Beyond Bluestone

Four underground tunnels were constructed stretching 3.7 kilometres underneath La Trobe and Spring streets. The underground system had been envisioned as early as the 1920s, but it took the exponential growth in commuter traffic disembarking at Spencer Street (Southern Cross) and Flinders Street stations in the 1960s to push the project forward. A giant boring machine known as The Mole cut the first few sections.The loop covers the outer edges of the CBD grid opening it up for better exploration. All 16 main metro lines can enter the tunnel system; during peak-hour eastern lines run clockwise in the morning and anti-clockwise in the evening (the reverse pattern applies to northern and western lines).

This image comes from a photographic collection capturing port activities from the 1880s onward, created by the Melbourne Harbour Trust. The dock was named after Victor Swanson, Chairman of the Trust and former Vice-President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours, who foresaw the shift away from random sized cargo toward uniform metal shipping containers which are more easily transportable.

Opening in 1969 at the beginning of this trend, the dock boasted space for up to eight berths and a kilometre-long wharf dressed with quay side cranes (which make for an almost sci-fi silhouette at sunset). The dock now services over 30% of Australia’s shipping container traffic and makes a major contribution to Melbourne’s economy.

Since its completion in 1959, the Music Bowl has hosted countless events ranging from Vision Australia’s annual Carols by Candlelight, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s free summer concerts, winter ice-skating, and rock concerts by the likes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The structure is composed of steel cables and masts supporting a tent-like skin of aluminium-clad plywood (a material known as ‘Alumply’) which gives the distinctive freeform flow of draped material. The Music Bowl has undergone a number of refurbishments, most recently under the direction of Gregory Burgess Architects in 2001, which included significant improvements to amenities such as toilets and catering facilities.

Originally called the Lower Yarra Bridge, it began construction in 1968 and became very successful in linking the industrial areas of Melbourne’s west with the burgeoning populations of the east, providing a route over the Yarra River that by-passed the city centre.

These photographs, both taken from below the eastern approach, exemplify the steel box-girder design; long concrete and steel box-girder spans were manufactured off-site and then placed into position.

In October 1970, one of the spans collapsed due to a poorly executed attempt to correct two spans that were out of alignment by 11 cm. It was the worst of four steel box-girder bridge accidents globally between 1969 and 1971 and forced an international review of this approach to bridge building, empowered trade unions to demand safer work conditions and strengthened legislation on occupational safety.

Melbourne Airport was the first in the world to be based on the ‘Airport City’ model where airport land was also used for non-aviation revenue purposes.

Once complete, it featured the largest terminal ever built in Australia; wider than the Melbourne Cricket Ground (the city's premiere sports stadium) and bigger than a city block.

The Tullamarine Freeway linked the airport with the city and travellers returned with a taste of international café culture, fashion and art. To make way for this progress, some local history and character was lost: the airport runway buried the Moonee Ponds Creek, and the Inverness Hotel (built in 1863) was demolished to make way for the airport.

By the 1950s inadequate slum housing dominated the inner city ring, coupled with waves of post-war European immigration this placed pressure on housing; the city was facing a shortage of around 80,000 affordable and habitable homes. Although a public housing strategy had been planned decades before, innovation in pre-cast concrete technology suddenly enabled apartment blocks to be manufactured rapidly, matching similar experiments underway in the United States and Europe.

40 towers like this one were built, with each one accommodating up to 600 people, with the vast majority made up of two or three bedrooms. Despite their cold aesthetic the design thinking was not unsympathetic to concepts of liveability; planners dedicated 80% of ground space at each site to parks and playgrounds.

Between 1950 and 1980 the Housing Commission of Victoria built 90,000 dwellings across the state, and while the flats are probably their most famous, they represent a small sample of currently available public housing.

At 81 metres tall, the building more than doubled the long-standing height restriction limit, requiring changes to the Uniform Building Regulations, a measure that was partly aimed at rejuvenating development and interest in the city centre.

Designed by Sir Walter Osborn McCutcheon (1899–1983) of Melbourne architectural firm Bates Smart and McCutcheon, the building features a minimalist glass curtain façade, and its construction required innovative steel and concrete engineering techniques.

Just to the left and slightly above ICI House in this photo you can see the CRA building (Conzinc Rio Tinto of Australia Ltd) under construction, which became Melbourne’s tallest building in 1962.

In 1970, the Australian Government opened the $3.45 million Enterprise Hostel in the Melbourne suburb of Springvale; a new concept in migrant housing aimed to create a ‘non-institutional’ atmosphere with privacy for families. The development was purpose-built double-story accommodation blocks connected by covered walkways with open spaces and courtyards.

The space provided comfortable accommodation to over 30,000 migrants and refugees until its closure in 1992.

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser observed that the Enterprise Community was an example of "what happens when new migrants to this country are welcomed with open arms… they add to its diversity, diversity becomes strength and something that enriches our lives".