Robers. Federation artists
Collins Street: Federal power, position, gold and wealth
Melbourne Club
Lyceum and Alexandra Clubs
Presbyterian Hall: Women’s Parliament
Historic Churches
Salvation Army: the rise of welfare. Federation Film
RESOURCES:
Historic films 1910-1940s:
- See the amazing Melbourne in 1910
- Living Melbourne 1910
- 1920s Melbourne
- 1930s Cable Trams
- 1940s Melbourne
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- Alfred Deakin, Federation campaigner, Melbourne journalist, animal rights activist, reformer, spiritualist, poet and thrice Prime Minister. We meet outside the Deakin Building in Federation Square. His wife Patti Deakin was a reformer and founder of childcare services. They were nation builders, now buried in St Kilda Cemetery.
