Arts & Culture » History
The parade that almost didn’t happen
To celebrate Victoria’s centenary in 1934, well-known philanthropist, businessman and he of Cherry Ripe fame, Sir Macpherson Robertson, sponsored a trail-blazing air race from Mildenhall RAF Base in East Anglia to Melbourne.
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Little Flinders St East, looking east, corner of Swanston St, 1870s
Looking at this photograph taken in the 1870s, it is hard to believe that the photographer was standing on the west side of Swanston St just opposite the St Paul’s Cathedral site. His camera is pointed up Flinders Lane and if he walked up the street far enough he would end up at the Treasury Gardens.
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Victory Parade, August 1945 – “106 minutes of wild cheering”
The War in the Pacific was over and despite cold and rain, Melbournians turned out in force to celebrate. It had rained for 90 minutes before the parade of 20,000 service personnel and other war workers marched through the CBD in the early afternoon of Friday, August 24, 1945.
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Old Danks Store Yard, Bourke St, during demolition, 1958
As the photographer Pierre Robin stopped outside the John Danks & Co Store Yard at 409 Bourke St, it is likely he had one thing in mind; to record the site before it disappeared from view.
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Melbourne’s 20 Decades
It took Melbourne’s population 94 years from European settlement – from 1835 to 1929 – to reach one million. In 2018 it reached five million, having jumped by a million since 2011, in only seven years.
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Intersection of Swanston and Flinders streets, looking north, 1890s
At first glance there is little that is familiar about this street scene taken some time in the early 1890s.
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Queen Victoria Market - vibrant, colourful, a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds
You see here early morning Queen St as it looked 120 years ago, in the section that runs through QVM to Victoria St.
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St James Buildings, Bourke St frontage, 1959
The eastern sections of Bourke St and Collins St are well documented and known for the ambience and fine architecture found in areas such as the “Paris end” of Collins St.
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Flinders St from Yarra Bank, 1950
Taken in the first decade after the end of World War II, this view from Yarra Bank Rd on the south bank of the Yarra River looks towards Flinders St from King St to William St and finally Market St.
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An early Melbourne high-rise
Looking at this streetscape today, the 11-storey building that dominates the left side (the south side) of this early 1950s photograph of Bourke St raises no eyebrows.
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Smooth sailing for CBD development
Controversial sign
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